Food experiences you can only try in Finland

Have you ever gone on holiday, picked berries and baked a pie with a local grandma? Tasted a fish you caught yourself? Made Karelian pies from scratch in an authentic Eastern Finland setting? 

To get a true taste of Finland, adventure beyond restaurants, bars, and traditional eateries. Travel around the country and find delicious experiences from communal baking workshops to foraging trips, forest wine tastings and more. 

Here are a few to get you started.

A home-cooked Finnish meal is a gentle introduction to the country. Finnish home cooking is practical and comforting, built typically around fresh fish, root vegetables, rye, and whatever else the season offers.

Salmon soup is the unofficial national hug in a bowl. Every household has its own method, but the essentials stay the same: fresh salmon, potatoes, dill, and enough cream to take the edge off a chilly day. Eating it in someone’s kitchen is a simple pleasure that feels immediately local.

Karelian dishes offer another layer of tradition. Slow-cooked stews, rye-heavy recipes, and flavours that reflect Eastern Finland’s long history – nothing flashy, everything honest. Many hosts still prepare these dishes the way their parents and grandparents did, not out of nostalgia but because the old methods simply work.

Joining a local family or a cooking class also gives you a glimpse of everyday Finnish life: the quiet hospitality, the pride in seasonal ingredients, and the way conversation settles in naturally over the second (or third) cup of coffee.

There’s something reassuring about Finnish baking. It’s slow, simple, and wonderfully imperfect – much like the Finnish way of life. Take rye bread, for example. It’s the country’s edible backbone, baked for centuries in farmhouses where the oven doubled as a heater and a gathering place. In a communal rye bread workshop, you’ll hear stories, learn old techniques, and go home with a unique piece of Finnish culinary history. 

Karelian pies are another national favourite, though they require a touch more patience. Traditionally, grandmothers in Eastern Finland shaped the crimped edges with enviable speed. The rest of us need a bit longer which is exactly the fun of a Karelian pie workshop.

If your sweet tooth is calling, Finland does that well, too. Blueberry pies made with wild bilberries are beloved everywhere, but in the Savo region they go a step further. Their mustikkakukko – bilberries tucked inside a rye crust – is such a regional pride that it’s protected under the EU’s Traditional Specialty label. Join a baking workshop in an old log cabin and you’ll learn why locals are so fond of this rustic, slightly messy dessert.

And then there are cinnamon rolls, known in Finland as korvapuusti. Soft, fragrant, and as common in Finnish homes as wool socks. Learning to bake them isn’t just a workshop – it’s practically a rite of passage. Join a local family in their kitchen or take part in a cosy cinnamon-roll session, and you’ll leave with a skill far more valuable than a souvenir.

Finns have been cooking outdoors long before it became something you sign up for. It’s practical, it’s peaceful, and yes, food genuinely tastes better when there’s a lake breeze and a bit of woodsmoke involved.

Wilderness cooking courses around Finland keep things straightforward. You learn to work with what nature provides: fish straight from the water, mushrooms and herbs from the forest floor, and berries you might spot on the way to the firepit. The cooking methods are old, the ingredients are local, and the results are surprisingly good for something made with a stick and a cast-iron pan.

Places like Uhkua by Lake Saimaa take the experience to a cosy level. You’ll cook outdoors, enjoy a traditional sauna, and stay the night if you feel like slowing down properly.

Sometimes the best way to enjoy Finnish food is to let someone else handle the cooking. Across the country, local hosts set up simple outdoor dinners in places where the scenery does most of the work – by a campfire, in a forest hut, or on a quiet stretch of shoreline.

The settings vary. You might find yourself in a weathered cabin once used by reindeer herders, or in a lean-to shelter with the fire crackling just a few metres away. And when the sky is clear, dinner simply moves outside. And if you're lucky, it happens under the Northern lights.

Picnics are a summer classic. A ready-made basket filled with local treats means you only have to choose a good spot. One particularly charming option is at Tammiston Kuulas near Naantali, where you picnic under old apple trees while sheep wander around as if they’re part of the scenery. Another unique way to dine al fresco in Finland? A steamboat cruise in Lakeland!

And in Lapland, things can take a colder turn in the winter. In Rovaniemi, you can sit down to dinner inside a real snow castle – a quiet, icy space where everything looks slightly unreal but the food tastes reassuringly warm.

Finns take their drinks seriously – and outdoors whenever possible. Coffee is usually the first thing packed. Traditional campfire coffee is boiled over open flames and served in a wooden kuksa mug. With HaliPuu’s Campfire Barista in Lapland, you get the full version: good beans, a crackling fire, and the kind of quiet you only hear north of the Arctic Circle.

Wine also behaves surprisingly well outside in the Finnish wilderness. At Wine in the Woods in Nuuksio National Park, tastings take place among the trees just a short drive from Helsinki. The forest adds its own notes – pine, moss, rocks – and the experiences run typically from May to September.

For something firmly rooted in Finnish tradition, there are distilleries, breweries, and berry vineyards across the country. Many work with local grains and botanicals, keeping the flavours tied to the landscape. Kyrö Distillery in Isokyrö is a favourite: rye-based gins and whiskies served with a dose of dry humour and zero pretence. If you don't have time to travel to the West Coast, try their unique sauna in the centre of Helsinki!

Finland’s lakes and forests are full of ingredients just waiting to be gathered, and many Finns grow up learning what to pick, what to leave, and when to head outside with a basket. Under Everyman's Rights, you can walk, forage, and fish with a simple rod in most public waters.

Fishing is a favourite pastime everywhere in Finland, no matter the season. Join a local guide and you’ll learn the basics, enjoy the quiet, and if luck is on your side, cook your own catch afterwards. In winter, the same idea moves onto the ice. Visitors don’t need permits for ice fishing in most places, but warm boots and a knowledgeable guide are non-negotiable.

Summer is berry season, and Finnish forests turn into a buffet of bilberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, and wild strawberries. Locals head out with buckets the moment the season starts, and joining a guided foraging trip is an easy way to learn what to look for.

Autumn brings mushrooms like ceps and chanterelles. With a guide, you’ll find the good spots and avoid anything questionable – a reassuring detail for beginners. Even wild herbs are part of the mix, and some guided tours start right in Helsinki, proving you don’t need deep wilderness to explore Finland’s natural pantry.

Santa comes from Finland and so does quietly comforting Christmas food. The centre piece of Christmas dinners is usually a slow-roasted Christmas ham, surrounded by classic casseroles of carrot, rutabaga, and potato. Add cold-smoked salmon, gravlax, beetroot rosolli, and plenty of rye bread, and you have a very Finnish festive table.

For something sweet, there are joulutorttu pastries filled with prune jam and crisp gingerbread biscuits that appear everywhere in December (including in Santa Claus’s hometown of Rovaniemi).

You can try these seasonal dishes across Finland, from cosy cafés to traditional buffets. Some hosts even offer Christmas-themed cooking experiences where you help prepare the classics yourself. It’s an easy way to taste Finnish Christmas traditions and feel a little closer to the man in red while you’re at it.