Estonian’s love of Shrove Tuesday cream buns

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Andrei Chertkov

This year, Estonian supermarket chain Prisma expects to sell 120,000 traditional Shrove Tuesday cream buns (known in Estonian as vastlakukkel). Estonian’s love of the treat is so strong, producers are making them earlier and earlier each year, with vastlakukkel already hitting shop shelves more than a month before the big day. Shrove Tuesday is tomorrow, February 21.

Around the world, Shrove Tuesday, which marks the eve of 40 days of fasting before Easter, is celebrated by feasting on all manner of local specialities. The Italians eat cannoli, the Brits pancakes, the Brazilians Feijoda stew, and the Germans doughnuts – to name just a few. In Northern Europe, however, the cream bun is the treat of choice.

Estonian’s love of the cream bun is so strong that supermarket chain Prisma expects to sell 120,000 of them this year. Although this is a similar amount to last year, the number of options for customers has increased.

“Prisma has 18 different fresh buns on sale this year: with jam, without jam, rhubarb cream, almond cream, nougat, marzipan, as well as vegan and gluten-free buns and croissants. Among them you can find products in the cheaper price range as well as more expensive handmade buns,” explained Kaimo Niitaru, director of assortment and procurement at Prisma Peremarket.

People’s love of the Shrove Tuesday treat is so strong that not only are they available before the day, they are so popular that bakers are producing them earlier and earlier each year.

“The buns go on sale according to how the producers start to make them. During the somewhat quiet period of winter, consumers willingly look for new flavours and are ready to try new buns a month in advance – that’s why they start producing them earlier and earlier,” added Niitaru.

This year, Shrove Tuesday (aptly named Vastlapäev in Estonian) is tomorrow, February 21.

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