What do people eat in England? Fish and Chips! In Italy? Pizza and pasta! In France? Baguettes and red wine! In Finland? Umm... ummmmm... potatoes? Meat? Anyone?
Yeah, that's the thing. We might have a food culture. Somewhere. I think we have one. Mom, did you put our food culture in the attic last time you had a spring cleaning? I can't find it anywhere!
That's a bit mean. We do have a food culture, the one that Silvio Berlusconi insulted while visiting. That's probably the only thing he can't be blamed for. Our food culture is not much of culture. And in any case it is not something you can find abroad labeled "Finnish cuisine".
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| Kuva: mwri |
Different parts of Finland have different traditional things that could be called food culture, like the Karelian pastry. It is actually amazingly good with butter and egg. But most of all we just eat simple, humble things. We eat potatoes with meat, all kinds of fish, vegetables and fruits, since we can pick them up for free.
And since we do not have a strong food culture of our own, we have adapted all of yours. Come to Finland to find Mexican, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and American restaurants sitting next to each other in peace.
This is my opinion. If you need a second opinion, and I strongly recommend that you do, check out what my best friend wrote about the Finnish food culture.
Am I beeing too short sighted? Do we have a food culture? Did someone find it? Where was it? Please, argue with me.
Finnish food culture is a bit like a aladobi (meat jelly). It wobbles towards Sweden and in turn towards Russia, might be just a little bit disgusting and bizarre with it's blood foods and viili, and consists of individual specialties (those meat pieces) in a jelly influenced transparently by so many other food cultures..
VastaaPoistaWow, yeah. It never occurred to me that our culture is so drawn to Swedish and Russian ones but it makes only sense since we have baan a part of both. By the time we became independent the food culture had already started to form itself. Good point indeed!
PoistaBeen to Ukraine, where local family introduced me to the "most traditional and truly Ukrainian dish" – karjalanpaisti. A sort of meat stew served with boiled potatoes.
VastaaPoistaOur restaurant food mimics mostly Italian and American cuisine. At home we eat a well mingled mixture of Swedish and North-Eastern cuisines – I bet you could see the difference between west and east before people started all moving around.
Back in old times most of the Finland was just hunting lands – nowadays we've forgot all that type of stuff and meat for us is just steroid bumped chicken chest...
What we Do have still from those times, is a culture where we preserve food and pick it up by ourself. Mushroom in the Netherlands equals champignon and in Germany "who the heck would go and pick up some berries? It's dangerous!".
Glad to have you back, Mikael. :)
PoistaYes, we have forgotten most of the heritage we had. Families nowadays eat anything from that same karjalanpaisti to tacos. It is natural when this globalized world introduces us with all kinds of food from all around.
And you're right. People from abroad tend to be surprised of how we go to the forest for the food. If not to hunt and fish it anymore (though there's still rich hunting culture too), at least to pick up berries and mushrooms.
Oh and don't get me wrong, I like tacos. :-) Global cuisine is a great thing!
PoistaChinese new year in 3 days! Yeep yeep!
Indeed it is. :)
Poista