Finland

Finland is well known for its different kinds of healthy foods, from traditional Finnish dishes to more European dishes. The most common foods consumed in Finland include potatoes, bread, Karelian pies, meat and sausage. Finns love potatoes in all its ways boiled, smashed or even toasted. It is also served as a side dish. Pies are the key to their hearts, whether they are savory or sweet. Finns enjoy eating various types of meat and sausages as well, even though prices of both are high in their country. Below is a list of five types of famous foods in Finland:

Kalakukko: is a famous Finnish dish, made out of fish baked inside a loaf of bread. These pies are filled with muikku, a small herring-like fish found in the Lake District of Eastern Finland. Kalakukko is prepared with rye flour; wheat is often added to make the dough more pliable. The filling’s main ingredient is the fish; other ingredients added are pork and bacon. If prepared correctly, bones of the fish soften; the meat and fish juices cook thoroughly inside the bread which results in a moist filling. This dish can also be made without using fish but instead combining potato and pork or rutabaga and pork. Finnish people think of kalakukko as a packed lunch because of what the pie is containing, everything you needed for a complete me

Silli Ja Uudet Perunat: is a famous Finnish dish, made out of new potatoes with fresh fried lake fish served with chanterelle sauce. New potatoes are well known within Finland, they start to appear around midsummer, and the chanterelles are picked in the fall, which makes people happy about their harvests. After the chanterelles are freshly picked, they are washed well then fried in butter and mixed with cream. This chanterelle sauce makes this meal delicious and adds great contrast to the dish as a whole.  

Poronkäristys: is the best-known traditional meal in Finland. It is called reindeer steak that is served with mashed potatoes, lingonberries mashed with sugar and pickled cucumber. This dish is eaten throughout the country in all seasons. Reindeer’s meat is one of the healthiest foods known in Finland; it is high in B-12, omega-3 and omega-6. This dish has many different flavors. The reindeer meat is prepared in fried oil or butter, with the addition of cream and some spices. 

Leipäjuusto:  is a fresh cheese traditionally made from cow's beestings. It can also be made from reindeer or goat’s milk. This cheese originally comes from Southern Ostrobothnia, Northern Finland and Kainuu, and is known in English as 'Finnish squeaky cheese'. The cheese is prepared as follows: The milk is first thickened, fried or baked in a pie tin, then cut into wedges. This dish is delicious and is served with cloudberry jam. Raw cloudberries are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants. The cloudberry jam is not the same as fresh cloudberries. It is quite expensive and not all people afford buying them because they have to be gathered in the wild. The jam results in a balance of sweetness and acidity. This jam makes a great combination with the cheese.

Korvapuusti: is a famous dish that everyone must eat at any time of the day, a dish full of cinnamon rolls are best eaten with a cup of coffee to balance the flavors. Finns make the best cinnamon rolls topped with coarse sugar sprinkles. These sweetbreads are made of flour, cinnamon, sugar and butter, and are served at gas stations, mall cafes, kiosks and most local cafes and restaurants. The size of the cinnamon roll varies from country to country but the largest variety can be found in Finland. A roll can weigh up to 200 grams, which is higher than normal.