Ethnic Food

I used to have a rule of thumb not to eat 'ethnic' food in foreign countries unless the food came from somewhere with a historical connection to the host country. (For this purpose I don't count either Britain or the U.S. as a foreign country.) The rule allows -- for example -- having Brazilian food in Portugal, but not Japanese food in France.

It was never that strict a rule, but I have certainly broken it several times during my recent travels around the Baltic and Scandinavia. I had (incredibly expensive, but quite good) Indian food in Norway, allegedly the best Chinese food in Estonia (see the posting for April 26 on Tsink Plekk Pang), and on my most recent trip I sampled Brazilian food at the only Brazilian restaurant in Finland. I also ate at a Russian restaurant in Latvia, but that would fill within my rule given the long historical association between these two countries.

Here in Tartu we have been warned by various people to steer clear of the only Indian restaurant in town. We have also declined to try the seedy bar/restaurant just off the town square which advertizes Estonian-Mexican, or 'Est-Mex', food on the blackboard outside. Meanwhile our favorite Georgian restaurant has had 'peakook' written on its blackboard for several weeks now. We were relieved when an Estonian friend explained that this did not mean that they were featuring peacock on the menu. It turns out that 'peakook' means 'head chef' in Estonian ... .

arb