Famous Finnish Foods

When people speak about Finnish Foods in the USA there isn’t a type of food that really sticks out. Big hearty meat dishes are probably what spring to most minds when Finnish food is mentioned. Meatballs in some sort of stew are super tasty and the Finns also love Reindeer as in the north there are more of this type of animal compared to humans. There is an interesting fact for you.

Popular Finnish Foods

Below we have included a list of some of the traditional Finnish foods that you should definitely try when you are visiting this marvelous country.

• Karjalanpiirakka
• Leipäjuusto
• Poronkäristys
• Silli ja uudet perunat
• Rapu
• Mustikkapiirakka

This is obviously just a short list of some of the popular Finnish Foods that you can sample when you are visiting Finland.

Depending on the time of year and where you are travelling to in Finland you will have different options. Meat and Fish are the main focus on any dish in Finland though, some restaurants and lodges may have a few vegetarian dishes on the menu. With the wave of veganism that has hit the world, places like Helsinki will definitely be accommodating for any vegans visiting Finland.

My Childhood Experience with Finnish Foods

In Helsinki I can find many things that are more pleasant than food. I cannot, however, get to grips with Finnish food. “What can I have, dear?” my father asked, as a child trying to find out what my ancestors had eaten. “Tea with flowers in it,” my grandfather said, and that was the end of it. (Tea, by the way, is Finnish for “the broth of roasted and caked oxes, of which I am a kind and fecund son.”) By the time I grew up, however, there were other Finns around — really only a handful — who were, as everyone has it, a dab hand at cuisine, and I learnt not only to recognise the best teas but also to cook them: I learnt to boil carp, turn eggs and chew fish as if they were a cherished article of conversation.

My mother often said to me that my Frieskin soup was mostly fat, meat and potatoes, because that is what Finns eat. I really don’t mind that: she just wanted me to go easy on the potatoes. “When you can’t cook something that isn’t potatoes, you end up with something that isn’t food,” she said. That last bit is a good point to make. Potato dishes are a great thing, though they can ruin the taste of vegetables in bland arrangements.

If you are Finnish and want to tell us about what your favorite Finnish foods were as a kid then please do share your comments below. But even for the people reading this that aren’t Finnish we want to hear what you think of the Finnish cuisine, did you eat anything amazing whilst you were visiting or maybe something that you didn’t enjoy. Let us know.