This post I will dedicate to food.
Firstly, I love food, not any food but quality
food. Back In London, I love going out, wining and dining. I enjoy all variety
of cuisines; Chinese (Dim-sum, hot pot, Wontons, steamed dumplings, Peking
roast duck), Japanese (Suchi, Nigiri, Sashimi, Udon, Ramen, Tempura), Thai (Pad
Thai, rice curry dishes), Korean (bibimbap), Italian of course since my boyfriend
is Italian and he is an amazing cook, he makes the most delicious Italian
dishes, you name it. Let’s not forget the Middle-Eastern cuisine since my
background is from the Middle East and I have lived and visited few courtiers
there. My favorite places for Middle Eastern food in London; the White House in Golders Green! Israeli
restaurant, they do the best Flafel in town, and how can I forget my favorite
restaurant Levant in Jason court of Wigmore Street in central London,
incredible food and atmosphere. This is beside so many other cuisines I enjoy
occasionally, like Indian, Spanish, French, Brazilian and many others. I have to say I
have never tried the Scandinavian cuisine before.
I do believe that food is a huge part of the
culture, I normally visit places for few aspects; people, food, interesting sites, nature and music. Food habits are related to any nation’s health and as
a student nurse it is important to know the food habits of where I visit.
Finland!
Since I have this passion for food, trying
Finnish food was one of the first priorities, as you can see from my first post
that the first thing I have done when I arrived in Helsinki, is to go to
Finnish restaurant and eat reindeer. For the fist few days I was eating
everything and anything Finnish that I can try. It was really funny because my boyfriend
for the first period he stayed in Finland (only 4 days), he was eating Pizza, while I
was opposite him eating reindeer and moose with and mash and lingonberry Sauce.
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| Market in Turku |
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| Indoor Market Pori- Kaupa Halli |
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| Indoor Market Pori- Kaupa Halli |
One of the highlights in my stay is
actually going to Finnish cooking lesson in Martat Finnish home economics
organization in Pori. We backed Roaster which is a pie of rye filled with
freshly picked blue berries from the forest and Karjalan Piirakka another pie
but filled with rice and eaten with boiled eggs (Munavoi- Egg butter).
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| Roaster |
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| Karjalan Piirakka |
At university I did struggle a bit to start
with. Back home I’m used to my espresso macchiato with croissant in the morning,
when I came here in Finland I could not find costa coffee at uni (Silly me) then I have
been introduced to the Finnish brewed coffee and Pulla, soon adjusted to the
(Kahvia ja Pulla) which mean coffee and Pulla (Finnish pastry). So now in my
breaks I always have and ask for Kahvia ja Pulla.
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| Kahvia ja Pulla |
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| Kahvia ja Pulla |
Lunch starts here very early; lunch in fact
is served as early as 10:30 am in the morning. Compare to London I normally
have lunch at 13:00 may be later. It normally contains a sandwich or baguette,
bag of crisp and a drink. I was really surprised that lunch is so different
here; in London all the shops within the campus sell items and products as the
same price as outside shops, uni in London has costa, Starbucks, Subway. In my Uni in Finland food is provided by one restaurant
and subsidized by the government (I have put many pictures of my lunches in
here to see what I’m taking about). You have bread served all day, and is free
of charge, many variety of breads all shapes and colors, juices are also
provided for free, not only juices but also milk and sour milk. You have a
salad bar and a choice of two main courses, coffee is only €1, Pulla is € 0,50,
Lunch is € 1,90 in other university which I can go to and in fact I love going there to
meet my friends from the EILC course (University Consortium of Pori) lunch cost
slightly higher price € 2,30 . So now I’m used to have a warm healthy lunch every day with a drink and big side plate of salad. Also if I go to uni early enough I can get
breakfast that is served so early, it is oats with amazing strawberry jam, boiled egg, small sandwich,
coffee and juice, all of this cost only
€2,30.
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| University Lunch |
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| University Lunch |
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| Reindeer Lunch |
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| Breakfast |
Something that I need to mention, that the
ladies that serve food at Uni (SAMK Tiilimaki Campus), are super nice and
friendly, they became friends to me, they always ask about me and when I was
ill, they were so caring. They were giving me advice and they recommended that I should buy this
amazing Finnish honey. They always teach me words in Finnish and they are so patient with
me, while I'm trying to order food in Finnish. They also gave me few Finnish recipes. They
are truly amazing.
