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First time I visited a Finnish super market I was very surprised to see how much convenience food there were. Of course, also in Denmark, there are ready-prepared dishes and fast food, but it is not even close to the amounts of variations of dishes and the usage of space in the refrigerated counters as in Finland. Since I enjoy to cook my own meals I started to wonder about the Finnish food culture? Would it be more than just pizzas, burgers and sausages? Bread, bread, bread Let us start with the bread, which may be the most important ingredient in a Finnish household. Finland has almost as many different flavours and variations of bread as it has lakes. OK, maybe a little exaggeration, but it just describes the multiplicity of bread variety, flavours and shapes. The most distinguished Finnish bread is the "Ruisleip" which means rye bread. It is leavened bread made of bolted rye meal, without any yeast at all. It is very delicious and tasty and can be eaten with just butter on the top or with meat or cheese etc. If you have tasted the ruisleip, you will understand why Finns misses their bread when being abroad. Their must be a reason for death Like in Denmark, Finland too enjoys their bread with
cheese or meat. In Denmark, the national dish is "smrrebrd"
which can be a combination of bread, butter, some green salad, ham,
salami, onions, mayonnaise salt and pepper and what else you want to put
on the bread. Not exactly, what the Doctor ordered, but as the Danish
saying goes: "There must be a reason for death". This kind of
laid on bread and butter, should be eaten with knife and fork, since it
would be almost mission impossible to eat a 3-5 centimetre (1-2 inches)
high piece of bread with your fingers only. Foreigners can be a little
intimidated by Danish smrrebrd at the first sight. I can understand
why.
As Danes have "smrrebrd" Finns have "voileippyt" which means butter bread table. Here you might find all kinds of ham, sausages and, of course, the Baltic herring. The Baltic herring can (should) be served with the Finnish vodka "Koskenkorva". A little glass or two of Koskenkorva is also good for the blood circulation (I am absolutely sure I have read about it somewhere). Anyway, I like to see it as a healthy thing to do. Moreover, who does not want to be healthy? Thus, Finns are a little healthier with their food than Danes (even if Danes drink snaps with their herrings). Seriously, you can for example often hear Finns, who have been in Denmark, talk about how salty Danish food are. I tend to agree with them. Finns also eat ham or salami with their bread, but even if it is less salty than normal Danish meat it keeps its fine tastes. Perhaps Danes should cut down the salt in their foods a little more and follow the Finnish example. Food can be done without too much salt and still keep a good flavour! Honest though, It took me long time to appreciate the Finnish cuisine without all the usage of salt. Distinguished cuisine Sausages are probably the most popular dinner if a Finn (at least the man) cook by himself. Its a cheap, easy and fast way to prepare dinner for yourself, the family or guests. It is also a very popular dish in the summer when you have been in the sauna and lake. Then its very common to grill al kinds of sausages which goes very well with a cold beer or cider. Again, who said Finns do not have a sophisticated food culture and delicate cuisine? In 2001, the Italian Prime Minister, Berlusconi, was very upset when the European Union (EU) had decided that the coveted European Food Safety Authority should go to Helsinki, Finland. Berlusconi«s mature argument was that Finland does not know anything about the Parma ham and that the department should be in the city of Parma because of the famous ham. For what I care Berlusconi can keep his Parma ham and culinary manners to himself. I like the Finnish combination of food and alcohol more than the Italian, hik. A rich nature Other popular and famous dishes in Finland are the salmon (which can be eaten raw, smoked or salted), smoked reindeer which is a very delicious meal from Lapland in North Finland, but unfortunately expensive outside of Lapland and then "lihapulla" which means meatballs and is eaten with fresh potatoes, potato salad or mashed potatoes. All kinds of berries are also popular in Finland. The wild berries range from raspberries, strawberries and blueberries to cranberries, gooseberries and cloudberries all depending of the season. Finnish nature is beautiful, well preserved and rich of fruits and berries. Lazy youth? The younger generation of Finns, in generally, are busy or lazy or maybe both when it comes down to cooking dinner. At least when we talk about students, young couples and singles. Pizzas, burgers and ready-prepared dishes are very popular to these people and a little sad in my opinion, since food are so important from where I come from. Finns have a different kind of food culture. In Denmark, half of the enjoyment about food is the dinner preparation that quite often includes more than only one member of the family. In Denmark, food and cooking are very important social aspects and who wants to cook dinner alone when you can have twice as much fun being two? Eating together around the table is often the only time at the day where the family has time to talk about what has happened during the day and it is also a time for the family to relax and enjoy each others company. |
