Meat play a prominent role in Finnish cuisine, if anything more so than in other countries. This could be because historically fresh fruit and vegetables were only available for about three months of the year due to the cold climate and poor growing season. Pork and beef are the most common type of meat eaten in Finland, but also deer, moose and bear meat is eaten, as well as reindeer meat which is eaten particularly on holidays and special occasions. You won’t however find m

Did you know that the only Finnish word that is commonly used in English is “sauna”? The Sauna is a big thing in Finland, in a country with a population of 5 million, there are estimated to be around 2-3 million sauna’s. That’s a sauna for every two people! In the Sauna A sauna is a room with wooden walls and seating, which is heated up to a high temperature and kept quite dry. You sit in one for a few minutes, sweat a bit, and then take a plunge in a cold pool or take a cold

Finland shocked the world in 2000 when the international PISA survey (Programme for International Student Assessment), which measures the abilities of 15 year old students all around the world in key areas, found that students in Finland were the best in the world at reading, and in the top 5 in the world at science and mathematics. In 2003, Finland came top in both reading and science, and came 2nd in Maths. The latest survey in 2012 saw them drop a little, coming 6th in rea

Finland – Land of the Midnight Sun If you look at Finland on a map, you will notice that it is the easternmost of the three ‘Scandinavian’ countries, which look a bit like three fingers pointing downwards. The shape of Finland is generally thought to be that of a woman pointing, although I can’t help but see it as a seated bunny rabbit with lopsided ears. I should probably say at the outset that although geographically Finland is part of what most people would think of as Sca