The majority of Estonian food is very simple, and for a long time, grain and bread were in first place, with potatoes being added later. Milk, salted fish, and pork have also been part of the daily menu.
Traditional Estonian dishes are conspicuous for the simplicity of their preparation. The same food could vary somewhat from place to place. The food was given a unique pleasant taste by the threshing barn oven, and any seasoning cannot duplicate its effect. The way of placing the food on the table was extremely simple: soup in a wooden bowl, a large piece of meat on a platter, accompanied by rye bread. At other times, however, butter in a wooden tub, hot barley bread with cold fresh milk, and stewed mulgi sauerkraut with pork.
The staple food for Estonians used to be bread and various other flour products. Whereas, bread was considered to be sacred, and one was not supposed to throw it or step on it. Other food, primarily animal foodstuffs, such as meat (salted), fish (dried, salted, fresh), and butter were called bread side dishes. Milk and dishes prepared from it was used infrequently. During the milking season, butter was produced and salted to preserve it for fall and winter. Pea, bean, lentil, barley, and flour soups played an important role at the dining table. Porridges were also popular.
Food for festive occasions included barley sausages (bloodless white sausages in North-Estonia, and blood sausage in South-Estonia), pig’s head, pork, and headcheese. Small pies with various fillings were also prepared.
Starting at the end of the 19th century, new foods, which previously has only prepared in the towns and manors, started to proliferate. The amount of store-bought food and seasoning increased. Different types of baked white breads and cakes; barley porridge was often replaced by farina or rice pudding. Herring and potatoes appeared on the table.
The grain foods were most important for Estonians, and barley and rye were used most often. Today, Estonians still love rye bread, which has been an everyday food since the 12th century. Dishes from oats and hempseed were prepared to a lesser extent, and wheat products did not reach the Estonian food table until the end of the 19th century.

SOMETHING SPECIAL

Some feel that the Estonian national food is blood sausage; others think it is new potatoes with Baltic herring, while still others feel it is mulgi porridge, sauerkraut, kama dishes, hempseed spread, gingerbread cookies, or rye bread.
If in the old days, foods and beverages were sweetened with honey then today this possibility has been largely forgotten.
Quite often, gruel or flour soup, i.e. a smooth semi-thick soup was prepared. The gruel was boiling into water. The porridge was a thick and dense food, dollops of which could be held in the palm of the hand. Of the flour porridges, the most popular in Estonia was barley flour porridge. This was prepared in two ways: the flour was sprinkled into boiling water through one’s fingers, or the flour was poured into salted boiling water all at once, and stirred before the porridge was ready.
Of sauces, the most popular was Baltic herring brine and salty sour milk sauce, to which cream and onions were added. Meat brine was also used for sauces, mixed with barley flour, eggs, or fresh foremilk and then heated. Sometimes, fat and bits of meat were added. Baltic herring sauce and the top fatty coating on meat broth were also used.
The potato quickly became a popular foodstuff, and the old Estonians were especially willing to eat baked potatoes that were dipped into curd or dabbed with butter. The relative importance of legumes (beans, peas) in the past was greater than today.

