About

How it all started

One day I realized that I won't live forever, even though I'm still less than halfway to the age of my grandmother, who lived for 99 years..

Well, since I don't have kids to continue the Finnish food traditions with, I wish to share the secrets of Finnish comfort food with you. Maybe you can continue the traditions with your family?

...so if you have roots in Finland, missing Finnish food or you are curious about Finnish cuisine - I think I can help you!

 

My family history

My grandmother Rauha (in English: peace) was born in 1908 in Karttula, Northern Savonia, in central Finland. She made her living by taking care of bigger household's kitchens as a matron.

She was raised by her grandmother Liisa (in the picture with baby Rauha, my grandmom, around 1909), because her own mother Kustaava was doing heavy work like men (very unusual those days).

Rauha had 2 daughters and divorced her husband, which was not common in the 1950's and moved to Sweden with her younger daughter, my mother Ulla - without any Swedish language skills! A few years later they returned and lived in Jyväskylä, central Finland.

I had the privilege of learning from my grandmother Rauha for the 20 first years of my life, when I still lived at home. I still remember her Finnish thin pancakes and how the sugar crunched in my mouth...😋

My mother learned a lot of recipes from her mother of course, those were days when everybody cooked their daily meals. When she married my father, she was introduced to Karelian cuisine by my father's mother, Aune.

So I'm 50% Karelian and 50% Savonian, My grandmother (Aune) was from Northern Karelia, near the Russian border.

We went all summer weekends by car to Tohmajärvi, my father's home town and I have many fond memories, also food related, from that time.

From my grandmother Aune we learned all the tricks of Karelian cuisine, like the Finnish most loved dish, Karelian pies.

I was born in Helsinki, capital of Finland. We lived in Suomenlinna, a beautiful sea fortress on a few islands, 15 min ferry ride away from Helsinki city center. Suomenlinna is an important historical site and listed on Unesco world heritage sites.

Isn't it pretty? Well it is also pretty windy always 😄 It took me years to learn to leave my home without a jacket just in case!

My first husband was from Lapland, with 50% heritage of sami, so I learned from his mother how to make traditional reindeer stew (poronkäristys), when visiting our cottage in Enontekiö, northern Finland.

The Western Finland cuisine is something I know less of, even though we visited my mother's sister in Vaasa, situated in the west coast of Finland.

Western Finnish cuisine has more influences of Swedish cuisine, naturally also because most Swedish-speaking Finns live in the western Finland.

Since moving away from Finland I have always craved for the essential elements of Finnish cuisine, and continue to make and eat Finnish comfort food very often, especially when I'm missing Finland!

Finnish food just makes me feel like home.

I hope it will make you feel closer to Finland too!