FROM THE FORESTS TO THE NORDIC KITCHENS
Finland’s relationship with its food landscape was transformed in the 2010s when the New Nordic wave reframed what had been considered subsistence cooking as something worth celebrating. Finnish chefs began looking at their forests and lakes not with aggressive pride and unlimited opportunties.
The key Finnish ingredients – crayfish, vendace roe, reindeer, cloudberries, rye bread, foraged nettles and wood sorrel had always been there. What changed was the vocabulary used to describe them.
THE FINNISH PANTRY
Finnish local cuisine is about freshly caught salmon and a generous use of local produce… mushrooms, berries, root vegetables woven into every meal. Yet the past few years have seen Helsinki surge into a broader food culture, with Asian, Italian, Indian and Middle Eastern kitchens now sitting comfortably alongside traditional Finnish tables. And in summer, the open food festivals are something else entirely : homemade food, live music, dancing, the electric hum of a city warmed by the endless sun.
OUR MULTICUISINE PHOTO GALLERY
STORIES FROM THE BAKERY
Finland runs on coffee – pale, light, dark roasted to decaf paired with warm pulla (cinnamon buns), croissants, more decadent Danish buns or the humble milk chocolate from the iconic Fazer. Each cafe has its signature savoury and sweet offerings and it is impossible to say NO. Thank god for the beautiful streets of Helsinki, you can have the pastry and burn it off with a relaxing walk by the sea! As I always say, calories don’t count during the holidays!
HELSINKI’S STARRED SCENE
Helsinki’s restaurant landscape punches considerably above its weight for a city of just 650,000 people. The cluster of Michelin starred restaurants along the waterfront and in the Design District share a common thread : local ingredients, prepared with precision, curiosity, and a generous dose of artistry!
Because Finland is a country where work, life and even the human mind revolves around the seasons, the country’s cuisine could not be left behind.
Menus change entirely with the seasons, sometimes with the week. Many kitchen across the country forages ingredients from nearby forests, work with small Finnish farms on specific growing projects, and preserves, ferments and cures to extend the life of summer abundance into the long winter. All this behind the scene effort is reflected in the food, the colors, plating and burst of flavors!
THE HOME KITCHEN
Parallel to the fine dining scene, the city boasts of one last food stop: the kauppahalli (food markets). These spaces are not just for eating, it is an experience! Vendace from Lake Saimaa, freshly smoked whitefish still warm from the smoker, cloudberry jam in small glass jars, bundles of dill so fresh they leave a green scent on your hands, slabs of local cheese, fresh baked bread, and a host of spices all the way from the mediterranean. Perfect stop on a food tour!
Finland’s mökki culture – the tradition of summer cottages, usually beside a lake, usually without wifi has kept an entirely different kind of alive. At the cottage, you grill a wild caught salmon on an open grill, pick blueberries from the forest, enjoy a tall cup of coffee and experience the sauna with a dip in the lake or a jacuzzi after. That’s the Finnish mökki life, a heady concoction of austere living and elegant understated luxury!
Finland sets a different table with every season, and every one of them is worth sitting down for.
