Markets of Estonia 1. Tartu.

If you lived in Estonia, you could not ignore the marketplaces in the summer time. They are in every bigger town. Most summer meals for city people come from the market place, which are preferred over grocery stores. Below is a picture of "mustikad" - wild blueberries, which were abundant in July and sold in each marketplace. Elen, my friend who we were visiting in Tartu, where this particular marketplace was, reminded me that when we were kids, we once took a long and arduous bicycle ride to the faraway woods from Elen's family's summerhouse, to pick wild blueberries. I only remember riding trough pouring rain for a long long time... but evidently we picked some blueberries and sold them to the "kokkuost" - an entity that bought up wild gathered berries and mushrooms to be sold later at the stores and markets.

Fresh local honey in many different flavors...
Wild Chanterelles were also abundant. Gorgeous mushroom, and oh so good just fried up with butter and a pinch of salt... eaten with some fresh new potatoes boiled and sprinkled with dill...

YUMMMMMMYYYY! Estonia DOES TOO have a cuisine!
Here are all the goodies next to each other - Chanterelles, blueberries, and fresh peas in the pod. The last were a hit with all the kids.
Overall view of all the goodness.
I was impressed with Tartu's marketplace. Clean, well organized, very well stocked. My friend Elen also buys organic produce straight from farmers , who come to Tartu once every 2 weeks or so. CSA's as such have not found their way to Estonia yet, but organic farmers seemed to be well organized and pulled together.