In an area of town where streets are named “carrot”, “potato”, “pea”, and “celery”, one can only find down-to-earth inhabitants. The pre-war houses are heated with wood, the gardens are shaded by age-old apple trees, and every window looks inviting.
On a Sunday morning, surprisingly many people carrying wood across the garden or playing with children are young. Twenty-something and definitely with a tinge of hipster. In a (still) emerging economy, where money and glitz speaks of success, the original Soup Town artists, musicians, and vagrants are about to be updated with a lot that grows their own food, moves around town on designer bikes, and sports beards and expensive headphones. This is the time to make one of those lovely wooden houses your own. Five years from now it will make your wallet bleed.
Oh, I almost forgot. The neighborhood is called Supilinn, “Soup Town”. Why? Because that is what you get when you cook carrots, potatoes, peas, and celery.
(Tartu, Estonia; December 2017)
