Paper short abstract:

My paper discusses changes in the food culture of Siberia’s Estonians through time due to various factors: the transformation of forms of ownership, multicultural environment and mixed marriages, urbanization, growth in health awareness, media influences, etc.

Paper long abstract:

My paper discusses the views of Estonians in Siberia towards dishes unique to them and the changes that their food culture has undergone throughout time.

The majority of Estonians living in Siberia today are the descendants of people who migrated there in the last decade of the 19th century and the early 20th century. Settling in another country requires adapting to the new natural environment, which inevitably brings about changes in the customary choice of food. Estonians have mostly settled in the region suitable for farming and animal husbandry. My paper discusses changes in the food culture of Siberia's Estonians through time due to various factors: the transformation of forms of ownership, multicultural environment and mixed marriages, urbanization, growth in health awareness, media influences, etc. The younger generation is more susceptible to changes: they exchange recipes, and acquire new ideas and cooking tips also from the media and literature. The closer the communication with neighbours, the more the Estonians took over from their neighbours' food culture; often also borrowing and Estonianizing the names of dishes.

For Estonians in Siberia, including Estonians living in cities, own food often means that meals are prepared from self-grown produce. Self-grown food is perceived as healthy and opposed to imported goods and the produce grown in Chinese and Korean greenhouses that have been built in Siberia in the last few decades. The term own food also covers traditional Estonian dishes, thus helping to draw a line between 'us' and 'others'.