Menu of Līgo festivity has become healthier

This year, the menu of Līgo festivity has changed and become healthier. In addition to the traditionally popular treats of the Midsummer celebration like cheese and grilled meat, 70 percent of Latvia’s residents will be serving fresh vegetables and 60 percent will have various fruit on their table, a Maxima Latvija survey reveals.

The warm weather has made people consider healthier diets – 33 percent of respondents acknowledged that their meals had become much more healthier and nearly 37 percent indicated that they had started paying closer attention to the products they put on the table. Along with the increased popularity of vegetables and fruit, the Līgo meal will also include the traditional cheese, grilled meat, pates and various salads.

This year, Latvians are planning to spend a bit more on their Līgo celebrations than last year. The number of people planning to spend between EUR 41 and EUR 60 (24 percent) on the celebration has slightly increased, and 18 percent are going to spend more than EUR 60. Furthermore, the number of respondents whose Līgo expenses will not exceed EUR 20 (19 percent) has dropped. The largest percentage of people, or 39 percent, are going to spend EUR 21 to 40 on the celebrations.

As usual, people are not rushing to shop for the festivity. More than half (52 percent) of the respondents intend to purchase everything they need for the celebrations only a few days ahead of the Līgo, one third (29 percent) are planning to make their purchases on the day before of the festivity and one in ten (12 percent) will be doing the shopping on Līgo Day. Just 5 percent of the surveyed people bought most of the necessary items already last weekend.

“Given the rapid pace of life, shopping for festive occasions is increasingly often postponed to the last moment. Various ready-made marinades and meals, including products of the Meistara Marka brand, appear in the shopping carts more and more often. For many years already, our Meistara Marka pork marinade with mayonnaise has been the most popular meat for grilling. Along with the traditionally popular Līgo products, vegetables and fruit are also high in demand this year. Compared to the first five months of last year, demand for these products in Maxima stores has risen by 13% percent this year. This year’s most popular goods also include grilling equipment, whose sales volumes that rose by 13% percent this May in comparison with the same month last year,” Zane Kaktiņa, Head of the Business Analytics Department at Maxima Latvija, comments shoppers’ habits.

The list of most popular Līgo beverages has remained unchanged this year and includes beer, kvass and juices. Nearly one fifth of the respondents said that they would be drinking non-alcoholic beer. Beer sales grew significantly thanks to the hot weather in May and June, beating last year’s sales result by roughly 26% percent.

For more than half of the respondents (66 percent), their own, relatives or friends’ country houses are the most popular venue for Līgo celebrations this year. Another 10 percent of respondents plan to celebrate in nature or at a camping. Only a fraction of respondents said that they would spend the Midsummer Night in front of their TV (5 percent), attend public celebrations in Riga (5 percent) or an open-air dance party (4 percent). Meanwhile, 3 percent of respondents will spend the holidays at work and less than 3 percent said they would celebrate elsewhere, for example, outside Latvia or at a special event.

The survey of Līgo celebration habits was conducted on the Maxima Latvija website from June 8 to 19, with 1,409 respondents participating in the poll.


Information to the media:
Liene Dupate-Ugule
Head of Communications
SIA Maxima Latvija
Phone: 26425420
Email: liene.dupate@maxima.lv
www.maxima.lv