Finland
Edible and Musical Way to Find Happiness in Helsinki
Article and photography by Jennifer Bain
In the industrial Herttoniemi district of Helsinki, I made a pilgrimage to the Marikmekko textile printing factory, stayed for lunch and stumbled upon the Finnish tradition of Pea Soup Thursdays.
Catholics used to feast on smoked ham-spiked pea soup on Thursdays to get through Friday fasting days, but the tradition has evolved. Maritori’s memorable vegan version was made from dried green peas and topped with an unusual dollop of sweetly spicy mustard.
Dessert that day also followed tradition — Finnish pancakes, baked, cut in squares and served with jam and whipped cream.
There’s no better introduction to Finnish culture than lunching at Maritori, which is open to all and where meals come on Marikmekko dishware. My white soup bowl with hand-drawn graphic black dots featured the Räsymatto (rag rug) pattern inspired by allotment gardening and linked to themes of sustainable living and the joy of working with your hands.
“Basically our mission has been from the start to bring joy into everyday life through our bold prints and colors, so that is still very much part of the mission today,” Global PR Manager Liisa Myllymäki said during a media tour. “We are a very optimistic, joyful brand.”
Founded in 1951 in post-war Finland by Armi Ratia and her husband Viljo, Marimekko (Finnish for “Mary’s Dress”) is a design house celebrated worldwide for its artist-designed prints and bold use of color. It’s considered one of the world’s first lifestyle brands and makes clothes, bags, accessories and home decor.
Oh how the teenage me yearned for a Marimekko dress in the iconic Unikko (poppy) pattern created by designer Maija Isola in 1964. You’ll find it at the factory shop here and in Canada at La Maison Simons, the Quebec-based department store chain.
Two random interesting facts. Marimekko adores “happy contradictions,” like celebrating bold colors in a country with long, dark and cold winters. Look at the underside of its fabrics to see the overlapping colors they call “perfect imperfections.”
How wonderful that staff like Myllymäki feel like they’re “storing parts of the national identity” by preserving color “recipes” and how colors are used in patterns.
How cool to have such an accessible factory in a capital city.
Finland was a mystery to me when I arrived on Finnair’s first nonstop Toronto-Helsinki flight in a decade. I had just seen photos of our Canadian prime minister playing hockey with Finland’s president, but didn’t expect to click so easily with reserved, fiercely honest and nature-loving Finns.
A UNESCO City of Design with about 700,000 people, Helsinki is best known for its design district, sauna culture and architecture.
The Nordic country has also famously been named the world’s happiest country for nine straight years by the UN-sponsored World Happiness Report for its robust social support system, high quality of life and low crime rates.
“We couldn’t believe it at first and we were thinking how miserable is the rest of the world if we’re the happiest,” Finland’s Canadian Ambassador Hanna-Leena Korteniemi said during a pre-flight luncheon in Toronto. “That’s the irony and the humour that Finns often share. But by now we Finns are beginning to admit that maybe this is true and maybe there is a secret sauce for our happiness.”
Finland, the ambassador opined, “is not trying to be louder than others” but offers “authenticity, credibility, calm confidence.”
My base in the design-forward capital was the NH Collection Helsinki Grand Hansa, which links an Art Nouveau-style building with one that once housed Finland’s oldest continuously operating hotel.
Home to Kupoli cocktail bar, the historic hotel is on a top shopping street (check out Stockmann department store in an Art Deco brick building), facing the trams and steps from the gorgeous Helsinki Central Railway Station.
At the Art Nouveau station’s entrance, look up at the four Lantern Bearer sculptures. Inside at Taulu, try reindeer stew topped by mashed potatoes and lingonberries.
You will dine well in Helsinki, as I did with three tasting menus.
Ravintola Jason, by Michelin-awarded Jari Vesivalo, celebrates the season and sources vegetables, seafood and game as locally as possible.
At Bib Gourmand-recognized Nolla, which values environmental, social responsibility and community, we sat in the kitchen for the Chef’s Table and sampled everything from grilled pike-perch (European walleye) and smoked lion’s mane mushrooms to roasted gooseberry ice cream.
Tiny Ravintola Skörd had a blackboard with one-word dinner choices like moose, fireweed, pike and deer. Dessert was listed as birch or parsnip.
As always, I filled in the food blanks at supermarkets and bakeries. In between meals, there were outings to places like a park where cherry blossoms flourish under a Brutalist tower.
The Arabia Museum and Iittala Store Arabia is a mecca for Finnish design lovers and the place where ceramic artist Heini Riitahuhta helped me use serigraphy color sheets to decorate a mug. Showing off vintage tableware featuring blueberries and strawberries, she spoke about how Finns collect berries across the country under something called “Everyman’s Right.”
Back near my hotel, Oodi is a stunning public space.
“Libraries in this country are not just a place where you’ve got books and you come to study — this is an extension of your home,” explained tour guide Ed Morrow. “It’s a space for creativity and it’s a space where everyone can try out new things and learn. Lifelong learning is a core principle in Finnish society and Oodi helps reinforce that idea.”
The main floor is for coffee, events and meetings. The second floor is for workshops, learning and interaction. The third floor is “book heaven” with a children’s section and Citizen’s Balcony.
Take the stairs to enjoy artist Otto Karvonen’s Omistuskirjoitus (Dedication). Using 381 Finnish words painted along the staircase, the installation is dedicated to those who use and don’t use the library as a reminder that this space belongs to everyone.
I eventually realized that Helsinki is an archipelago with more than 300 islands, and while there wasn’t time for a two-hour ferry to Tallinn, Estonia, there was for a 15-minute ride to Suomenlinna island.
Finland’s most popular attraction is a sea fortress and UNESCO World Heritage Site that draws more than one million visitors a year.
Speaking of numbers, Finland has about 5.5 million people and three million saunas. Look for saunas on your way to Suomenlinna. Cool modern Löyly Helsinki was once named by Time as one of the 100 greatest places in the world, while quirky SkySauna Helsinki is part of a ferris wheel.
RUNO, a Michelin Key property in Porvoo, has a gorgeous sauna built into its attic. The riverside town with cobblestone streets and cute shops is just a half hour from Helsinki’s airport and provides a nice juxtaposition to the capital.
Before checking into RUNO for my last night, I wandered the forest about an hour away with Erika Englund of Island Riddles on an adventure trail inspired by Tove Jansson, the Finnish author who created the family of friendly, white, hippo-like Moomin troll characters.
Finland loves its M words so Moomin and Marimekko souvenirs abound, but I’m all about edible memories.
My breakfasts revolved around traditional Karelian pasties, oval-shaped pies with rye crusts and rice porridge or mashed potato fillings that can be spread with egg butter.
Nothing beats Pea Soup Thursdays but lunch at Sinne Pellinge in Pellinge Marina Archipelago Boutique Resort came a close second.
That’s where the chef made me a colorful risotto with edible pansies, trendy pistachios and white asparagus. When I asked him to lose the ambient background music and blast “Hard Rock Hallelujah” by Finland’s Lordi, he didn’t miss a beat.
Listening to the raucous song that won the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest over such a lovely meal, and hearing how reserved Finns have a strange affinity for heavy metal, I couldn’t help but think of Marimekko and its love for happy contradictions.
