Salmon Soup, Karelian Pies and the Cinnamon Bun: Eating in Finland With Kids

Finnish food is quiet and good and nobody outside the country talks about it. Three things to order and one place to eat them.

Lohikeitto, salmon soup. Salmon, potatoes, leeks and dill in a creamy broth, served with rye bread and butter. It is on every menu from the market hall to the fanciest place in Helsinki, and it is the one dish every one of my kids will eat without negotiation.

Karjalanpiirakka, the Karelian pie. A thin rye crust folded around rice porridge, baked, and topped with egg butter. Eat it warm from a bakery for breakfast. Two euros, and the best two euros in the country.

Korvapuusti, the cinnamon bun. Bigger than the Swedish one, more cardamom, and sold in every cafe with a coffee for the parents. Finland drinks more coffee per person than anywhere on earth and the cafe culture is built for a family with a stroller.

The market hall rule

Every Finnish city has an old market hall, a kauppahalli, and it is where lunch should happen. Helsinki has three. Stalls sell salmon soup, reindeer sandwiches, smoked fish, fresh berries, and there are counters to sit at. A family eats well for a third of a restaurant price and the kids can see everything before they choose.

Reindeer appears as a stew with mashed potato and lingonberries. Order it once. Squeaky cheese, leipajuusto, is bread cheese warmed and served with cloudberry jam, and it does squeak.

Salmiakki is the salty licorice that Finns love and nobody else understands. Buy one bag, let the kids try one piece, and film their faces.

Planning Finland with kids? Start with the full Finland family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.