The Riga Taste Festival will take place on the occasion of Riga's birthday and aims to introduce Riga's residents and visitors to the diverse and best flavors of Latvian cuisine - both traditional and innovative.
For three days, the parking lot at Mazā Jauniela 5 will be transformed into a street food square, full of flavor and with a wide selection of street food, bringing together the best of the best street food masters, giving visitors the opportunity to enjoy dishes from different cuisines around the world, but made with Latvian products and integrating the Latvian flavor code into them.
The Latvian stage of the European Street Food Festival will take place over three days, where tasters and a jury will determine the best street food flavor and its creator, who will represent Latvia in the European Street Food Awards in Germany this autumn.
Latvian independent brewers will play a special role in the taste square, where visitors will be able to taste a variety of beer types and flavors. A DJ will entertain guests throughout the event.
On August 17, various festive activities will take place in Town Hall Square throughout the day. Sandwiches will play a special role on this day, as we have reason to be proud of our sandwich culture. In cooperation with joint-stock company Latvijas Maiznieks, sandwich-making competitions and other activities will take place.
The Riga Bar will be open in the Town Hall Square, where award-winning bartender Linards Grundmanis and his team will work their magic. The bar will host a bartending show by professional bartenders and revive the long-forgotten cocktail - The Key of Riga.
The Riga Buffet will be open alongside the bar, where visitors will be able to enjoy a variety of canapes, salads and other dishes typical of Latvian festivals, as well as authentic culinary heritage delicacies will be introduced into the street food culture for the first time by the Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Center - sklandarauši (sweet, potato and carrot pie), real rye bread with white butter, peas with bacon, etc.
Masterclasses and competitions will take place throughout the day, hosted by the festival's great chefs: chef Elmārs Tannis and Latvia's best recipe expert Pipars. The festive atmosphere will be taken care of by Riga Pantomime mimes and musician Rudra and his team.
Meanwhile, on August 17, from 14:00 to 20:00, Riga craftsmen will return to the passage under Town Hall (Rātes pasāža), where visitors will have the opportunity to try out various craft skills and purchase items created by the craftsmen.