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someoneeestis 4 hours ago [-]
I live in Estonia for a very long time now, over a decade. I love the kodukohvikud (Home Cafes) but the framing of "inviting strangers" is a little odd.
It's not free. While there is a lot of theoretical opportunity for bonding, it's still just a temporary commercial enterprise.
For anyone who has lived here, it's a known fact that Estonians won't exactly engage with strangers in a warm way, if at all. Smiling at strangers is considered poor social form here and it doesn't matter if you're a foreigner or native.
It does increase social cohesion amongst neighbors at least for a week or two. Kodukohvikud are a unique experience but it's not really "inviting strangers in my backyard" in the way a free community oriented and socially engaging event would be. Naturally, the article will only show the very few who have a story to tell while ignoring the fact that 90% of them don't have one to tell.
You get your keefir, you get your viineripirukas, pay for it, eat isolated with your family on a table and that's all most of the time.
It's akin to someone who makes pizzas to sell in the terrace to passersby. Really cool, quite nice but again, weird framing because you wouldn't say that about "Jean Paul who sells pizza from his balcony", so to speak.
I still love it, though!
jaen 24 minutes ago [-]
> Smiling at strangers is considered poor social form here and it doesn't matter if you're a foreigner or native.
It's not. Insincerity and mindless, automatic smiles might be a little bit frowned upon. Genuine, but subtle smiles (as appropriate for strangers) are appreciated, at least for the younger generation. The older generation might still be somewhat "traumatized" by the Soviet occupation and its cultural effects.
rauno56 2 hours ago [-]
It's a pity, but one should probably expect some commercialization after almost 20 years of these kinds of events being held all over Estonia. The experience varies a lot from place to place, though, and many smaller places still have that homespun feel.
someoneeestis 2 hours ago [-]
I personally don't mind the commercialization of it. Like you said, it is only to be expected, especially in hard times like now (though I'd argue that just increase prices for everyone). I was not making a point against it as they have to (and should) charge a price. As far as I understand, they always did and I'm really glad to give my money to a neighbor instead of a corporation like Bolt.
But what I would personally like on the other hand is that the smiles and the welcoming attitude would not happen only within the kodukohvikud and in peak summer sun but all year round. A big dose of empathy would make life easier for all of us.
And I speak Estonian. I can't even begin to imagine how cold it is for those who don't. I'm also Brazilian, so my genuineness and expectation of welcoming conversations surely set a high bar.
scorepeon 4 hours ago [-]
American living in Tartu here. You're not wrong. There has even been a trend of having professional catering which is disappointing.
That being said I'm super excited for this weekend's event in Tammelinn[0]. I'm on a mission to find who has the best rabarberikook.
Heh, there's also https://www-kambja-info.translate.goog/syndmus/avatud-aiad-2... right next to Tartu. This Saturday. If you have a car, come by ("Puzzle Café") and say hi - I'm making pulled pork burgers and.. other stuff that I still need to figure out (24h to go!) :)
someoneeestis 1 hours ago [-]
I love that for you! I hope you have an amazingly successful Saturday!
someoneeestis 4 hours ago [-]
I lived in Tartu for four years and hold great memories from our city of good thoughts.
Enjoy the Tammelinn event and bless the city for me!
Tomte 6 hours ago [-]
Swabia has something similar for wineries: Besenwirtschaft is a temporary small restaurant with very lax regulations. The main obligations are: at most 4 months open, at most 40 chairs, only cold food (often bread with lard), the wine does not have to be produced by the owner themselves, but the grapes have to be.
They are „advertised“ by hanging a broom outside (Besen is broom).
You tend to go visit a few over an afternoon, because they concentrate on certain wine-making towns.
croisillon 3 hours ago [-]
Austria has “Heuriger” on a similar rule
jcattle 3 hours ago [-]
Or Buschenschank in Styria (where you traditionally don't get warm food, only "Brettljause")
jahnu 3 hours ago [-]
Buschenschank In Vienna too. Nussberg is my favourite place to be.
Heuriger in Vienna are permanent buildings and can serve warm food and drinks other than wine and may open all year round.
markvdb 8 hours ago [-]
Similar in neighbouring Latvia. Friends who recovered their grandparents' nationalised farm organised one there. They got to meet neighbours who lived there during the occupation. Pictures surfaced of the transformation into five tiny apartments in the late 1940s.
Can't imagine the food safety institutions even considering pop-up home cafes in my native Belgium.
AyyEye 8 hours ago [-]
> Can't imagine the food safety institutions even considering pop-up home cafes in my native Belgium.
Many states in the US have "cottage food" laws that allow low-risk foods (think baked goods, jams, jellies, candies, nuts, etc) to be labeled "this is an unregulated unlicensed cottage food product" and sold without a license. Belgium may have something similar.
z3t4 33 minutes ago [-]
If you are visiting Sweden in the summer look for the sign "Loppis" where ppl are selling used goods.
