Being vegetarian in Finland

[Mai]

It is hard to convince the average Finn, for whom a bowl of porridge, a slice of black bread coated with butter and a slice of ham, and a cup of coffee is a meal fit for a king. However, in the few years that I've been here, I've noticed more diversity of products, both grown produce and prepared or processed foods.

I strongly disagree with your view on average finn diet but i understand it must feel as only truth if your in-laws and their friends all behave like that. However, i personally think that even if your whole neighborhood would eat like that, it's not your job to convince them to do otherwise. I rise my eyebrown for such a diet too, but if they like it, let them eat it. It is their own business what they eat and not eat.

Why not cook healthy and yummy vegetarian meals for yourself and set a nice example for your surroundings instead of criticism?

[Rosamunda]

Where I'm from the climate isn't favorable for growing a lot of foods either, but they are all available because consumers want them, and there is no tax on food, so it keeps the prices reasonable.

Every time I go food shopping (probably several times a week: I have three boys...) I am gob-smacked at how much it costs to feed a family. Have you ever tried converting some of those food prices back into Finn Marks...??? Then you will see what I mean. In the 3 years since the euro food prices have gone mental Especially fruit and veg eg: 4-5 euro for one litre of strawberries.... that's nearly 30 marks!!!!! Somebody is making a vast of amount of money and somehow I doubt if it is the producers.... the retail sector is screwing the consumer and the government does nothing to control prices.

[happeningfish]

Why not cook healthy and yummy vegetarian meals for yourself and set a nice example for your surroundings instead of criticism?

You're right, me whining at my desk is not going to make spinach any cheaper. But when I said it's very difficult to cook vegetarian, I wasn't speaking as one who eats popcorn and chili nuts all day -- I've been a cook-for-myself veggie for 12 years. I should probably be complaining to the stores... but the ingredients do make such a difference. 9 times out of 10 I'd rather use fresh produce than less perishable foods (it's just what I prefer), and I get a shocker when I go to the store and they're trying to sell lettuce covered in unidentifiable "wet brown" for 4,50/kilo. To balance that comment, I am currently eating a fantastic peach bought at the kauppatori yesterday.

I don't want to sound like a complainer all the time, and I know it's irritating to listen to it. On the other hand, if enough people complain loud enough, maybe I won't have to break my budget to eat good olives in this country. It seems that food is the thing that people really miss going from one place to another. When I was in Canada I would have killed someone for half a karjalanpiirakka or a tiny taste of Finnish ice cream, and whenever I'm not in Berlin I am dying for Brötchen and a decent 4-hour breakfast. Currently, I feel like flying to Spain for a cup of coffee. Oh my god, spanish coffee!

The other thing is that I have 2 jobs and time-consuming hobbies, and I don't want to change that part of my lifestyle. Back home it was easier to maintain all of that, period. To say "well, be thankful bananas are no longer 6€/kilo" ... well, I am thankful. Really. But that doesn't mean that progress is over!

[pierrot]

It is hard to convince the average Finn, for whom a bowl of porridge, a slice of black bread coated with butter and a slice of ham, and a cup of coffee is a meal fit for a king.

Yeah, and the average american is fat and overweight and eats 4 times a day at McDonalds while watching some trash talkshow and feels like a king...
Ahh, i love generalisations and arrogance...

[pierrot]

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[Samppa]

Quality

[Majava]

Why not cook healthy and yummy vegetarian meals for yourself and set a nice example for your surroundings instead of criticism?

The fish already does so (why not? - I don't get that assumption) and why is that "a nice example for the surroundings"?

On the other hand, if enough people complain loud enough, maybe I won't have to break my budget to eat good X, Y, Z in this country.

To say "well, be thankful X, Y, Z are no longer 6€/kilo" ... well, I am thankful. Really. But that doesn't mean that progress is over!

Exactly! Criticism is free advice. Only the tone used to express the criticism can make the difference if it is taken at heart or not. Otherwise I think it's a very healthy thing and not a dirty word. What's it with Finns and feedback??

[Mai]

Why not cook healthy and yummy vegetarian meals for yourself and set a nice example for your surroundings instead of criticism?

The fish already does so (why not? - I don't get that assumption) and why is that "a nice example for the surroundings"?

I would like to point out here that my reply was for Caroline not for happening fish. It was comment about her post about her families and friends eating habbits and criticizing those habbits.

I complete agree with hangingfish about having certain foods that you miss when you are abroad, and i think he sounds like sensible human being all together If all the people would think like him (about writing to shops and ask about products you miss) i think many would have lot less to complain.

