Estonian Cuisine - Modern Estonian Cuisine

Modern Estonian Cuisine

The previous segments have dealt largely with the most basic underpinnings of traditional Estonian food, as handed down by an agrarian society and adapted to modern times in the most traditional of senses. It would be wrong to conclude that there isn't much more to the national cuisine. Many influences have nudged modern Estonian eating into more diverse and open directions. Early influences that diversified the eating experience came through the Hanseatic League. Small Estonia has been conquered and ruled by many foreign powers, ranging from the Danes, Germans, Poles, and Swedes to the Russians. German nobles who colonized the Estonian countryside with hundreds of manors were modernizers over the centuries, and also acted as a transmission belt of Continental influences on Estonian cooking, although for a great many years, precious few of these influences trickled down to the impoverished Estonian peasants.

Things began to change with the gradual emancipation of the Estonian people in the 19th century and as a result of urbanization. By the time that Estonia enjoyed national independence between the two World Wars, Tallinn, Tartu and Parnu as well as other Estonian urban centers sported a diverse variety of restaurants and cafes that featured dishes from many European cuisines as well as the local menu. There was also a flowering of good cooking in Estonian homes throughout the country. A variety of newer Estonian dishes were developed, and cooks and housewives experimented with foods from other cultures.

All of this came to a crashing halt in 1940, when the Baltic States were annexed by the USSR, restaurants were nationalized and closed down, and the few that were left suffered from a chronic shortage of ingredients. Although those who still had access to garden plots were able to supplement the limited variety of foods that were offered in Soviet-era food stores and markets, the period from 1940 to the early nineties brought with it a tragic decline, compared to the golden days of the twenties and thirties. On the other hand, migrants from various parts near and far of the USSR brought new recipes and styles. Even now, the foods of the Georgians, Azerbaijanis and others make the culinary experience in Estonia less one-sided.

Since the reestablishment of independence in 1991, Estonian cuisine has rebounded, slowly at first. Some good dishes enjoyed before WW II have not returned, while many others have. A number of restaurants in Tallinn and other Estonian cities have introduced culinary experiences previously not known, such as Indian and Mexican food. At the same time, a number of modern-day restaurateurs such as Imre Kose, Imre Sooäär, Dimitri Demjanov, and Kadri Kroon have not only introduced international dishes, but have also tweaked classical Estonian dishes in directions they had never gone before. They have created totally new and sometimes amazing combinations that may draw on local ingredients, but use the entire palette of innovations that a contemporary cook can allow him or herself. Some of the fusion and other ideas conjured up by Kose, for example, is groundbreaking. Although home cooks tend to be more conservative, they too try new things at a more tempered pace. Therefore modern Estonian cooking is in flux. Traditional dishes are still common and even cherished, but Estonian cuisine is not static either. All in all, Estonian rural fare is good and hearty, while the better kitchens of establishments in the larger Estonian cities and towns can justifiably be proud of themselves.