11 Traditional Finnish Food You Need to Taste

Squeaky cheese from Finland: Leipäjuusto

Squeaky cheese or bread cheese (as it is called ‘leipäjuusto’ in Finnish) is another popular traditional Finnish dessert. It is usually topped with ‘lakkahillo’ which is the jam made of the rare but tasty arctic cloudberries.

Finnish rye bread: Ruisleipä

A bread that you just simply fall in love with. Finnish rye bread (in Finnish: Ruisleipä or hapanleipä) is a dark and sour bread that is widely popular in Finland. Compared to other, internationally known versions, for example, the German one, the Finnish rye-breads are rather hard, not too moist, and not so oily either.

Finnish Flat Bread from Potatoes: Perunarieska

Finnish flat bread (rieska in Finnish) is traditionally made with oat, barley, or potato. Perunarieska is the version from potatoes and in our family the most popular Finnish flatbread version.

Finnish Salmon Soup: Kirjolohikeitto

The traditional Finnish salmon soup (lohikeitto in Finnish) is a simple yet delicious warm meal that is prepared often. Finnish salmon soup is made with fresh salmon, potatoes, and carrots boiled in a light broth.

Karelian Pasties: Karjalanpiirakka

Karelian pastry or Karelian pie (karjalanpiirakka in Finnish) is a traditional Finnish dessert from the eastern region of the country that gained popularity across the whole country.

The oldest traditional pasties usually had a rye crust, but the North Karelian variant improved the consistency by adding wheat. The common fillings were barley and talkkuna, later potato and buckwheat. Nowadays the rice version is the most popular.

Finnish Sautéed Reindeer – Poronkäristys

Sautéed reindeer (Finnish: poronkäristys) is one of the best known traditional meals from Lapland that is not only popular in Finland, but also in other countries of Lapland: Sweden, Norway, and Russia. It usually means a steak or the back of the reindeer, sliced thinly, fried in fat (traditionally in reindeer fat, but butter and oil are more common nowadays), spiced with black pepper and salt. Water, cream, and occasionally beer are added to prepare the delicious meal and it is cooked until it gets tender. The reindeer dish is served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam.

Finnish Smoked Salmon: Loimulohi

A traditional Finnish fish dish is smoked salmon. Traditionally, loimulohi, is prepared next to the fire on wooden planks (see the photos above). Besides salmon, trout are often treated in a similar way to preserve the fish for later.

It is an ideal meal for those who like the outdoors, but of course, you can bake smoked salmon in the oven as well. We wrote more about traditional Finnish dishes here.

Runeberg tart: Runebergintorttu

The Runeberg cake (Runeberginktorttu in Finnish) is a cylindrical pastry flavored with almond and arrack punch or rum. It is usually topped with raspberry jam surrounded by a sugar icing ring. There is a big ongoing debate about the best filling of Runeberg tart, almonds or jam? We prefer the latter one.

Mämmi: Traditional Finnish Easter Dessert

Mämmi, a traditional Easter dessert from Finland, is originally made of water, rye flour, and powdered malted rye, seasoned salt, and dried powdered orange zest. Traditional mämmi has an aromatic and sweet flavor, consisting of just 2% sugar or less, whereas commercially produced mämmi can contain as much as 20% sugar and therefore is much different in flavor, but as a foreigner who didn’t grow up eating it yearly, I find it still an extremely salty and weird (nor offense, sorry 🙂 ).

You can top it with sugar, vanillin sauce, or milk to make it tastier. We wrote about how to prepare it HERE.

Salty licorice: Salmiakki

There is no Finnish food list without this gem: Salmiakki. Salmiakki is the name of Finnish salty licorice, that you either love or hate. Personally, I am in the group of the latter one, and I could compare the taste of to mämmi, but many adore it.

Besides the salmiakki candies, there are a huge variety of products flavored with salty licorice, I found them actually nice, as the taste is not so strong. You can buy ice creams, puddings, or chocolates with salmiakki flavor, but don’t forget about salmiakki liquor or vodka.

If you visit Finland, don’t forget to try something salmiakki, and let us know how you liked it!