Located in Northern Europe, Estonia's four seasons are the creative inspiration for the connoisseurs of good cuisine who are keen to prepare and enjoy food made from fresh, flavourful seasonal ingredients. Local cuisine in Estonia is mainly made up of pork, potatoes and garden vegetables. The main culinary influence came from the Germans, who ruled here for centuries. Foods that you will commonly find on an Estonian's table are pancakes, beet salad, honey, herring, pickled pumpkin, and crayfish.
After you've been Shopping in Estonia check out restaurants and food guide below to find out more about Estonian cuisine, as well as the best places to eat at. Relax and experience our local delights.
Estonia Restaurant & Food Guide
Throughout history, the cuisine of many other nations has influenced Estonian cooking. This has been beneficial in many ways. Among other things, it has strengthened the Estonians' determination to retain their own unique cooking and eating traditions, keeping only that, which has stood the test of time and of quality.
Spring Cuisine in Estonia
Spring, the beginning of which is always greatly longed for, returns with spring lamb and veal; goat's cheese, rhubarb, wild leek, and fresh sorrel; and perch from clean inland waters.
Summer Cuisine in Estonia
With the arrival of the energy boosting and flourishing summer, comes time to enjoy all the wildest, headiest flavours imaginable. There are herbs, berries from the garden and the forest, chanterelles and new potatoes; and ever-popular fresh perch, eel, and crayfish. These play the lead in Estonia's midsummer symphony.
Autumn Cuisine in Estonia
When autumn arrives, there are opportunities galore to make what is good even better. From bushes and fruit trees come wild cranberries and boysenberries, hazelnuts and the black salcify. From the farmer's barnyard comes the traditional goose and fish lovers can choose from lamprey, dwarf herring, and plaice. The best part of autumn is, however, the hunting season. It is hard not to be impressed by the variety of game available in primeval forests and on coastal islands: pheasant, elk, boar, and wild goat all enrich the Estonian dining table.
Winter Cuisine in Estonia
During winter, Estonia experiences very little sunlight, meaning almost constant darkness. During these stark winter months, people take solace in warm comfort foods. Some staples during these months include traditional black pudding, smoked meat, roasted roe deer, Christmas blood sausage, sauerkraut, and sweet gingerbread. And no cold night would be complete without some mulled wine and local spirits!
Typical foods in Estonia
Leib or black bread: Estonians regard their leib very highly , almost allowing it to take on a sacred quality. It is so prized that some Estonians refer to meat only as 'something to go with the bread'.
Kartulid or potatoes: Were introduced here in the 1700s, and are now part and parcel of virtually all genuine Estonian meals.
Kotlet is a hamburger patty with onions.
Verivorst is the famous blood sausage. An acquired taste, to say the least.
Sült is jellied meat: As with Scottish haggis, it's better if you don't know what's in it!
Kohupiim like cottage cheese: Often used in cakes and pastries.
Kringel is a sweet German-style bread knotted and sprinkled with nuts and raisins: A standard at Estonian birthdays.
