Finland’s well-known image of frozen lakes and high happiness rankings often omits the country’s food culture. Finnish cuisine relies on wild game, freshwater fish caught from lakes that barely thaw, and foraged ingredients shaped by distinct seasons. The cuisine is inseparable from the landscape that produces it. Visit Finland has launched Finland’s Official Tasting Table, a national culinary experience for international visitors. The curated four-day dinner is split between the Coast & Archipelago in the southwest and Lapland in the Arctic north, scheduled for September 2026. Menus were developed by gathering input from fishermen, farmers, and home cooks, then interpreted by chefs tied to those regions.
"To build out these menus, Visit Finland began by asking ordinary Finns, like fishermen, farmers, and home cooks, what their region actually tastes like. The responses shaped what eventually became two distinct menus, each interpreted by a chef who has spent years cooking from the same landscapes."
"In Turku, that chef is Erik Mansikka, founder of Restaurant Kaskis, which in 2022 became the first restaurant outside Helsinki to receive a Michelin star. In 2025, it added a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. His cooking is deeply Nordic in philosophy, anchored in ingredients that come from the coastline and archipelago surrounding the city."
"In Rovaniemi, the chef is Joel Manninen, Head Chef at Sky Kitchen & View, a restaurant perched atop the Ounasvaara fell with a view that does half the work. Manninen won the Finnish Young Chefs Championship in 2025 and followed that with a silver medal at the Young Chefs World Championship in 2026. His is a modern Arctic sensibility: technically"
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