For three days (September 5-7), members of the Heirloom Plant and Seeds Savers Movement participated in the Riga Food exhibition to spread the message about heirloom plants and seed saving.
We connected with so many people, inviting them to find, grow, and share local treasures from their gardens. We met countless prospective chefs and gardeners, highlighting the significance of heirloom crops in our nutrition. The assistance of our friends Gemoss and Rihards Treijs in creating a beautiful meeting space brought us immense joy.
Even though the whole day at the exhibition requires a lot of physical strength, every evening we left with an uplifted feeling of a job well done, because our pop-up stand was also visited by like-minded people and gardeners who have their own valuable plants and who are aware of the importance of continuing to grow them and sharing with others.
Additionally, on the third day, Sandra Stabinge and Ilze Mežniece, representatives of the Heirloom Plant Movement, participated in the panel discussion "Forgotten Foods—Saviors of Culture and Sustainability: Returning to Our Roots, Economic Aspects, Ecological Opportunities." This discussion was organized by the Baltic International Center for Economic Policy Studies (BICEPS) as part of their project "Building Digital Education of Indigenous/Heritage Crops for the Resilience of African Food Systems in the Climate Crisis" (the project has received development cooperation financing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia in 2024 and 2025).
The discussion explored the impact of traditional foods, old recipes, and heirloom plants on our health, economy, and environment asking the question why we need to revisit grandmothers' recipes and long-forgotten dishes in a world where modern food markets are saturated with alternatives.
Other panelists included Maija Kāle, a BICEPS Research Group member, and Lily Akorfa Keledorme, a representative of Farmerline from Ghana.
Watch the recording of the discussion here: https://fb.watch/urT6mfOPd2/
We thank the entire team for their time and efforts in spreading our message during these days.!
Photo: R. Abaja, D. Mūrniece, A. Vegners
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