Oh sweet, they welcome non-Jewish strangers too? I didn’t know that, I assumed it was just for their own community
voicedYoda 4 hours ago [-]
We invite everyone, Jewish or not. We've hosted so many people, strangers and friends alike. It makes more sense to Jews, but it's also a great conversation to have with others.
Nail2680 7 hours ago [-]
I attended a Sukkot, druing which the host jokingly called the tent a "Jew Fort" and they had some lovely food and burned some herbs and overall had a great time. I really like the religious festivals that integrate more people. Like Holi, where I got to throw a lot of colored sand or something at people and eat good food. I feel like events like that really help integrate communities.
Not Estonian, but a Swedish fellow I knew always had a summer event with lawn darts and other odd games and food each summer
martheen 3 hours ago [-]
Sikh's similarly serve communal meal, langar, which invite everyone to come and eat together. As a non-Sikh, being invited to such events is such an educational experience because they're a very small minority in my country so pretty much everything I see was new to me.
Markoff 5 hours ago [-]
TLDR to earn (tax free?) money, it has nothing to do with hospitality
tauntz 1 hours ago [-]
It depends - for some, it's a commercial event. For others, like me, it's just an opportunity to challenge yourself and see if you can make delicious food for a bunch of people :) I'll be happy if I can cover the cost of ingredients this weekend, but if not, that's fine too!
Markoff 54 minutes ago [-]
TLDR you still want money from your visitors, no matter whether to cover expenses or make profit, that's not what we call hospitality back here in central Europe. Hospitality is when you don't expect anything in return for inviting someone somewhere, can't imagine someone to my place and then charge them my expenses, that's very USan way of invitation...
tauntz 31 minutes ago [-]
I was not commenting on the "hospitality" definition but on the "earn tax free money" aspect. Just saying, that the goal, for most (?), is not.. this.
tjomk 3 hours ago [-]
Let's go the US way and arrest children for doing lemonade stands. How dare they not get a license and pay their taxes to Uncle Sam! /s
Markoff 56 minutes ago [-]
Or maybe let's just not pretend people are inviting strangers into their gardens because they wanna meet them as that clickbait title pretend and not just to earn money.
baal80spam 2 hours ago [-]
> arrest children for doing lemonade stands
Get your facts straight. This is the EU-way. It literally happened in Poland - a child got fined for a lemonade stand.
helsinkiandrew 1 hours ago [-]
[dead]
shevy-java 2 hours ago [-]
They don't really though. Ask them how many strangers from Russia they invited each summer.
It's not free. While there is a lot of theoretical opportunity for bonding, it's still just a temporary commercial enterprise.
For anyone who has lived here, it's a known fact that Estonians won't exactly engage with strangers in a warm way, if at all. Smiling at strangers is considered poor social form here and it doesn't matter if you're a foreigner or native.
It does increase social cohesion amongst neighbors at least for a week or two. Kodukohvikud are a unique experience but it's not really "inviting strangers in my backyard" in the way a free community oriented and socially engaging event would be. Naturally, the article will only show the very few who have a story to tell while ignoring the fact that 90% of them don't have one to tell.
You get your keefir, you get your viineripirukas, pay for it, eat isolated with your family on a table and that's all most of the time.
It's akin to someone who makes pizzas to sell in the terrace to passersby. Really cool, quite nice but again, weird framing because you wouldn't say that about "Jean Paul who sells pizza from his balcony", so to speak.
I still love it, though!
It's not. Insincerity and mindless, automatic smiles might be a little bit frowned upon. Genuine, but subtle smiles (as appropriate for strangers) are appreciated, at least for the younger generation. The older generation might still be somewhat "traumatized" by the Soviet occupation and its cultural effects.
But what I would personally like on the other hand is that the smiles and the welcoming attitude would not happen only within the kodukohvikud and in peak summer sun but all year round. A big dose of empathy would make life easier for all of us.
And I speak Estonian. I can't even begin to imagine how cold it is for those who don't. I'm also Brazilian, so my genuineness and expectation of welcoming conversations surely set a high bar.
That being said I'm super excited for this weekend's event in Tammelinn[0]. I'm on a mission to find who has the best rabarberikook.
0. https://tammelinnaselts.ee/kodukohvikutepaevadest
Enjoy the Tammelinn event and bless the city for me!
They are „advertised“ by hanging a broom outside (Besen is broom).
You tend to go visit a few over an afternoon, because they concentrate on certain wine-making towns.
Heuriger in Vienna are permanent buildings and can serve warm food and drinks other than wine and may open all year round.
Can't imagine the food safety institutions even considering pop-up home cafes in my native Belgium.
Many states in the US have "cottage food" laws that allow low-risk foods (think baked goods, jams, jellies, candies, nuts, etc) to be labeled "this is an unregulated unlicensed cottage food product" and sold without a license. Belgium may have something similar.
You can even check all menus and availability online (unfortunately only in Latvian): https://majaskafejnicas.lv/destinations/
Not Estonian, but a Swedish fellow I knew always had a summer event with lawn darts and other odd games and food each summer
Get your facts straight. This is the EU-way. It literally happened in Poland - a child got fined for a lemonade stand.