You can't sing on an empty stomach
One of the number of Song and Dance Festival sponsors is Felix, producer of
hapu/kurgid (pickles),
moosid (jams),
mahlad (juices),
majonees, ketšup and
supid, such as the made-for-this-summer-only
laulu/peo/supp – song festival soup. The type of soup chosen for this honour is
värske/kapsa/borš veise/lihaga or fresh cabbage borscht with beef, described as “
Rohkete aed/viljadega supp!” – soup with plenty of vegetables!
Classic Estonian cabbage soups are both
värske/kapsa/supp – literally “fresh” cabbage soup and
hapu/hapsa/supp or “sour cabbage soup”, i.e. made with
hapu/kapsad or sauerkraut. The fact that the
laulupeosupp is called a
borš is no-doubt a show of support for Ukraine, as well as indicative of Estonians’ love of
peedid (beets). To see what Felix makes for Estonians’ to enjoy, visit
www.felix.ee. The name AS Põltsamaa Felix marks the town where production continues to be based, although the company is now predominantly Swedish-owned.
Veise/liha is beef or literally “cattle meat”. The synonymous term
looma/liha (“animal meat”) is also used, but packages of ground beef for example are labelled
veise/hakk/liha. As opposed to cows who give milk –
lehmad.
The soup’s serving suggestion reads: “
Serveeri koos hapu/koore, värskelt hakitud maitse/rohelise ja röst/saiaga” – serve with sour cream, freshly chopped herbs and toast.
Make sure to try other special
laulu- and
tantsupeo yummies, such as Kalev’s commemorative chocolate bars and special
jäätised (ice creams). Because regardless of whether you are singing, dancing or enjoying from the sidelines, when in Rome…. there is the new retro-packaged
kama-koore/jäätis pohladega vahvli/topis – kama-cream ice cream with lingonberries in a waffle cone!
Riina Kindlam, Tallinn
