As I have been starting my research into Finnish cuisine and my great-grandmother's immigration to this country, I've discovered some interesting things. I think that we Americans tend to homogenize cultures -- for example, for a good many years I think people viewed all "Italian food" as more Southern Italian cuisine - lots of marinara sauces, Neapolitan pizza, etc. As for me, I always just figured that all the people from Finland tend to eat the same types of food. But, of course, that is not the case...
After consulting an atlas, I discovered that Haapajärvi is in the Western portion of Finland. It is inland, farther north than a coastal town called Kokkola and south of a larger city called Oulu. It is a five to six hour train ride from Helsinki.
Because of where it is located, the food from Haapajärvi tends to be influenced by Swedish cuisine. Other parts of Finland (e.g., the more easterly regions) have dishes that are influenced more by Russian cuisine. The FinFood website indicates that in the Oulu area, it is traditional for some foods to be flavored with tar! I can't quite imagine what that would be like. It would be interesting to learn more about that.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment