Estonia

Estonia lies along the Baltic Sea, just below Finland. Tallinn, medieval Hanseatic town, the capital and the business and cultural centre of Estonia, is located about 40 miles south of Helsinki, across the Gulf of Finland. Estonians have been living in this tiny portion of the Baltic lands since approximately 2,500 B.C., making them the longest settled of the European peoples. Due to Estonia’s strategic location as a link between East and West, it has been highly coveted through the ages by rapacious kings and conquerors.

People from larger countries may find it odd that there are in fact no distant places in Estonia – one can travel from one end of the country to another in just four or five hours without having to rush. And yet Estonia is larger on the inside than on the outside, the “secret” well known and shared by the locals. It is quite unusual to find such a variety in landscapes, flora, seasons, weather and moods within only a couple of dozens of kilometres. At the same time the traveller in Estonia has plenty of space: on the territory with a size comparable to that of Denmark or Holland there are four and twelve times less inhabitants here, respectively.

Beauty lies in simplicity and everything beautiful is simple – this also applies to Estonian cuisine. Estonian four seasons give enough inspiration to everyone who wishes to cook with the fresh ingredients provided by the untouched Nordic nature. Estonia is a dynamically developing country and its cuisine is facing the exciting challenge of presenting the world with the best possible masterpieces produced from the best available local ingredients.