Põltsamaa starts making the Song and Dance Celebration soups

The important benefactor of the Song and Dance Celebration, Põltsamaa, will distribute 180,000 soup servings at the jubilee celebration. There will be altogether six soups that reach the counters of the stores “Song Celebration’s solyanka”, “Dance Celebration’s borsch”, “Sauerkraut borsch of Kaerajaan”, “Pea soup of Labajalg”, “Meatball soup of Kunglarahvas” and “Folk tune’s rassolnik”. Three out of six soups will be in the menu of the singers, dancers and instrumentalists.

“All celebration soups have the design of the motives of the celebration and naturally they all have easily opened covers. These celebration soups provide a good opportunity for the whole population in Estonia to get involved in the jubilee celebration,” said the Marketing Direcctor of the soup production of Põltsamaa, Marek Viilol.

Inspired by the traditional tastes, the singers, dancers and instrumentalists will get the fresh cabbage soup, pea soup and solyanka. For the first time, this year’s menu includes two different soups with 100% of vegetable ingredients. “Preferring the food of vegetable origin is an increasing trend in the whole world. As a modern and innovative food producer, we offer it now also for 45,000 singers, dancers and instrumentalists as an option,” said Viilol. The soups that fully contain foodstuff of vegetable origin will be the rassolnik and the lentil-vegetable soup.

Altogether 180,000 soup servings will be cooked from 30 tons of domestic vegetables for 45,000 singers, dancers and instrumentalists. Also, the women participating in the Women’s voluntary defence organization help to fill the soup bowls of the celebrators. Soup making will start at the beginning of May.

According to the historian Anu Kannike, soup was also the most important part of the meal in the peasantry culture 150 years ago. Hence the soups play an important role in the tradition of the Song and Dance Celebrations.

“Soup was made for several days and the most common ones were the pea, bean, lintel and sauerkraut soup. Some families ate already the potato soup. Unfortunately, the documents do not say anything about the food that the singers and instrumentalists had in 1869, but probably they took their own food with them. But it is known that they could participate in the festive dinner in clubhouse Vanemuine for 90 kopeks,” said Kannike about the soup eating tradition of Estonians.

The dinnerware is very innovative and for the first time it is made of renewable raw material of plant origin (corn and timber). The timber for carton soup bowls comes from the responsibly managed forest and partly also the recycled carton will be used. Corn is the raw material for the tablespoons.  All dishes comply with the food safety requirements and standards and can be industrially composted in controlled conditions by degrading in 12 weeks. The manufacture is the Vegware from the Great Britain, with the headquarters in Scotland.

Põltsamaa is an important benefactor of the XXVII Song and XX Dance Celebration “My Fatherland is My Love” and a long-term caterer of the song and dance celebrations who has provided food for the singers and dancers in the celebrations of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2017.

Watch the photo gallery about the event of April 2 here.