Last year I was invited to Tallinn to speak at Sauce, a conference uniting chefs and restaurants of the Baltic countries with those from around the world. It was my first time in Estonia but it reminded me of Australia, in that it has developed a cuisine adapted from other countries, in particular Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Russia. We were made welcome by humble generosity and simple food made with locally sourced ingredients. The stand-out for me was the deliciously dark and flavoursome bread known as leib, which plays an important role in Estonian culture. While there are many countries with a tradition of black bread, Estonian black bread is something truly unique, with secret recipes that vary from family to family. While the inclusion of rye produces a denser crumb, the combination of treacle, cocoa and coffee results in richly toasted, dark and flavoursome bread.