Terra Madre network is tying the knots

The Terra Madre network that has been launched not long ago is showing its efficiency in Baltic countries, where in these days takes place the festival of New Nordic Cuisine in Riga, Latvia. The event is made possible due to the close collaboration of the Latvian Convivium Slow Food Riga and the Norden – Nordic Council of Ministers. The goal of the project is to present Nordic cuisine (fresh, clean, fair, simple, and seasonal) in Latvia and promote local organic products, traditional kitchen in modern view and cooperation between Nordic and Latvian producers, chefs and farmers.

The president of “Slow Food Riga” Mārtiņš Rītiņš, the restaurant director, has invited the representatives from the Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland and Sweden to visit the Latvian restaurants, to lecture on the Nordic cuisine and to participate in the gala event of the festival – the organic Farmers Market.

The festival lasts the whole week (26 April – 06 May 2007) and includes not only the Farmers Market, but also various seminars, lectures and other activities aimed at introducing the Nordic cuisine, educating the chefs, and connecting them to the local producers. The guests from Sweden, Charlotte Lagerberg Fogelberg and Rune Fredell are sharing their experiences on the development of the Slow Food movement in Sweden and on connecting the small scale producers and the consumers through the Farmers Markets.

The days of the festival are to be the time of uniting the excellent cooks, the Terra Madre food communities and the Slow Food associate from Latvia, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. The initiators of the festival have organized the event in the foretaste of a great future cooperation.