Fish Dishes and Market Bustle on the Onion Route
Text Timo Raussi Photos Arne Ader and the Onion Route tourism network
For food tourism, it is well worth turning your attention—and your car—eastwards in Estonia on the last Saturday of April, 25 April, towards the Lake Peipus region. Along the shoreline of Europe’s fifth-largest lake, in the area known as the Onion Route, several events celebrating local food traditions as well as fresh and preserved delicacies will take place.
The main highlight is the fish buffet day of home and pop-up restaurants, known in Estonian as “kalapuhvetite päev”, featuring fish caught from Lake Peipus. The variety of dishes that can be prepared from them is impressive: pike-perch meat skewers, perch soup, smoked fish salad, grilled fish sausages, pike-perch solyanka, fish dumplings, sweet-and-sour fish, bream roe pies and other fish pastries, and even fish pizza. There will also be tasty onion and mushroom pies, grilled meat and wraps, chebureki, and a range of desserts for those less keen on fish.
Between 10:00 and 17:00, 16 food spots marked on this Google Maps map will be serving their specialities, with more detailed descriptions available on the event website. Not all locations accept card payments, but the nearest cash machines can be found at the Coop stores in Kallaste and Alatskivi. In the village of Varnja, the samovar museum will be open, where visitors can sit down for a cup of tea between meals.
The event aims to be environmentally friendly, so the organisers thank in advance those who bring their own cutlery—although food can of course also be enjoyed without it. Pets are welcome in the yards of most locations, and in Kallaste, the Liivaranna home café even offers sauna sessions, recently voted the best in the area, between 15:00 and 17:00. On the northern shore of Lake Peipus, a smoke sauna will also be heated for visitors in the grounds of the Kauksi holiday houses.
On the same day, nearly 30 additional locations along the Onion Route will be selling preserved, fresh and freshly baked goods, marked on this alternative map as part of a market day called “Avatud sahvrid”, or “Open Pantries”. The Estonian word “sahver” refers to a cool pantry where jams, juices and preserves, as well as vegetables and other fresh produce, can be stored over the winter. In keeping with the market spirit, some places will also offer musical entertainment.
The extent of the Lake Peipus fishing industry’s influence is illustrated by the fact that the southernmost participant in the event is located in Setomaa, in Estonia’s southeastern corner, near the security-restricted Saatse Boot, at the Toomemäe farm in the village of Saabolda.
In towns around Lake Peipus, including Mustvee, Varnja, Mehikoorma, and Räpina, there are harbours where professional fishermen keep their vessels and will sell fresh fish caught that same morning on Saturday, 25 April. The Open Fish Harbours Day is a family-friendly event held along Estonia’s coasts, and in Mustvee, for example, visitors can watch fish cooking demonstrations, enjoy entertainment music, and explore the leisure vessel Peipsi Star, which offers sightseeing cruises on Lake Peipus. More information in Estonian is available here.
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