Today, we walked through the Riga Central Market on a Latvian food tour with our lovely guide, Ilze. She guided us through the market, gathering up typical Latvian foods for us to try at the end of our tour. The market is fascinating architecturally – it’s housed in five relocated German zeppelin hangars that were used during the First World War. And it’s a terrific place for people watching/street photography.

Sidebar: You know what will get you moving in the morning? A fire alarm in your hotel room. Turned out to be a false alarm, but I haven’t been that “awake” in a long time!

Latvian foods we tried:

1. Smoked chicken. I cannot stand smoked anything. But I was a goddamned trooper and took a bite. Oh God, it’s also covered in coriander (seeds of the vile cilantro plant). Might die. I want to spit this out so badly.

2. Jancūks farmers cheese. Yellowish in color with caraway seeds. Eaten especially during midsummers, it’s supposed to symbolize the sun. Pretty decent.

3. Pickles. Latvians love pickles. The spice was a bit much for me, but not awful.

4. Sauerkraut. Super fresh and mild. Very crunchy. Great stuff.

5. Bright red cabbage fermented with pomegranate juice. Really freaking good.

6. Brown ale. Also really freaking good.

7. Kvass. Ilze said this is Latvian Coke. It’s basically non-alcoholic brown ale. Tastes kind of like a yeasty root beer. Really good.

Things we saw, but did not eat:

1. Most popular herb in Latvia? Dill.

2. Sauerkraut juice. Ilze said this is the Latvian hangover cure. I hope I never need this.

3. Chicken feet. A favorite in soups. Nope.

4. Cow tongue, which, inexplicably, is eaten as a salad. Also nope.

5. A dried whole fish that’s eaten as a snack with beer. Still nope.

6. Piles and piles of herring. Double nope.

7. Cepti neģi želejā. Fried lampreys in jelly. A lamprey is a small, jawless, eel-like fish. Supposedly they taste like a cross between eel and liver. In gelatin. All the nope in the whole wide world.

8. Carp. Ilze said if you put a few scales of carp in your wallet, they are supposed to bring you good luck and money. Or a really stinky wallet.

Walked through the Latvian Museum of Occupations. Not an especially “fun”, museum, but I don’t think you can visit the Baltic States and ignore this part of their collective national experience. I had no idea there were so many (in the thousands) gulag prisons in the Soviet Union. I was fascinated with the briefcases full of index cards of information the KGB gathered about Latvian citizens.

Tried to support the economy of Latvia again this pm (look at those beautiful mittens!), but it’s freezing, and the winds are over 40mph. I lost steam. Lithuania is my last hope for good shopping karma.

Learned how to say Cheers in Latvian: Priekā!

Travel date: April 9, 2025