What do Finns eat for breakfast?

Breakfast in Finland is an important part of the day.

We Finns have been raised to know that the breakfast is the most important meal of the day and should contain nutritious boost for your day.

So what do the Finns eat for breakfast then? All kinds of things, but almost always bread and coffee. See the examples of Finnish breakfast elements below! 

In the picture one of my breakfasts in a hotel. There is bread under the toppings too!

 

Of course, there are Finns who skip the breakfast altogether, or just drink some coffee (which Finns drink more than any other country per person) but most people do eat breakfast, even though lunch is usually quite soon, often before midday. 

So, to understand, what Finns eat for breakfast, we need to take a look at other meals of the day.

Why Finns eat dinner so early in the evening?

Eating in Finland is concentrated a lot on the first half of the day. Eating dinner late at night is quite rare in Finland, if compared e.g. to south Europe dinner times. 

Finns eat usually lunch around midday, many already before, and dinner is usually eaten at 5, 6 or 7 PM.

So, the last meal of the Finnish typical day is not dinner, but evening coffee, and often it's accompanied by a snack, pulla or sandwich or some fruit.

Typical Finnish hotel breakfast, I wish there would be time to prepare a breakfast like this on a weekday!

Eating dinner early means that people are really hungry in the morning and need something to start the day well!

This is considered good for the stomach, because sleeping should not be just digesting time but also rest for the digestive system.

The Finnish workday usually starts at 8 AM or 9 AM and ends 4 PM or 5 PM.

What are the essential components of Finnish breakfast?

Basic components of Finnish breakfast are these:

• Coffee, and a lot of it (many drink more than one mug already during breakfast or take the second one with them to drink on the way to work)
• Bread, especially rye bread in all it's shapes and formats
• Butter or margarine on bread
• Bread toppings (cheese, cold cuts, vegetables)
• Some milk product, e.g. yogurt, quark, Finnish viili
• Porridge, which also can replace the bread.

What are the main characteristics of Finnish breakfast? How would I describe Finnish breakfast? Here are 5 things about Finnish breakfast:

1. Finns eat a lot of open sandwiches for breakfast

In Finnish sandwich is "voileipä" which means "butterbread".

That really means that Finns put butter or butter-like-product always on top of the bread, and additionally cheese, cold cuts, eggs, sliced vegetables like cucumber, paprika or tomato. In a hurry just cheese on top, if there is time, more the merrier!

2. Breakfast in Finland is not sweet!?

Finns consider sweet pancakes and dessert treats like pulla to be eaten after meals. So in the Finnish breakfast table is mostly savory.

Most Finns think that the breakfast should be healthy. Well, there are only few fried items, not an overload of sugar, and usually something green, at least the cucumber!

3. Finns eat a lot of healthy porridge!

Finns like porridge. It fills the stomach well and many people, also kids eat porridge every day.

Porridge itself is usually salty and topped with sugar, butter or milk or a combination of these according to individual preference. You can top your porridge even with berries or jam! Cinnamon is also popular with porridges, especially rice porridge.

The most popular porridge options are:

• Oatmeal
• Rice porridge, especially at Christmas time
• Semolina porridge, which is also a base for whipped berry porridges, like lingonberry porridge
• My favorite, 4-grain porridge contains rye, wheat, oat and barley
• Fresh porridge / raw porridge, a no-cook porridge becoming more popular. In this, porridge ingredients are put to soak in the fridge the night before.

4. Morning does not start without coffee

Most Finns drink medium or light roasted filtered coffee. In the last years darker roasts have become more popular.

Finns usually drink their coffee 

• Black
• With milk
• With sugar (and milk)

Latte culture has also landed to Finland, but there is still pot of coffee culture existing in Finland. Pot means the coffee is made in old style coffee pot, not filtered. My mother for example enjoys this style coffee, and it requires a different roast than filtered coffee.

Espresso coffee is still not very popular. Unlike in many other countries, Finns drink their coffee at home, not in a café (so expensive there), and making Espresso would require a machine and probably some new skills.

It's really difficult to find a Finnish home without a coffee maker for filtered coffee!

5. Go to work with an egg - Mene munalla töihin!

There was a health campaign slogan in the 1970s, about eating more eggs and well yes, eggs are a popular breakfast option, but most Finns dont't have time to fry them during the busy week mornings, so boiled eggs are a typical option to put on top of the sandwich.

So eggs are more of a weekend breakfast element. Finns enjoy many forms of eggs, and in a hotel breakfast buffet you can find at least boiled eggs and scrambled eggs.