Estonia

Estonia is the northernmost of the Baltic Republics and the closest in culinary traditions to Scandinavia. It developed largely under Danish and Swedish domination until conquered by Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century. The upper citadel of Tallinn, where a charming librarian, Helle Lont, translated Estonian material for me, still bears witness to the early-thirteenth-century period of Danish domination.

The two staple foods of Estonia were, even in pre-Christian times, salted fish (the Baltic herring and sprat) and bread. The inland peasants bartered their grain for fish caught by the coastal dwellers. Herring was salted in large wooden barrels, with smaller quantities packed in round wooden boxes or containers plaited from strips of bark (shown below – Helle Lont well remembers them from her grandfather’s house). Nowadays, of course, fishing and curing have been modernized. In 1959 the fish factory at Parnu pioneered the kippering of Baltic herring. Scottish readers may be intrigued to hear that Estonians consume their kippers chopped up, fried in a batter of egg, milk, flour, a little grated cheese and a touch of sugar, and served with tomato sauce.