Kuldīga district hosts Home Café Days with 11 hosts
On August 15–16, 11 home café owners across the Kuldīga municipality opened their doors to visitors, including two popular spots in Ēdole parish. Guests enjoyed dishes made from local produce and got to meet the hosts.
The Kuldīga municipality held its Home Café Days on August 15–16, with 11 households welcoming guests to sample home cooking. The account below covers two locations visited in Ēdole parish.
Jasmīni, run by chef Behmanis
The first stop was Jasmīni, run by well-known Latvian chef Žanis Raivo Behmanis. Guests were served a three-course meal: a starter of homemade bread with cheese and mushroom pâté, a main course of smoked chicken with beer glaze, lamb tongue, chicken hearts and grilled vegetables with horseradish cream, and a dessert of crumble with buttermilk cream and berries. Behmanis said he used ingredients from neighboring farms, including lamb and chicken, as well as seasonal vegetables and chanterelle mushrooms. His whole family — mother, partner and children — helped run the café. Next year he plans to focus only on designing the menu and hiring a cook, so he can spend more time with guests. Demand was so high that around 100 people had to be turned away over the two days. The Mauriņš family from Riga, who visited the café, praised the hosts' hospitality and the food.
Wind cookies in the village center
The second stop was in the center of Ēdole village, at a café run by Līga Tīrmane. She offered cold soup with homemade rye bread, along with sweet and savory "wind cookies," including one filled with spicy garlic. Tīrmane said turnout was strong because the Home Café Days coincided with the parish festival, and positive feedback from visitors motivates her to keep going.
The author notes that his own experience with Home Café Days has so far been positive, though acquaintances have had mixed impressions elsewhere, including inedible food and an uncomfortable atmosphere at one location that operated on a cattle farm. Overall, home cafés are seen as a valuable way to discover new places, meet the hosts, and, when things go well, enjoy good home-cooked food.
