A Look At Finland - Part 2 Of Our European Adventure

 

 Finland is a place that has a strange connection with me. I actually have a lot of people in Finland that I consider friends. These aren't just friends I've made on the internet, these are people that I've met in the real world. I've always wondered why I have such a connection with Finnish people, but after visiting recently it's started to make sense.

I've never traveled anywhere in the world where I didn't enjoy at least one food item that they're well known for. Finland on the other hand gave me so much great food that I don't even know where to start. In fact I've written this introduction 5 times already because I just didn't know what to begin with.  I guess I'll  start with my introduction to Finnish treats, and it's a good one.

  

Fazer is a company that makes a lot of different food items. They make baked goods, candies, but they're most famous in my mind for their chocolate. The good news is that they're famous for their chocolate for good reason. I'd tasted Fazer chocolate before this trip, so when we decided to go to Finland, getting some Fazer chocolate was top on my list. What we discovered on this trip is that Fazer has so much to offer, and I could write a whole website dedicated to reviewing just Fazer products. It can vary from breads and candies, but it also includes some amazing baked goods and hand made chocolates sold at their cafes. Yes, Fazer has cafes in Finland.

Best of all, in Helsinki is "the” Fazer Cafe, the flagship store. It's also the  place where Karl Fazer started making his chocolates in Finland in 1891. The cafe does not disappoint, and if you're a fan of Fazer (and you should be) this is a place worth visiting.

While Fazer is a great thing to try in Finland, it's not the only thing. Allison being the carnivore that she is managed to try reindeer in many forms, including something called a reindeer snowball that's basically cheese and reindeer, two of her favourite things. Allison also fell in love with the breads in Finland (and the bread used in the reindeer snowball is the perfect example why). Bread is an interesting thing, many cultures have bread as being an important part of their food. Bread however isn't simple, so many cultures have their own take on bread, and Finland is no different. The "average" bread in Finland is a dense bread often filled with whole grains. These breads are generously slathered in butter and often eaten with cheese and meats.

The bread that blew me away though is something from the north, something called Karelian pasty. The best way to describe it is to say it looks like a squashed baked potato, but has the consistency of a very soft flat bread. They're often filled with a porridge (rice being my favourite), but it's what you put on top that blew my mind. Finnish egg salad may look typical, but the minute you bite into it you know it's a game changer. Rather than using mayonnaise as the bonding agent, people of Finland use butter. If you're keeping score, that's a lot of butter, but it works so well. It's super rich, but isn't as greasy as you'd think it would be. This is likely because of the properties of the Karelian pasty. They seem to work so perfectly together, and just thinking about it makes me crave just one more bite.

The final things I want to talk about when it comes to Finnish food is berries. This country is obsessed with berries, and they're very specific about what kind of berries they love. The obsession is all about wild berries, and there's a huge variety of berries to choose from. Growing in the forests of Finland are everything from wild raspberries, to the elusive cloudberry. The later is a treasure that when mixed with a special baked cheese can change the way you feel about berries all together. Apparently the location of cloudberries in the wild is such a closely guarded secret that it's only passed down from one generation to another. So if you want to pick your own cloudberries, you're going to need to marry a Finn.

While I say this about many of the places I visit, Finland is truly a great place for any foodie to visit. There is a huge variety of food to choose from, but best of all it makes you feel good. Everything they love to eat comes from home. Even when you buy it in the store, it feels like it was made at someone’s house. If you get the chance that I did, to eat at someone's home, you'll understand why this works. Finnish food is casual, but most importantly it's comfortable.

CC