2008

Results of the Mushroom Gathering Championship

On 20 September, the 4th Latvian Mushroom Gathering Championship took place in Tome, Ogre Region. The event was organised by the Forest Faculty and the Food Technology Faculty of Latvia University of Agriculture (LLU), the JSC Latvijas valsts meži,  Vidusdaugava forestry and Ķegums city with the rural area.

The 44 teams, which entered into the contest, picked 131.7 kg of boletuses, chantarelles and ugly milk-caps in total. Velta Grunvalde, a member of the team Three in One, was recognised as the best individual mushroom picker. Within two hours, she gathered 4190 grams of mushrooms permitted by the rules of the Championship – boletuses, chantarelles and ugly milk-caps.

Three sisters from Tome – Zanda, Rūta and Gunita Kuriņa – came in first. The name of their team spoke for itself: “The one who searches always finds”. In total, the sisters gathered 9.5 kg of mushrooms.

Many mushroom pickers showed up in special outfits, which were judged by the jury and Cūkmens (Pigman). The costume design of the team Zvēri was recognised as the smartest.

The contestants were offered the mushroom soup made by the student food technologists from the Food Technology Faculty of LLU, Guntis Ščepaniks, District Manager of LVM was in charge of rescue of the lost mushroom pickers, while Cūkmens was responsible for cheerful atmosphere, order and tidiness.

Dagnis Dombrovskis, Dean of the Forest Faculty, LLU and chief organiser of the Mushroom Gathering Championship hopes that next year both, the number of teams and mushrooms will grow even bigger.