Photo: Ģirts Raģelis / LTV
Aija Kaukule, “Week in Pocket”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”.
Until recently, TV host Ieva Strazdiņa emotionally said goodbye to viewers on “RīgaTV 24”. Well, Eve says – it’s time to go to wider waters. From now on, her energy and knowledge will be shown on public television – from September 16 Ieva Strazdiņa will lead LTV1 analytical program “Food Auditor”, the author of the idea of which is a journalist and the host of the program “Forbidden Method” Guntis Bojārs. Every Wednesday, the show will explore what exactly is in different foods, where and how they were created, revising some well-rooted myths. In a conversation with Ieva Strazdins – about the courage to start something new, about brain training and eating habits.
Many were surprised that they suddenly announced their departure from “RīgaTV 24 ″…
I have been with RīgaTV 24 from the very beginning. From the time when television was on Elijas Street, not Blaumaņa Street – I remember in such a small studio. Since then, we have grown up together – both happy and eating a lot of salt together. However, over the last year, I have been thinking more and more often – maybe it’s time to do something else. Right now, it’s not that there are bad relationships left, no – everything is very fine. However, 7 years in one place is probably the moment when a person has to start doing something new.
Pandemic time hastened the decision?
I had planned to stop a bit in March, dedicate time to myself – meditate and think about what to do next. I had put it in my head at the time that spring is a time when everything changes, I could change something too. And then suddenly what happened was happening – not just me, but the whole world is taking a break and meditating in March. Laughing, maybe I have some kind of clairvoyance – I visualized this idea and, well, it happened. I do not want to generalize, but this period that we collectively went through led some to despair, but just as many, perhaps most, used it to change their lives. At least in my “bubble”, many used it to move on in life. Probably, without these events, my desire to do something new would have slowly passed. But since much of life stopped, we had to think about what to do next. They wanted to take on more challenges and go into even wider waters.
Your farewell was very emotional.
In fact, I did not expect the farewell to be so heartfelt and great. What happened in the last creature both on and off the air was a huge surprise to me! I had decided to just say thank you and goodbye, but suddenly I look behind the camera, and there – full of colleagues, and they have flowers in their hands. Everyone has come together and are smiling – I don’t know when they would have seen them in such a large crowd. It was “wow“! Neither staged nor staged – a real surprise!
With what premonition do you go on?
When we first met the author of the idea for the show, Guntis Bojārs, I will be honest – I was very worried. He had an idea, he wanted to talk about it, but the meeting was arranged in the Latvian Television building – it already made him shake. The studio on Blaumaņa Street “Rīga TV24” is such a small, cozy and cozy, but here – a television giant complex. I have always watched Guntis Boyars work with great admiration, and here – he addresses me! There was even more excitement when I first went to work. At first it seemed – now there will be soap! I come from a small media, but I can’t compare myself in any way to those people, some of whom have been working on television for 30 years. It took a little less than a week and I realized it was fine.
I still know that I still have a lot to learn, I have to learn a lot again, but that is exactly what was needed – to highlight myself from comfort.
Throw yourself in hot water and try to squat to keep everyone up. But the feeling is abnormally cool. At the moment, it seems that it has always been the case that they are like homes and all people are their own.
Serious, a bit scary name – “Food Auditor”. What are you going to audit?
But you know the situation when, when entering the store, you have forty different types of cheese, milk, bread and so on. Isn’t it that a person just gets confused?
Usually choose what you know.
But what if the one is no longer in the store? In addition, there are many different myths about food in society. For example – do not drink their milk because it is made from powder. Or – do not eat those tomatoes because they are grafted. The idea arose that it was time to be a mediator between the public and the giant supply stores. Bring clarity to what is in front of us, what we put in our fridge and on the dinner table. Every week we will focus on a food that is popular in society, which could be of interest to many. We study the composition and origin of products, as well as its path from creation to the store shelf. For example, we are present with the milk at the moment of milking until the moment when the buyer chooses to pack it. Let’s look at the choices made by the Latvian people and explain what they really are. Of course, everyone will be able to draw their own conclusions.
When shopping yourself do you tend to read the composition of the product?
I’ve noticed that on payday, most of my friends and girlfriends go to shoe, clothing and cosmetics stores, and a lot of their money stays there. Most of my money, on the other hand, stays in the grocery store or market. Everything seems interesting to me, I want to explore everything and finally taste it. Of course, research what is written on the packaging. However, I also do not understand for the most part whether what I read there is normal, bad or very good. Then in the program we will also try to understand the same many and different designations of substances and what is then the norm for the presence of different substances in a product, and which is no longer so good.
Often vegetarian, vegan is synonymous with healthy. And in this segment, the choice is also becoming wider and more confusing.
As a vegetarian with seniority, it also seemed to me that if I ate the same soy sausage or soy meat, I wouldn’t do anything to anyone – neither others nor myself. But it turns out too happy for my stomach from these soy substitutes. That is why we plan to research these products as one of the topics. The same is true with vegetable milk.
On the one hand, it seems cool – you drink, for example, almond or oat milk, but then, when you read their composition more carefully, you notice that they mostly contain different powders, flavors, a lot of sugar, but very little of the same almonds.
So it is very important to talk about where the food comes from, how it is made and who the people who produce it are from. We will focus not only on large manufacturers, but also on small ones who are very successful in the production of various products.
The first show will be about mushrooms. Mushrooming and mushroom preparation for Latvians is almost a ritual, mythological activity. A topic close to you?
This is quite interesting. My family has also been mushrooming every autumn. It can even be said that I have developed the eagle’s eye in finding mushrooms.
I have to admit that I have never eaten as many mushrooms in my life as in the last two weeks of filming the show.
It will be interesting for the viewer to know where the mushrooms that are in stores or in the market come from. We will also analyze the chemical composition of mushrooms – both forest and store-bought mushrooms. We will also focus on more non-traditional types of mushroom growing, which also exist in Latvia. We will also talk about products that contain mushrooms. It seems to me that we have not heard so many new things about mushrooms.
Did you come out this year?
Due to the show, I also had to go to the forest and look for good mushroom picking places. Well, it can already be said that mushrooming will join my hobby group. By the way, I can whisper that we will also reveal some of the secret tricks of a successful mushroom in the show. For example, on which days it is better to mushroom, or how to get the mushrooms to grow at all.
Mentioned for hobbies. I know you know languages. Is there a new language you have started to learn?
I still do Danish, but now I am attracted to Welsh. The crazier the language, the more it interests me. A very ancient language spoken by few Welsh people today. I did not understand how it could be that their language was very different when living next to the English. But in parallel, I have decided to study. It is digital marketing, which also has a language – programming or html language.
What keeps you looking for something new?
If you do not learn, do not do something new, stagnation comes out, and the meaning of life disappears. I am very positively charged by the fact that I can learn something new. It is a new tool in your hand to operate further in life. And it is important for me that the brain does not begin to atrophy, but I – stagnate. There are people who go to the gym and train muscles, I train the brain.
…
Three words that best describe you?
Happy. Energetic. Cognitive.
Without whom can’t you imagine your day?
Without lunch. Without family. Best – lunch with the family.
The most significant achievement at work?
The new show.
The best entertainment?
I really like television – as a viewer.
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