This goes hand in hand with the spirit of the Christmas season. Slowing down, reflecting, celebrating, showing our appreciation and care. This is at the core of Eesti Elu’s new food feature. Enjoying Estonian food at Christmas time.
One cannot mention Estonian food without mentioning Ülle Veltmann. This year, the Estonian community lost a beloved friend and chef when Ülle passed away. It’s a loss that the community is still processing. The impact will be felt for a long time.
But perhaps there is a way we can celebrate her legacy by continuing to enjoy and prepare Estonian food this Christmas. And indeed, there are many people in the community who are rolling up their sleeves to bring delicious food to people like us. It’s an essential part of the Estonian way of life. Yes, this very Estonian life that we talk so much about.
Providing catering services with an Estonian specialization is Susi’s Custom Catering. Chef Susi Holmberg will kick things off by offering all of the pirukad and kringel slices available at the Estonian Foundation of Canada’s Rahvajõulupuu on December 9th at the Latvian Canadian Centre.
Each container, which serves eight people, will include a different traditional dish like sült, rosolje, skumbria, seenesalat, or hapukapsas.
At this same event, Chef Holmberg will have a table where she will take pre-orders for külmlaud items. Each container, which serves eight people, will include a different traditional dish like sült, rosolje, skumbria, seenesalat, or hapukapsas. Other foods she plans to make are seafood salad with rice, new potato salad with bacon and chives, cognac pasteet (pâté), poached salmon with freshly-made scallion mayonnaise, sweet and sour Swedish meatballs, and tiger shrimp with a seafood sauce. Moreover, Susi’s Custom Catering is also taking kringel and pirukad orders of all kinds. Pick-up times will be confirmed at the time of placing an order.
The owners, the Vatikiotis family, have been cooking delicious meals with the taste of home for decades.
Greeks and Estonians have an important friendship, and this has been exemplified no better than by the history of Master’s Buffeteria, located at Tartu College. The owners, the Vatikiotis family, have been cooking delicious meals with the taste of home for decades. But it’s not just a place to visit when you’re downtown.
Master’s Buffeteria offers catered hot, cold, and traditional foods for all types of events and conferences. And it all comes at a reasonable price. Visit their website, and when you give them a call and ask for Mary!
When you need to quickly pick up some European grocery items to eat at home, there’s actually quite a wide range of places you can visit in the GTA. For smoked salmon, head over to Kristapsons, who make small batches of cold smoked fish in Leslieville.
For mains like barbecued sausage and marinated pork/chicken shashlik, or even kvass, birch water, and pickled goods, stop in at Ontario Fresh and Tasty in Etobicoke.
Chances are, people have already started asking you about your New Year's Eve plans. Get a head start by getting acquainted with Brandt Meats, a family business started in 1958. Brandt Meats is the go-to spot for cocktail party favourites like charcuterie platters, salami, and ham, and also prepared dinners such as schnitzel and cabbage rolls.
And if you have any room for something sweet (there always is if there’s someone else to split it with you), The Sweet Gallery in Etobicoke is a glorious spot to visit. Take your pick from a list of decadent treats like Black Forest cake, rum balls, and Viennese strudel, one of the desserts they are most famous for.
Contact information for all of the businesses listed above can be found in Eesti Elu’s online Business Directory.
Everyone at Eesti Elu would like to wish readers a wonderful start to the Christmas season. Make sure to eat well and cook for your loved ones — head isu!