[Majava]

I would like to point out here that my reply was for Caroline not for happening fish. It was comment about her post about her families and friends eating habbits and criticizing those habbits

Ok, I went back to read that post (and not only the quote) and it fits in the context of that message. Still I am not sure if Caroline is not already doing the healthy and yummie cooking... My point is the "instead" in your sentence. It's like anyone who complains is doing nothing else to improve the situation. Is that how you look at people who complain or show criticism? That would explain a lot!

[Mai]

I would like to point out here that my reply was for Caroline not for happening fish. It was comment about her post about her families and friends eating habbits and criticizing those habbits

Ok, I went back to read that post (and not only the quote) and it fits in the context of that message. Still I am not sure if Caroline is not already doing the healthy and yummie cooking... My point is the "instead" in your sentence. It's like anyone who complains is doing nothing else to improve the situation. Is that how you look at people who complain or show criticism? That would explain a lot!

Nooooo... i just criticize her criticism and you criticize my criticizing her criticism. Come out of that windmill, put on your cloggies and fight like a man!

*makes her best kenguru boxing stance*

[Majava]

Nooooo... i just criticize her criticism and you criticize my criticizing her criticism.

Yep! and glad to see you've noticed!

[gavin]

I am a person who very strongly believes that you should not eat anything that you are not prepared to kill yourself.

I have killed many animals which I have eaten myself, but now, thankfully my better half does it for me.

We are carnivores, we are designed to eat meat, and I like to eat it.

Mari Kills, we eat. Deal with it.





mmmm. tasty.

[Mai]

Also , if god wouldn't want us to eat animals, why did he made them out of meat then???

[Samppa]

Oh Gavin, you are so evil!

[Caroline]

It is hard to convince the average Finn, for whom a bowl of porridge, a slice of black bread coated with butter and a slice of ham, and a cup of coffee is a meal fit for a king. However, in the few years that I've been here, I've noticed more diversity of products, both grown produce and prepared or processed foods.

I strongly disagree with your view on average finn diet but i understand it must feel as only truth if your in-laws and their friends all behave like that. However, i personally think that even if your whole neighborhood would eat like that, it's not your job to convince them to do otherwise. I rise my eyebrown for such a diet too, but if they like it, let them eat it. It is their own business what they eat and not eat.

Why not cook healthy and yummy vegetarian meals for yourself and set a nice example for your surroundings instead of criticism?

Mai, I don't see anything in my post that was incendiary or criticizing. I simply said that the average Finnish diet is very plain, which is true.

I do prepare my own meals, and I even bring my own supply of food when we go to visit my inlaws, because there is little I can eat there. For holiday meals I always prepare a vegetarian dish, which I make big enough for everyone to try. If no one else wants any, I just appreciate that there will be all the more left for me

It is their own business what they eat and not eat.

I think you misunderstood something here. Never did I say that I want to convert any Finnish people to vegetarianism. I have never done and I do not do that. My husband is an omnivore and he cooks his own meals. (did I say cooks? I meant, "unthaws") I did mean that it is hard to get Finns (especially where I live) interested in trying new or more diverse meals. Most people I know are terrified of beans (which have recently been declared one of the healthiest foods), they gag when they taste fresh spinach, etc, and they consider the afore mentioned meal (porridge, black bread) to be an abundance. I do not see how that could be understood that I was being mean.


I should mention that I myself am the target of a lot of teasing and criticism here because of my diet. When my husband mentions my diet to his friends and coworkers, they ask him when is he going to introduce me to the pleasures of meat, my sasquatch father-in-law taunts me with invitations to go skin a rabbit, and when my husband's grandmother heard that I don't eat fish either, she asked "what does she eat then, those grasses growing over there?" My sister-in-law once said "father would prefer it if you ate meat". Ignorance is a universal trait, I'm afraid!

It seems that you should direct your comment

It is their own business what they eat and not eat

to the Finns whom you are firmly defending. It is they who are trying to make me feel like an outcast for being different.


There are more vegetarian options in southern Finland, but I have eaten many a meal in Helsinki, Turku, and Tampere, and I am still of the opinion that there is a general lack of variety everywhere. Another point that I meant by my comment, is that in Finnish culture a meal is just nourishment, made to fill you up...it is not a taste experience, or a celebration of life like it is in other cultures. Again I don't see anything mean or criticizing in this comment. I think we'll just have to "agree to disagree".


Mai, people brutally criticize Americans, it has happened once on this thread, but I don't see you stepping in to be diplomatic for us. Is Finland the only perfect place in the world that does not need any improvements or suggestions?