CUSTOMS
In the morning, the food from the night before was heated up, with bread and Baltic herring on the side, flour gruel or some other dish that could be prepared quickly was prepared. For lunch, often only bread, Baltic herring, and sour milk was eaten, so as not to spend time on food preparation during busy working hours.
The most common food in the week’s menu was barley broth in the evening or morning. This was cooked with water, to which as much milk as the mistress of the house had to heart to spare, was added as it finished boiling. In some homes, a little fat or butter was added. Barley broth was eaten with bread, and Baltic herring. Bean, pea, and lentil broth was also cooked, as well as cabbage, fish, and meat broth.
According to the old custom, the slaughter of animals started on St. Michael’s Day, when a sheep was butchered. For St. Martin’s Day, a goose was killed, a chicken for St. Catherine’s Day, pig for New Year’s, and calf for Easter. Cattle was also slaughtered for St. Michael’s and St. Martin’s Days.
Domestic birds were primarily raised for eggs. Egg dishes were prepared by maidens for suitors, by the housewives for important holidays, family celebration, for guests and on Sundays.
In the old days, fresh milk was seldom drunk with meals, and sour milk was on the food table. Butter was also used quite seldom and cream almost never. Important dairy products were curd and cottage cheese.
Since ancient times, fresh, salted, or fermented wild mushrooms, berries, nuts, and other forest products have been used for food. If earlier, mushroom dishes were popular primarily in the eastern regions of Estonia, then today eating mushrooms has been universal. Mushroom dishes were offered on both workdays and holidays.
Estonian peasants did not start preparing desserts until the beginning of the last century. Earlier few desserts were prepared, and for instance, beer soup, cottage cheese crumbs, etc., were only prepared for holidays and family celebrations. Desserts were prepared with “bird sweet”, i.e. with the help of honey, which was originally obtained from the forest. Honey was an important foodstuff and one of the most effective medications for the peasantry.
Estonians sitting down to eat say “May your bread last!” to which one answers “We it will!” Recently, the expression “Bon appetit” has become more usual.
The first cookbooks intended for widespread use appeared at the end of the 19th century, although the first Estonian-language cookbook was already published in Tallinn in 1781. This was the Köki ja Kokka Ramat, mis Rootsi Kelest Eesti-ma Kele üllespandud on, which was translated from Swedish.

SOUPS
Soup used to be the most important food for Estonians. The most popular was sauerkraut soup. Dumpling, potato, bean, and pea soup was also prepared. In the summer, when there was no meat, soup was prepared with fat or milk. During lean years when even chaffy bread was a rarity, soup from goutweed, stinging nettle, sorrel, and thistle was prepared.
- Beer soup
- Milk soup with egg
- Sauerkraut soup with beans
- Gruel
- Bean soup
- Milk soup with pearl barley
- Wedding soup or wedding mash
- Baltic herring soup
- Sauerkraut soup with cold mashed potatoes
- Lentil soup with smoked meat
- Meat and dumpling soup
- Sour sorrel soup
- Beetroot soup

MEAT DISHES
For country people, meat was more of a treat than everyday food, in the past this was eaten little, mostly in the fall and winter. Meat was usually salted and smoked. Primarily pork and mutton was used for smoking. Fresh meat was after animals were butchered. The entire animal was used for food. Right after the butchering, chitterlings soup was prepared. The blood was also used, and blood bread, blood sausage and other dishes were prepared from it.
- Pigs’ feet in aspic
- Headcheese
- Christmas dish
- Blood dumplings
- Blood bread
- Blood pancakes
- Blood sausage
- Veal slices in dough
- Smoked lamb shank
- Meat and potatoes

FISH DISHES
Fish has always had an important place on the Estonians’ food table, which was usually salted. The coastal inhabitants ate fresh fish almost daily. Drying of fish was also quite popular. The most popular food fish were flounder, Baltic herring, pike, whitefish, roach, eel, and small whitefish.
- Dried flounder
- Salted Baltic herring
- Stewed dried fish
- Baltic herring in vinegar
- Baltic herring casserole
- Pike stew
- Fresh pike sautéed in butter
- Cold herring filling in unpeeled potatoes
- Baltic herring rolls re-baked with egg and mustard sauce
- Stewed pike with horseradish
- Salted whitefish with additions
- Fish rolls in aspic

VEGETABLE AND MUSHROOM DISHES
Various vegetables have been popular at different times, but yellow turnips, turnips, cabbage, cucumbers, beets, pumpkins, and tomatoes have always been eaten with pleasure. In the winter primarily turnips, and later yellow turnips and sauerkraut, was eaten. Turnips and yellow turnips were cooked, baked whole in the threshing barn oven, and used as side dishes for other food.
Apples have been the indisputable favourite among fruits, followed by plums and bullaces.
- Baked unpeeled potatoes
- Vegetable cooked in fast broth
- Sweet and sour fresh cabbage
- Mulgi sauerkraut
- Pea spread
- Hempseed spread or jurss
- Potato salad with red beets
- Potato-pearl barley porridge or mulgi porridge
- Potato-barley porridge or mulgi porridge
- Meatloaf of peas
- Pearl barley and mushroom dish
- Salted mushroom salad
- Large mushroom pie

