For three days every August the city of Riga transforms into a kaleidoscope of music, art, theatre and dance, with various events taking over the city’s streets, squares, museums, concert halls and cultural centers. The Riga City Festival, which kicks off today, will again offer a taste of slow this year, as local farmers and some of the city’s best restaurants serve up regional, healthy and tasty food in the ‘Street of Taste Masters’ space. The area was organized by Slow Food Riga along with Riga City Council City Development Department, as part of the 4Cities4Dev project.
The 4Cities4Dev project, co-funded by the European Union, involves four European cities – Turin, Tours, Bilbao and Riga – that have adopted seven Terra Madre food communities in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya and Madagascar. The project aims to increase awareness among European citizens about responsible consumption and the consequences of their food habits by allowing them to discover these communities through a series of communicative tools.
During the festival, short films will be screened on the Slow Food Pokot Ash Yoghurt Presidium – producers in Kenya that make a traditional yoghurt with the ashes of a local tree, and the Harenna Forest Wild Coffee Presidium – where coffee still grows wild in the forests.
Along with presentations to inform visitors about the project, there will be opportunities to taste dishes made with vanilla from Madagascar, coffee from Ethiopia and couscous from Senegal, all Slow Food Presidia.
Meanwhile at the Riga Congress Hall from today until September 6, the project’s Travelling Exhibition, a collection of photographs, maps and interactive activities for both children and adults will portray case studies from the project.
Find out more:
Click here for general information about the event (in English).
For more information on 4Cities4Dev: www.4cities4dev.eu