Nature offers products, ideas and exciting opportunities – don’t be afraid to experiment! This call was repeated several times during yesterday’s seminar and masterclass for students at Ogre Technical College on the use of natural meadow produce in cooking. The sessions were organised by the Latvian Nature Fund in collaboration with the association “Young Chefs” Movement”.
The day began with an educational seminar organised by the Latvian Nature Fund for a wide audience of students and teachers on Latvia’s natural meadows and their produce, concluding with a short sprint competition and prizes. Afterwards, representatives of the Young Chefs’ Movement spoke about themselves, highlighting in particular their participation in various festivals and other events, and inviting budding chefs to join and get involved.
This was followed by a practical session – a masterclass led by experienced chefs for 24 aspiring chefs: Kristaps Sīlis from the restaurant “John” and Roberts Paulāns from the restaurant “Barents”. The young people had the opportunity to prepare various dishes themselves using beef and lamb reared in natural meadows, as well as sheep’s milk and its products. Pēteris Langrāts from the “Siliņi” farm, a participant in the “Ziedu pļavas” programme, explained and demonstrated how to use a wide variety of plants as garnishes and for decoration; who regularly supplies restaurants with plants both foraged in the wild and grown on his own farm.
The masterclass on cooking used beef from SIA “LatAngus”, lamb from SIA ”StarSpace“, sheep’s milk products from ”Bendiku piena aitas“ and goat’s cheese produced by Alise Zariņa. These producers manage natural pastures and produce their goods there. These products are labelled with the ”Natural Meadow Product’ mark.
Masterclasses for aspiring chefs are organised As part of the EU LIFE-IP LatViaNature project, with the aim of supporting entrepreneurship in the sustainable management of natural grasslands.
The “Flower Meadows” programme is organised and run by the Nature Conservation Agency.
The owner of the "Natural Meadow Product" label is Latvian Nature Fund.
The brand was created as part of the LIFE19IPE/LV/000010 LIFE-IP LatViaNature project, with the aim of promoting business initiatives for the sustainable management of natural grasslands.
The project "Optimisation of the Management and Stewardship of Natura 2000 Protected Areas" (LIFE19IPE/LV/000010 LIFE-IP LatViaNature) is being implemented with financial support from the European Union’s LIFE programme and the State Regional Development Agency.
The information reflects solely the views of the implementers of the LIFE IP LatViaNature project; the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided here.
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