I love food shopping here in Finland; it
gives a chance to practice my Finnish with people, I get to know and practice the
names of different food in Finnish. One of the main things that I was surprised to
see is how many variety of milk they have here, milk is always served with lunch! also the various types of rye bread in stores which I love
so much now, you can even get health crisps made of rye. You can also easily find many lactose free products, lactose free break, milk butter, ice cream and more.
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| Perfect Picnic meal, chicken with pineapples sandwich, salad with fruits, and my favourite rye crisps |
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| Fish at the super market |
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| Herrings |
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| Salad Bar at the super market |
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| Jelly sweets all different kinds from all over Scandinavia |
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| Famous Finnish Xylitol gum |
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| Lactose Free Ice cream |
If you are in Finland in the summer then
you are in the perfect place to try all different types of fresh berries,
strawberries, apples and mushrooms. You can even walk in the forest and you eat
a lot of things; blueberries, strawberries apples, be careful, don’t try to eat
mushrooms, they can be poisonous.
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| Mushroom in the forest ( Don't eat) |
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| Finnish Apples |
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| Finnish Berries |
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| Apples on the trees ( You can pick and eat) |
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| Blueberries in the forest |
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| Lingonberries in the forest |
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| Lingonberries sold in Turku Market |
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| Pumpkins in Turku Market |
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| Free Apples at Uni ( People bring them from their gardens) |
Few addictions I have developed here. Number
one, as I mentioned is rye bread, especially with herrings which is another
addiction I have developed now; herrings, salty fish, fish spreads and smoke
salmon, I just cannot live now with eating fish. Second addiction is Salmiakki, which is basically a salty liquorice. Try
to google it! It comes in many shapes and forms, sweets, jelly sweets,
alcohol drinks, chocolate, even ice cream! I love them all! And all of them
made by Fazer, which is a Finnish brand that makes the most delicious
chocolate, that if you are in Finland you must try it. If you are in Helsinki, going to Fazer store
and having Sunday brunch is a must. Third addiction is berries, strawberries
and any product that comes from them. One of my favourites day in school is
Thursday, which is Pancake Day! with cream and strawberry jam that melts in
your mouth. When I went back home I brought my boyfriend lots of home made jams from the markets, various types of Salmiakki and of course my favourite rye crisps.
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| Salmiakki |
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| Fish Spreads |
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| Finnish dinner at my home |
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| Herrings at Pori Kaupa Halli |
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| Karl Fazer Store in Helsinik |
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| Sunday brunch at Karl Fazer restaurant |
Finnish typical markets is one of my
favourite places to visit in Finland, I have not missed any. I went to the fish market here in Pori, sadly it travels around Finland. I went to Turku market which is in my opinion the best one to visit especially Saturday morning. I went to the
market in Helsinki in the harbour (too touristy in my eyes) and of course the
market in Tampere. Words cannot describe the atmosphere there, that’s why I have put
many pictures.
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| Fish Market |
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| Fish Market in Pori |
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| Fish Market in Pori |
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| Kaupa Hallo in Pori |
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| Kaupa Halli in Pori |
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| Kaupa Halli in Pori |
On of my favorite places in Pori is Kaupa
Halli, which the indoor market where I go to shop often and have my lovely
Kahvia ya Pulla.
I have to say that deciding to live in
central Pori was a great decision since I can easily go to Kaupa Halli
regularly, talk to Finnish people, and one of nicest things of being where I
live is to me meet my lovely Finnish neighbour Mintuu who has introduced me to so
many Finnish dishes similar to Rikkaat Ritarit (which means the Rich Knights- Heart Attack Desert) and the delicious Christmas
drink Glögi.
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| Mintuu Preparing Rikkaat Ritarit |
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| Finnish Ice Cream |
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| Christmas Drink |
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| Rikkaat Ritarit |
I cannot cover everything about Finnish food that I have eaten and experienced in one post, I can easily do a whole blog about food. I'm still experiencing food in Finland and there are so many other dishes and items that I have not tired yet. I have not only developed an interest in Finnish food but Scandinavian food in general. I have been to Sweden and I'm going to Norway and Denmark soon, this will give a great opportunity to try other dishes.
By the way talking about music at the beginning. This is my favourite song in Finnish, enjoy watching.
I will leave now with some funny items that I saw in Finnish stores.
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| Angry Birds Drink ( Since Angry Birds are Finnish creation) There are also sweets |
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| Spicy Ice Cream ( Tyrkish peber) |
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| Dairy Product with Cola flavour |
