Finnish cuisine
[1] Finnish foods often use wholemeal products (rye, barley, oats) and berries (such as bilberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, and sea buckthorn).
However, in the harsh and cold environment, agriculture was neither a very effective nor secure way of life, so getting food from nature has often been an important secondary livelihood.
[citation needed] In former times, the country's harsh climate meant that fresh fruit and vegetables were largely unavailable for at least nine months of the year, leading to a heavy reliance on staple tubers (initially turnip, later potato), dark rye bread and fermented dairy products, occasionally enlivened with preserved fish and meat.
Traditionally, very few spices other than salt were available, and fresh herbs like dill and chives were limited to the summer months.
Many Finnish traditional dishes are prepared by stewing them for a long time in an oven, which produces hearty but bland fare.
As pasta, pizza, kebab, and hamburgers were integrated into Finnish menus, they displaced some traditional everyday dishes like kaalilaatikko (cabbage casserole), or herring fillets, which some consider inferior.
As of the 20th century, when the majority of Finnish women entered the workforce, many traditional dishes that require long preparation time are reserved for holidays.
Even with modern agriculture and transportation, food remains expensive in Finland relative to other European countries.
The consequent elimination of trade barriers led prices of products like grains, meat, and milk to drop as much as 50%.
[3] Before that, heavy taxes and outright bans on imports that competed with local produce severely limited the availability of foreign or unseasonal food.
The hunters focus on deer, moose and bear, but small game such as hare, duck and grouse are popular.
Due to very strict food hygiene regulations, moose meat is mainly consumed within households and is rarely obtainable in restaurants.
Arctic wild berries are distinctively featured in Finnish cuisine with their strong flavor and high nutrient content.
Wild raspberries (vadelma), bilberries (mustikka) and lingonberries (puolukka) are found in almost every part of Finland, while cloudberries (lakka), cranberries (karpalo), arctic brambles (mesimarja) and sea buckthorns (tyrni) grow in more limited areas.
[9] It is common to smoke any type of fish, like salmon, zander, pike, perch and Baltic herring.
A popular dish among the Swedish-speaking population is smoked herring (Finnish: savusilakka, Swedish: böckling).
Various species of mushrooms grow in abundance in Finnish forests and false morels start the season in spring and are used in creamy dishes.
Chanterelles and ceps pop up after Midsummer and are popular in the whole country, while in eastern Finland almost all edible fungi are consumed, including milkcaps and russulas.
Mushrooms are used in soups, sauces, stews, pie fillings, or simply fried in a pan with onions as a side dish.
Breads are made from grains like barley, oat, rye and wheat, or by mixing different grits and flours.
It was eaten also during the Second World War, and the tradition of making this bread has had a minor come-back with claims of health benefits.
The Christmas season introduces milk-based rice porridge (riisipuuro), sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and often topped with prune kiisseli (luumukiisseli).
Local brands with the highest market share include Koff, Lapin Kulta, Karjala, Olvi and Karhu and their taste is rather similar to the Danish counterparts like Carlsberg and Tuborg.
Kotikalja is a malty, sugar-containing sweet beer fermented only for carbonation, thus its alcohol content is low enough (<1.2%) to be served as a soft drink.
The term perinneruoka ("traditional dish") is often applied to specialties that are rarely eaten on a daily basis.
Sour milk products such as yoghurt or viili are also common breakfast foods, usually served in a bowl with cereals such as corn flakes, muesli, and sometimes with sugar, fruit or jam.
The Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi claimed that "I've been to Finland and I had to endure the Finnish diet so I am in a position to make a comparison."
On 4 July 2005 French President Jacques Chirac claimed that "After Finland, [Britain is] the country with the worst food.
(Ute Junker, Australian Financial Review Magazine, Sydney, Australia) "Food in Finnish restaurants is extremely good.
They named their award-winning smoked reindeer pizza Berlusconi as symbolic payback for the critique Finnish cuisine had received from the Italian prime minister earlier.
