If you find yourself in Estonia during the winter holidays, enjoying a local Christmas dinner is a must. Find out why the Christmas feast is such a meaningful event, which Estonian dishes to look for, and where you can have a feast of your own.
Apples grow abundantly in Estonia, but some types of talveõun (winter apple) are harvested late in the year and last through the winter.
Photo by: Jarek Jõepera
The Estonian way of life is based on the changing of the seasons and the bounty of nature. Berries are picked and collected in the summer months, while fruits, vegetables, grains, potatoes, and mushrooms are harvested in the autumn. These goods, along with farmed and wild game meats, are pickled, salted, smoked, and otherwise preserved to fill the pantries through the winter. With the advent of commercial markets, it is no longer essential to preserve goods at home. However, the practice of growing and harvesting one's own food remains popular in the countryside and is increasingly making its way back into modern-day kitchens.
Vegetables, fruits, grains, and potatoes harvested earlier in the year and preserved provide most of the food for the Christmas feast.
Photo by: Toomas Tuul
Winter dishes in Estonia tend to be hearty and filling in order to provide energy and warmth in the cold weather. The food served at a Christmas dinner is no exception, and staples include verivorst (blood sausage), sült (jellied head cheese), hapukapsas (sauerkraut), oven-roasted potatoes, and pork. Special Christmas bread is baked along with gingerbread, often an activity for the whole family. Apples and mandarin oranges are also enjoyed as Christmas treats.
The Christmas meal itself, eaten on Christmas Eve or the night of Christmas, is an important family event originating from pagan times. There were to be seven, nine or twelve servings of food to bring good luck and plenty for next year's harvest. Food was to remain on the table all night long, and it was forbidden to peek under the table, for this was a sacred place where spirits dwelled and any food dropped was left there.
If you're feeling up to making your own Estonian Christmas dishes, we've got a few recipes you can try out for yourself so you can cook the Estonian way.
Recipe for Oven-baked pork with sauerkraut
Ingredients
Directions
Recipe for Verivorst (Blood Sausage)
Ingredients
Directions
Olde Hansa serves a multi-course Christmas meal mid-November through mid-January including bear, wild boar, and elk sausages.
Photo by: Toomas Tuul
In case you don't feel like cooking a seven-course meal, you can also go out for a traditional Christmas dinner.
The following restaurants offer holiday fare to give you a taste of Christmas in Estonia.
Tallinn
Northern Estonia