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“It’s only -5°C today. You have to write to your family in Scotland to ask for more coats! When I first started here, I would ride my bicycle to work. Even in -30°C!”. Both myself and Vladimir the vendor are wrapped up standing at his stand in the Riga market, a UNESCO heritage site originally constructed by reusing Zeppelin hangers. There are thousands of stands, displaying a range of food from pigs ears, Latvian cheeses and carp fish still gasping their last breaths as they lay displayed on the ice. The energy and smells are different in every pavilion. The smell from piles of various pickled vegetables takes me immediately back childhood summer holidays spent at my Great-aunties in ex East Germany where pickles would be added to almost every dish! In front of us are open boxes, all different colours from the various spices. He crushes black and pink pepper together, chucks in colours from every corner of the display of spices at such a speed. I can’t keep up with everything he’s putting in so I look to read the labels of different spices. With the labels being bi-lingual in Russian and Latvian it is absolutely no use to me. “For red fish” he says handing me his final blend. My hands shaking from the cold as I hand him 1.50 Euros for a spice blend he’s thrown together for me. He tells me he is the only person in this pavilion that speaks English and I believe him. When I ask an older woman at a fish stand in broken Latvian whether she speaks any English I get a response in Russian “нет”. So, with the help of a select handful of Russian words and a lot of hand gestures, I have managed come back home with the all the items for a tasty, almost Latvian dish. We eat salad with dill, Salmon fried in whatever Vladimir gave me there, and Uzbekistani flatbread which the bakers stick to the side of a sort of Pizza oven. This method cooks both sides, one by the flames and the other by the hot stone of the oven. And of course, a bottle of Georgian wine. The red wine is sweet and although I know that red wine should not be drunk with fish this is like nothing I have ever tasted before. Our night continues onto old town which is full of different pubs with great beer selections. I drink pints of Medalus which is honey flavoured beer! But Valmiermuižas is a good choice for those who prefer something more traditional. We plough through the snow covered square, the freedom monument towering over us. The guards aren’t standing watch during this cold night like they do during the day. It’s so cold but I’m kept cosy under my many layers and hat. I see ducks huddling together asleep on the frozen water of the river. We arrive at Kanepes and are warmed up by dancing and taking shots of Riga Balsams- a fruity equivalent to Jaegermeister if you go for the cherry flavoured one! To me, this is Riga. Despite being in the USSR until 1991 and my generation are the first to not have to learn Russian at school, Riga is a mixing pot of cultures. It has opened my eyes to different cultures and ingredients in just a visit to the market and the plate created from it. I’m sure my dish won’t be replicated in any of the local restaurants but these flavours are ones I can only place in Riga. New but with a sense of familiarity all at the same time, and it’s all taken me by surprise. I get lost very easily. Luckily everything in Riga is bi-lingual, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to remain lost until I improve my Latvian or Russian.