23 Finnish Junk Foods The Rest Of The World Urgently Needs

Why does no one else eat hot dog sauce?

1. Flat apple jam doughnuts

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Omenalörtsy are greasy, hot doughnuts that are full of apple jam. You can get them from any Finnish market place.

2. Squeaky cheese

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Leipäjuusto is a type of cheese that looks a bit like a pizza. You heat it up in the oven, slice it exactly as you would slice pizza, and serve it with milk and cloudberry jam. It's kind of like halloumi in texture and it squeaks when you chew it.

3. Rice pies covered in egg butter

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Karjalanpiiraka (Karelian pies) are basically very thin rye crusts filled with savory rice pudding. They're traditionally eaten with munavoi (literally mashed-up hard-boiled eggs and butter), and they're a very common lunch in Finland.

4. Salty liquorice

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Salmiakki is a type of liquorice that's flavoured with ammonium chloride. It kinda makes your tongue sting and your mouth go numb, but it's the best sweet in the world.

5. Salty liquorice ice cream

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Salmiakki ice cream is as common in Finland as vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice creams are in England. It's much milder than pure salmiakki but it's just as delicious.

6. Rye bread crisps

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You can eat ruissipsi on their own (they come in loads of different flavours) or with dips and toppings. They're kind of like a very hard, salty blini except they're not fancy.

7. Crinkle-cut chips and cut-up hot dogs covered in ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, onions, and gherkins

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This is the Finnish version of a kebab and chips. It's a great drunk food but it's also a perfectly acceptable lunch.

8. Cinnamon buns

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Korvapuusti are cinnamon buns that you'd normally eat as an afternoon snack with a coffee. They're not as sweet as cinnamon buns elsewhere and they have cardamom in them too. They're yummiest when they're hot from the oven.

9. Tupla

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Tupla bars are kind of like a cross between Snickers and Mars bars, except they have crushed almonds inside them instead of peanuts or caramel. You get two in a packet, and they come end-to-end, not side-by-side like a Twix.

10. Butter buns

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Voisilmäpullat are cardamom-flavoured sweet breads filled with a mixture of butter and sugar that goes crunchy. They're the best of all the Finnish buns.

11. Oven pancakes

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Pannu kakku are a thick, gooey pancakes that you bake in the oven. They're kind of like a cross between Yorkshire pudding batter and American pancakes. You eat pannu kakku with cream and jam.

12. Proper gingerbread biscuits

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Finnish people eat piparkakku at Christmas. They have to be crispy and thin and they should make a noise when you snap them.

13. Prune jam tarts

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Joulutorttu (literally, Christmas tarts) are puff pastry stars with prune jam in the middle. They're normally served dusted with icing sugar, and you can replace the prune jam with apple jam if you prefer.

14. Cardamom buns

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Laskiaispulla are sweet cardamom buns that are cut in half and filled with almond paste and whipped cream. They're traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday and they're completely delicious.

15. Sourdough rye bread

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Ruisleippa is one of the most common types of bread in Finland. It's thinner and more bitter than the rye bread you get elsewhere and you can eat it for literally any meal.

16. Semolina porridge and blueberry soup

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Mannapuuro (semolina porridge) is the kind of comfort food your grandma would make you. It is served hot with cold mustikkasoppa (blueberry soup) on top. Mustikkasoppa comes in a carton, like juice, but it's much thicker.

17. Literally all the Fazer products

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Fazer is, without a doubt, Finland's best chocolate. The original, Fazerin Sininen, is probably the most popular, but you can also get it filled with things like salmiakki (salty liquorice), Marianne (peppermint sweets), and biscuits.

18. Solid chocolate easter eggs

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Around Easter, Fazer sells real eggs that have been drained and filled with solid chocolate. They make you wonder why the rest of the world settles for hollow Easter eggs.

19. Curd buns

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Rahkapulla are buns made of a sweet, cardamon dough and filled with rahka, which is a kind of sweet curd/crème fraîche mixture. They're perfect in every way.

20. Forest fruit pop

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Muumi limsa is a forest fruits–flavoured fizzy drink that tastes kind of like pink Calpol. It's the yummiest thing in the world and it reminds every Finnish person of their childhood.

21. Liquorice sweets filled with ammonium chloride

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Tyrkish Pebar are the most intense kind of salmiakki you can buy. They're boiled sweets filled with an ammonium chloride powder. They sound gross but are actually great.

22. Blueberry buns

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Mustikkapullat are exactly like curd buns, except their dough is filled with sweet blueberry jam.

23. Hot dog sauce with mashed potatoes

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Nakkikastike is a sauce made of butter, mustard, and onions that contains lots of chopped-up hot dogs. It's delicious and is usually served with potatoes in some form.