Latvia mourns loss of Celebrity Chef & Cultural icon Mārtiņš Rītiņš to COVID
In Memoriam
(19 October 1949 – 11 February 2022)
By Axel Ritenis
Publisher of Connoisseur Magazine “For the Finer Things in Life” and Editor of The Sydney Times-News, Lifestyle & Hyperlocal Community News
Chef,businessman and unofficial cultural ambassador Mārtiņš Rītiņš died at the age of 72, (19 October 1949 – 11 February 2022) losing a fight against Covid-19 .Rītiņš was admitted to the ICU of Stradiņš Hospital before Christmas last year after being diagnosed with Covid-19. Whilst his health improved in the middle of January giving some hope to relatives,. His condition deteriorated a few days later. And he was in an induced coma for several weeks and passed away on the 11 February. Interestingly the chef had been vaccinated and received a Booster but it is believed that he had some underlying medical conditions.
Ironically on December 1 last year, he organized a presentation for his autobiographical book – “De Profundis” which was written by a close family friend Linda Apse, which revealed hitherto unknown details about the life and personality of the legendary chef and communicator including, about the tragic loss of a male partner in earlier years and revelation of a past history of alcoholism.
Rītiņš had been running the legendary restaurant “Vincents” since 1994, and was the initiator of the “slow food” movement in Latvia. Rītiņš was born on October 19, 1949 in Cheshire, England. From 1984 to 1992, he lived and worked in Toronto, Canada, but in 1993 he came to the homeland of his ancestors, where in addition to working for Vincents, he also starred in TV culinary shows, gaining the affection of the populace. Mārtiņš Rītiņš was a British-born Latvian who grew up in the industrial town of Corby, before moving to London to become a chef.
In 1971, he graduated from the Westminster Technical University in London. From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, he worked at various catering establishments including the Grand Metropolitan Hotels. From 1984 to 1992, he was the owner of Toronto’s Martins Catering Ltd. before moving to Latvia. In 1994 M. Rītiņš became the director and chef of the restaurant “Vincents” and starred in the Latvian Food television program (Kas var but labaks par to?)“What Could Be Better Than This?.
In 2007, he was awarded the Latvian Order of the Three Stars for his “services to Gastronomy and Culinary education in Latvia”
Mārtiņš attending an Italian Trade event in Riga with the Italian Trade Commissioner
When Mārtiņš Rītiņš , the director of Restaurant Vincents, unexpectedly retired from the restaurant, on 1 July 2017, the restaurant’s management was taken over by the European champion sommelier – Raimonds Tomsons, with whom Rītiņš has been working since 2000.
At the time he stated:
“I have spent half of my professional life in Vincents, and together with my team, we have achieved a great deal. It took a lot of work and a lot of strength. So, I’m taking a break to relax – to enjoy Latvia during the summer and visit South Korea and India to explore new inspiration in the autumn.”
Becoming bored and restless with his retirement however, he made a successful comeback to head the famed Vincent Restaurant in Riga in 2020.
He continued to run “Slow Food” in Riga,
