Estonian food in its traditional form is packed with pork, potatoes, and garden variety veggies. Since I've never tried the food myself, I can't be a real critic to the taste, but for those who don't fancy pork over dinner or bore easy of the local fare check out the City Paper's list of great Estonian and foreign restaurants to dive into when touring Tallinn. The biggest culinary influence comes from Germany, but you'll also be able to find Tex-Mex, Thai, Indian, Greek, and even delicious dishes from Azerbaijan. The Restoran Bakuu is only one fine example (least it looks like it from the pictures) of quality and mouth-watering Azerbaijan grub to chow-down on in Estonia. However, if you're going to be in Estonia for a week or so you really should try to take advantage of all the oink-oink and tatters.

Today's word is an Estonian word used in Estonia:

pearoad - main courses

Now the word 'pearoad' is some thing kind of funny to me. A pea as we all know is quite a tiny veggie and roads can vary in length and I know I am breaking this down in terms of English, but it just strikes me odd to call main courses a 'pearoad.' I would think it'd make a better fit to describe appetizers or starters, but if you're only looking for something small you'll notice starters under 'eelroad'. Also, 'pea' in Estonian is also the word for head. Very interesting - stuff this Estonian lang, eh?

To learn more about the background of this Finno-Ugric lingo check out Wiki online which has a few words to get you started at the bottom of their page. To jump right into the meat of the language go to speakestonian.com.uk which has a long list of everyday phrases to use and several links to keep you learning using a variety of methods. For free mp3 downloads for your cell phone go to the BBC and to make a pen pal or two before your journey sign-up at My Language Exchange.

Filed under: Learning, Europe, Estonia, Foreign Language