The document discusses the development of modern Latvian cuisine and its struggle for acceptance among Latvian diners. It profiles two Latvian chefs - Martins Ritins, who believes Latvian cooking can compete globally but is still underappreciated locally, and Svetlana Riškova, whose contemporary takes on traditional Latvian dishes helped establish a Latvian identity in cuisine. While sticking fully to local ingredients is difficult, Riškova searches out pre-Soviet recipes and presents dishes that showcase old traditions with new twists to educate diners about Latvian taste.

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practising in London, five or six years ago, there was a Michelin-
starred restaurant called Texture,” he says. “When the head chef
asked me what I thought of his food, I said ours was very similar. He
looked at me as if, are you crazy? You’re from Latvia. How dare you!”
And yet, while he’s confident their cooking can compete on the
world stage, he feels there’s not enough appreciation for it locally
yet. Latvian diners are, he says, too attached to the foreign imports
that came into the country after independence. “If they look at
the menu and they don’t see a Caesar salad, they say, is this a
restaurant or what? But we are trying, trying, trying, and I think in
15 years, it’ll be like Denmark. That’s the ideal, but we need time.”
Down the road at the Tallink Hotel’s Elements restaurant, head
chef Svetlana Riškova has also struggled to educate her diners in
the new ways. “The first five or six years were tough,” she says. The
turning point came in 2011 with TV cook-off show Contemporary
Latvian Taste, which featured nine of those specialising in the
new cuisine. Riškova won second prize, and became a star chef
overnight. “It helps when your face is well known. We had loads of
people coming to the restaurants after that.”
In a busy hotel kitchen with 29 staff and 450 daily covers, sticking
to a 100 per cent-local menu isn’t always possible, but for her that’s
not the point. “It’s more about establishing a Latvian identity.” She
searches out recipes that predate Soviet times, and presents old
traditions with a twist in dishes such as venison with marinated
chanterelles and onions pickled in beetroot; or “passion for knitting”,
a charming culinary tableaux of a dessert, complete with silver-
sprayed chocolate “needles”, a ball of fruit-sorbet “wool”, and knitted
surround, based on an authentic folk pattern. »
“When you say you’re from Latvia,
not everyone knows where that is.
I have to say it’s between
Russia and Sweden”
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Opposite⁄
Elements chef
Svetlana Riškova
This page⁄
Riškova’s knitted
dessert; herbs,
growing in a drawer
at Elements; venison
with mushrooms
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Market
research
To get an idea of how
much Latvians love their
food, a trip to Riga’s
covered markets – the
largest in Europe – is
essential. Made from five
hangars once used by
the Germans in WWI to
hold Zeppelin airships,
the markets cover
72,300m2
, and feature
3,000 stalls.
During Soviet times,
the markets were a
lifeline for local people.
About 50,000-70,000
customers shopped at
the market every day —
statistics from 1961 show
sales of 200,000 tonnes
of poultry, 768,000 litres
of milk, and about seven
million eggs for the year.
In 1998 the markets were
granted UNESCO World
Heritage status, and
they’re an education into
life in the city. Stalls are
heaped with groaning
plastic vats of pickles,
multi-coloured dried
fruits and tins of Baltic
caviar. Gourds stack up
against the side of stalls
like leaning towers of
pumpkins, while a whole
shed is devoted to meat
and one to fish: smoked,
dried, raw – much of it
still with a face.
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Norwegian - Latvia Food - ph. Chris Tonnesen