International top chefs take inspiration from traditional Finnish ingredients

The National Finnish Food Day was celebrated on 4 September. Finnish cuisine also featured prominently in training organised in Helsinki for international chefs working at Finnish missions abroad, with rye bread – Finland’s national food – taking centre stage.

Fifteen chefs from Finland’s foreign missions attended the training organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. While the chefs have several years, even decades, of professional experience, their background and training are in international cuisine rather than in Finnish gastronomy. 

By training chefs and investing in high-quality Finnish catering, Finland strengthens its country brand and provides a framework for successful diplomacy. Chefs working at Finnish missions are at the forefront of supporting Finnish food exports.  

“The training has given me a lot of new ideas, new recipes and new connections. It is my first time visiting Finland, and I feel like I have really learned a lot, not only about food but also about the country I work for.  The training has given me confidence in honoring the Finnish culinary tradition in my cooking,” says Nancy James from the Embassy of Finland in Nairobi. 

Sourdough crowned the experience

The training provided the chefs with hands-on experience of Finnish cuisine and tools for creating stories to go with menus. One concrete tool was a piece of dry sourdough starter, which dates back over 120 years.

The decades-old sourdough starter originates from the municipality of Rantasalmi in eastern Finland.  It is also used in chef training at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences. The international chefs were each given a piece of the starter to take with them to embassies. In future, they can serve bread baked with a starter originating from the early 20th century.

“I must admit that I was slightly nervous when I first welcomed the group. They are, after all, top professionals with many years or decades of experience in the field. Yet, after days of cooking together, I am now convinced that preparing authentic Finnish food from pure Finnish ingredients has been a unique learning experience for them. In particular, the chefs wanted to learn how to make pickles to preserve Finnish flavours in countries where Finnish ingredients are not always available,” says Jari Karjalainen, a lecturer at Haaga-Helia and the leader of chefs’ training.