There’s a model of Finland most individuals know, with its frozen lakes, the Northern Lights, and a constant, nearly implausible streak on the high of the UN World Happiness Report (9 years operating). What tends to get ignored of that image is the meals. This is a delicacies constructed on wild recreation, freshwater fish pulled from lakes that hardly thaw, and foraged elements formed by distinct seasons. The meals is rooted so fully within the panorama that separating one from the opposite is almost unimaginable.
Visit Finland
Visit Finland is now making that case to the world. The country has launched Finland’s Official Tasting Table, which is its first-ever nationwide culinary expertise open to worldwide guests, comprising a curated, four-day dinner set throughout two of its most extraordinary areas: the Coast & Archipelago within the country’s southwest, and Lapland within the Arctic north. Both happen in September 2026, and 16 friends in whole will probably be chosen to attend.
A menu constructed from the bottom up
To construct out these menus, Visit Finland started by asking bizarre Finns, like fishermen, farmers, and residential cooks, what their area truly tastes like. The responses formed what ultimately turned two distinct menus, every interpreted by a chef who has spent years cooking from the identical landscapes.
In Turku, that chef is Erik Mansikka, founding father of Restaurant Kaskis, which in 2022 turned the primary restaurant outdoors Helsinki to obtain a Michelin star. In 2025, it added a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. His cooking is deeply Nordic in philosophy, anchored in elements that come from the shoreline and archipelago surrounding the town.
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 received the Finnish Young Chefs Championship in 2025 and adopted that with a silver medal on the Young Chefs World Championship in 2026. His is a contemporary Arctic sensibility: technically refined, however formed unmistakably by the northern setting he cooks in.
How to snag a seat
To apply for a seat, potential friends should submit a brief video on Instagram or TikTookay answering a single query: Why do you need to Have Some Finnish?, tagged with #HaveSomeFinnish and directed at Visit Finland’s accounts (@ourfinland on Instagram, @visitfinland.com on TikTookay). Applications open May 18 and shut June 9, with chosen friends introduced on June 29, 2026. You can apply alone or carry one different particular person alongside. For extra particulars, and the sign-up kind, go to their** Website**