Dining in Finland

Finnish cuisine depends on a season. The main ingredients are fresh and natural. The purity of taste of Finish is reached by the simplicity of recipes. Fish, meat, various vegetables, mushrooms, berries and fish make the base of national cuisine. But vegetarianism in Finland is historically non-existent. As we have already mentioned fish is eaten in all the regions of the country. Salmon, zander, herring, perch can be boiled, fried, smoked, grilled, steamed, oven-baked or pickled. Berries are also very popular. The meat dishes vary from pork to wild duck and wood pigeon. There is a stable tradition - every autumn the Finns gather berries in the forests. The turnips were widely used in old cooking, but nowadays they are totaly replaced by the potatoes, which became widespread in the 18th century. As for the spices, they are not very often used, the most popular are dill and parsley. One of the national elements of the cuisine is rye bread eaten with all the dishes.

Finns drink more coffee than anyone else in the world. They do not like tea but prefer alcohol drinks. Finnish vodka such as Finlandia and Koskenkorva reached worldwide fame. Gloggi (a sort of spiced wine, mixed with brandy or rum) is drunk in cold seasons. There exist some types of the restaurants in Finland: kahvila (cafe, serving snacks), ravintola (restaurant of home-style cooking), lounasravintola (offers lunchtime buffet). So, you will for sure like the cuisine of Finland, because it is light, healthy and tasty.