Estonian National Cuisine
Black Bread
The word “bread” came
to Estonian from
Germanic languages.
Traditional black bread
spread in Estonia in the
second century.
In a peasant household
people usually baked
bread on Saturdays.
Depending on the size of the
family, they usually made 6-10
loaves of bread.
Recipe of Bread
51 of warm water
100 g leaven
6-7 kg rye flour
1 tablespoon of salt
2 tablespoons of fennel seeds
Beliefs and habits
There were many beliefs and habits related with bread:
If a piece of bread was dropped, it had to be picked up and
given a kiss so that hunger would not come to the house.
A loaf of bread was never put on a table upside crust down.
That would predict a family member's death.
It was not allowed to lay a loaf of bread with its cut side to
the door, because then the house would run out of bread.
People imprinted a cross on a loaf of bread before they
baked it, because it would protect the family from an evil eye.
Eating the crusty end of bread would give a girl nice breasts.
Warm bread was supposed to be broken not cut.
Christmas bread
Christmas bread had to be
different from everyday
bread.
It was made of rye or wheat
flour and it was usually in
the shape of a lying pig.
Christmas bread was also
fed to the animals in the
stables and barns
The Baltic Herring
The Baltic herring has been the main
fish on Estonians” table for centuries.
It is the main fish that is caught in the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic herring has become
the national fish of Estonia.
The Baltic herring is eaten fresh,
marinated, smoked and tinned.
A sprat sandwich
black bread
salted sprats
boiled eggs
All you have to do now is just make a
sandwich.
Traditional favourites
Marinated eel,
served cold. A true
Estonian favourite.
Pork
Pork has been known in the national
cuisine of Estonia for a long time.
Meat was eaten mostly in autumn and
in winter with vegetables and cereals.
The Market of Tartu City
Beliefs and habits
The pig’s snout was given to a child,
because people believed that it helped the
child to become a writer.
Eating the heart gives strength.
The kidneys were boiled in soup and
were eaten with somebody else to get
well along with.
These traditions are old and mostly
forgotten, but pork has still a very
important place in Estonian cuisine.
Jellied meat
In Estonian sült.
A traditional Estonian
dish - boiled pork with
vegetables in jelly.
The jelly is made by
boiling the pig bones,
sometimes trotters and
heads.
Estonians eat jellied meat
at Christmas time, on
Shrove Tuesday, New
Year’s Eve and at Easter.
Blood sausage
Verivorst
Blood and barley sausage, similar
to what the English diplomatically
call 'black pudding' due to its
colour. In Estonia, this is
traditional Christmas food, and is
served with a red, berry jam. Our
guests loved it.
Sauerkraut stew
Milk
Milk is called “piim” in Estonian
Over the times Estonians have been
drinking and using milk (mostly cow
milk but also horse and goat milk) as
everyday food.
The development of Estonian milk
industry began in the 19th century.
Nowadays it is one of the most
important lines of production in
Estonian farming.
Soured milk
Soured milk is
called hapupiim
in Estonian
Soured milk is a
general term for
milk that has
acquired a tart
taste through
bacterial
fermentation
Curd
Curd is made from soured
milk by heating it on a
low temperature.
Curd is a popular diet
food because of its high
calcium and phosphorus
content and low energetic
value.
Curd might be
flavoured with salt
or sugar and it is
used in many
different dishes like
curd cheese patties.
Curd snack
A curd snack is a sweet snack about five
centimeters long.
It is made of milled sweet curd or curd
cream and usually covered with
chocolate glaze.
A traditionally
popular drink
called Kali
Besides the wine, the one packaged
food we had was the very Estonian,
non-alcoholic beverage called Kali.
Referred to as "the Estonian CocaCola," Kali is a kind of unfermented
beer. It's sweet and has a very light
fizz to it.
"Unfermented beer or liquid bread?
Tastes really special. I like it!"