DESSERTS AND PASTRIES
- Honey cakes
- Mulgi curd cake
- Wheat bread
- Rye bread
- New Year’s cake
- Barley bread
- Wedding cake
- Plaited sweet bread
- Berry froth
- Farina cream
- Bread soup
- Sour milk pancakes
- Cabbage pie
- Baked apples
- Kefir jelly with gooseberries
- Curd pie
- Bubert

OTHER
- Curd with caraway seeds
- Egg butter
- Cottage cheese
- Sour milk crumbs
- Oatmeal flummery
- Kama dumplings
- Nott or thick sauce
- Russian salad

ESTONIAN BEVERAGES
Kali
The typical drink of old Estonians was kali or kvass, to which juniper berries have been added. The preparation is as follows: boiling water is poured over bread browned in the oven; a few black currant branches are added; and it is set-aside for a few hours. Yeast, dissolved in water and sugar is added to the strained kali. Thereafter, the drink is set aside and poured into a kali container. Consumption can start in a few days.
Juniper Berry Drink
Juniper berry drink was also very popular - a honey drink prepared from honey, water, and yeast. Sour milk mixed with flour gruel was also sipped with bread. In the spring, fresh birch, or less frequently maple, sap was drunk; fermented (by adding sugar and flour) enough drink sufficed until late autumn.
Beer
For celebrations, beer and mead was brewed. Beer was usually made from barley malt, but rye, wheat or oats were also used. In different places and at different times, beer was brewed differently. To make honey mead, water is boiled with lemon peels and honey is added. When the honey has melted, the liquid is cooled and dissolved yeast is added to the water. The drink is allowed to ferment for 2-3 days. It is then strained and poured into bottles.
The largest brewery in Estonia today is located in Saku, and Tartu A. Le Coq holds second place. The most popular beers are A. Le Coq Premium and Saku Originaal. In addition to beer, the breweries also produce kali, fruit drinks, soft drinks, table water, and other products.
Vodka
Vodka started to be distilled on the territory of Estonia in 15th century, although it did not able to defeat beer. In Europe, Estonia is at the forefront of the consumption of both strong liquor, as well as beer, wine, and other low-alcohol beverages. Among young people, cider, long drinks, and cocktails are popular.
The largest producer of strong liquor in Estonia is Liviko, which, in addition to vodka, also produces liqueur, whisky, gin, bitters, and brandy. The most popular brand of vodka is Laua Viin. Estonia’s best-known brand, however, is Viru Valge, which is produced of high-quality grain alcohol and specially processed water, and the dark-brown rum-flavored strong liqueur, Vana Tallinn.
The cocktail, named Agnes and Gabriel, consists of Agnes liqueur (3 cl) and Gabriel liqueur (3 cl) and lemon and orange slices; the Old Tallinn cocktail consists of Vana Tallinn liqueur (2 cl) and Viru Valge Vanilla vodka (2 cl) as well as apple juice (8 cl). The Estonian Maiden cocktail includes vodka (2 cl), Agnes (1 cl) and Aedmaasika brandy (1 cl).
If 90% of the Estonian vodka market is in Estonian hands, then most wine is imported.
Other Beverages
The Estonian wine industry has captured only about a fifth of the wine market, whereas the amount of so-called “beet wine”, produced on an alcohol base has decreased, and natural products have come up. Estonia’s largest wine producer is Põltsamaa Felix. The most popular fruit wine is Põltsamaa Kuldne and berry wine is Põltsamaa Tõmmu.
Milk and other dairy products (sour milk, kefir, yogurt, and buttermilk) are very popular among Estonians.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, coffee was practically unknown in Estonia, and few people knew how to prepare coffee. Currently every Estonian drinks an average of one cup per day.
Of alcohol-free drinks, various types of soft drinks and bottled water are drunk primarily. Of new beverages, the most exotic is ice tea produced in Estonia, in which quality tea is combined with fruit flavours.

Source: “Euroopa söögid ja joogid”- Tammerraamat, 2005.