27/10/2025
People and potatoes — both at the heart of the project 💜🥔💜
🇱🇻Today, we share inspiring thoughts from Latvia and our friends in the non-governmental sector, who highlight how this project helped rediscover the pride and cultural heritage behind local potatoes:
Rūta Beirote, Board member of Slow Food Straupe (Slow Food Straupe tirdziņš ), Latvia
“This project has led us, as a community, to recognise the significance of not only growing potatoes in Latvia but also breeding them locally, as it fosters support and pride among both our farmers and scientists. Some of the old potato varieties created in Latvia are so beloved that they have already become part of our culinary cultural heritage.
The project provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on our culinary heritage. The project's biggest success is the chance to taste potatoes, which has changed our perspective on them. Until now, there has been no event where you could taste several potato varieties in one place and understand their differences, to understand the taste of potatoes and other qualities that everyone wants to feel in their potatoes in the future.
Do potatoes unite us? Definitely! Also, as a Slow Food market, the community of the Cēsis region, Vidzeme, and all of Latvia. Because we had forgotten that, among all the other things, we have one more thing to be proud of: potatoes! Thanks for this reminder!”
Thank you to our Slow Food Straupe tirdziņš community for your passion, energy, and heartfelt reminder of how food, and especially potatoes, can unite us all! 💜🥔🇱🇻
