SOLturgelis – the market for ecology lovers

May 21, 2009
By Laima Vaige

VILNIUS - Viva Sol, an association of producers and consumers, has been organizing small markets filled with ecological Lithuanian food products in Vilnius for about a few years now. The participants care about quality more than about quantity, and news about SOLturgeliai has been slow to travel around the country.

SOLturgeliai (Sol – sun, salt, land in various languages, turgelis – little market in Lithuanian) takes place in Vilnius’ Cafe de Paris every second Sunday, in Jalta restaurant every second Saturday. Many traders also sell their goods at EkoTurgelis in Tymo market on Thursdays.
The philosophy of SOLturgelis is the exact opposite of what is usual in urban areas, where buying food is a fast and anonymous process, and consumers try to avoid contemplating who made their food, where it’s been, and how it was made. The unfortunate truth is that most consumers are often afraid to think about it.

“The idea is that the producer gets to know the buyer, and the buyer gets to know the producer” explained Valdas, the maker of amazing cheese.
Cafe de Paris on May 17 was a busy place to be – buyers flocked round stalls, where goat cheese, various cow cheeses, milk, butter, curd, home-made bread, fresh vegetables, eggs, kvass and various other products attracted the eye and were offered to taste.

Indeed, most buyers and traders seemed to know each other, and baskets, bags and purses filled very quickly because many products were pre-ordered and producers had them prepared. Some of the products, for instance fresh eggs, could be bought only if they had been ordered in advance. The contacts of producers for prior ordering are provided at the Web site www.vivasol.lt.

The farmers are very pleasant, young but responsible, and speak several languages. 
The main reason people keep coming back and recommending their friends to come is that the food sold at SOLturgelis is ecological. Products are fresh and healthy, have no chemicals, conservatives or poisonous ingredients added – and most importantly, they taste great.

Nerijus, a maker of traditional dark bread, said his family has an ecological farm in the Ukmerge region, where the bread is baked in clay furnaces according to ancient traditions. The bread, which tastes amazing with real butter or milk, is lightly salted.
The price of bread is reasonable at 8 litas (2,30 euros) per kilogram. Big wheels of cow cheese with caraway, cranberries, raisins, poppy, or different greeneries costs about 11 litas, and small wheels of ripened goat cheese are 7 litas. There are also some mold cheeses, sour cream, curd, dried and spread cheeses, and many more.

Valdas and other producers told The Baltic Times that “blitz markets” like SOLturgelis are the best way to sell their products and they are not interested in trading in large quantities. Even opening a small shop of ecological foodstuffs would demand regular transportation, a constant supply and the creation of a network.

The bigger the quantities, the harder it is to keep up high standards of quality and keep the products really ecological. Thus, Valdas, Nerijus and others prefer to sell in small quantities, and invite those who are interested in learning, for instance, the secrets of making bread and cheese to small paid seminars at their farms (groups of 2-10 persons).

The next SOLturgelis will take place on May 23 in the Jalta restaurant on Vykinto Street at 11 a.m. On May 31, there will be no SOLturgelis at Cafe de Paris. Instead, everyone is invited to the Whit Sunday celebration in Darguziai village (in the Varena region), which is known as the “cheese capital” of Lithuania.

Visitors can indulge in tasty foods and drinks that are recommended by producers and sommeliers – come to enjoy French, English, German films, artistic exhibitions (pottery, painting on silk, etc.) and live music.

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