Basic HTML Version
100
TRAVELLER
TALLINN
PHOTO GETTY
Stockholm, where the tenets of this
cookery style (NNC uses little fat,
a lot of wild produce, and relies on
oldmethods of curing, drying and
smoking) have been taken to heart
with gusto. In fact, this is Tallinn,
the tiny capital of Estonia and the
restaurant is calledMoon (
kohvikmoon.
ee
), in the fast-gentrifying Kalamaja
district. Right now, the place is heaving
with young artists and professionals.
It’s not the image that most people
have of Estonian food, but this little
nation is in the grip of a serious foodie
renaissance – andNewNordic cuisine
is at the heart of it. “A lot of young
people in Estonia are increasingly
interested in grow-your-own, making
bread, shopping at farmers’ markets,”
explains Jana Zaštšerinski, co-owner
and sommelier of Moon.
Today, Tallinn’s farmers’ markets
burst with artisanal produce, while the
restaurant scene is going great guns.
Like the food revolution the UK has
experienced in recent years, many
young Estonians are now talking about
food, foraging, and eating out. Being a
foodie has suddenly become cool.
“Estonian cooking is like a drop
in the ocean of global cuisine,” says
Dimitri Demjanov, founder of the
Culinary Institute of Estonia and
owner of one of the oldest restaurants
in Tallinn, Gloria (
gloria.ee
). “We
are not yet equal partners, but we’re
learning fast.”
of those days. A food writer and
founder of the popular Nami-Nami
blog (
nami-nami.blogspot.co.uk
), she
posts regularly about Estonian food.
As a result of her writing, Petersoo
has even become something of a
local celebrity and her recipes, such
as cardamompanna cotta with sea
buckthorn juice, and rhubarb and
rye-bread soup, highlight how creative
cooking in Estonia is right now.
But why have Estonians taken to
Nordic cooking so readily? “We are
naturally inventive when it comes to
using foraged foods,” says Petersoo.
“Wild forest berries, dandelions,
ground elder, wild garlic – collecting
is a pastime for all ages.” Indeed,
foraging is part of their heritage.
Because the food-supply situation in
Soviet Estonia was so dire for certain
produce, many Estonians were forced
to look to what they could grow and
preserve themselves.
It’s all resulted in a perfect storm
and now a new breed of Estonian
chefs are taking what they learned
growing up, and combining this with
an emphasis on local producers and
indigenous ingredients. For instance,
home-made sea buckthorn liqueur,
mille-feuille with lingonberries
and Siberian dumplings with wild
mushrooms all feature onMoon’s
daily changingmenu. Roman
Zaštšerinski, the restaurant’s head
chef, buys his fish from the portside
Sadamamarket and organic beef from
the island of Saaremaa.
“The essence of Estonian cuisine is
in its numerous small islands, which
– because of their remoteness – have
been less affected by centuries of
occupation,” he says. “It’s all about
ingredients and simplicity.”
Moon is also an example of a
restaurant that acknowledges its
recent past. Zaštšerinski is of Russian
descent (together with over 300,000
others in Estonia) and he effortlessly
combines different influences from
his heritage, such as buckwheat blinis
with whitefish roe, and beef tartar with
Georgian
adzika
(a spicy paste).
The creativity doesn’t stop there
– Estonian cooking is incorporating
influences fromeven further afield.
AndDemjanov should know. In
2010, he organised a conference in
Tallinn that explored the place of
Estonian cuisine within the New
Nordicmovement. ClausMeyer, the
co-founder of Noma, evenmade an
appearance to read out themanifesto
for the NewNordic kitchen and
unofficially endorse Estonia’s place
within this milieu.
But hang on. Nordic cooking?
In a former Soviet satellite? It may
sound strange, but actually it makes
absolute sense. There’s only 88km
separating Tallinn fromHelsinki and
the nation has much in common with
its Scandinavian brethren.
“We share the long summer days,
a similar winter climate and large,
unspoilt areas of countryside,” says
Demjanov. Culturally and historically
too, the countries share a lot of
common ground, so aligning itself to
its northern brothers was a natural
progression away from its Communist
past and towards the European Union.
Indeed, things have changed
dramatically since the Soviet days of
rationed food, when some produce was
nearly impossible to obtain. “Sausages
were amiracle – they were used for
bribing people!” remembers Anni
Arro, amodel turned restaurateur who
owns Komeet (
kohvikkomeet.ee
).
“Depressingly empty groceries only
stocking three-litre jars of salted dill
cucumbers,” recollects Pille Petersoo
Previous
page,
white
asparagus
with cured
beef and
smoked egg
yolk from the
restaurant
Neh
; left,
themenu
atMoon is
influenced by
the Russian
heritage of
its chef;
right,
Leib’s crème
brûlée with
black bread