Is This Europe’s Most Underrated Food Tradition?

Travel Tales by AFAR

Some of our favorite travel moments are the ones you’d never in a million years expect. These are where the best travel stories are born. And this week, Afar’s executive editor, Billie Cohen, has a very delicious, very serendipitous story for us.

As you’ll hear in the episode, Billie was in Estonia (one of Afar’s picks for where to travel in 2024) for work. It was 9 p.m. and she was due to fly home the next day. But then her guide, Hanno, mentioned something about the country’s “open café days,” where Estonians across the south open their homes, cook food, and serve anyone who wanders in. Smart traveler that she is, Billie changed her flight home and joined Hanno in a very unique foodie road trip through the south.

In our companion video for the episode, Billie shares some of the discoveries that didn’t fit into her story—including an encounter with an Estonian wedding hazing involving Santa Claus—and her travel superpower, talking to everyone. She also shares some of the favorite foods she ate, from freshly made onion rolls to a red currant cake baked by the grandmother of one of her new friends. So really our only tip for you this week is: Don’t listen to this one hungry.

Resources

Read the transcript of the episode.

Listen to the episode on YouTube.

Read about Billie's bog hike in Estonia.

Explore the Onion Route Buffet Day

Learn more about Tartu's European Capital of Culture 2024 (events).

Find more food festivals in Estonia.

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