• The most northerly agricultural country in the EU is on display in Hall 10.2 featuring products from the natural world and farming in the Arctic as well as a range of services
  • Food and tourism attractions from six of the country’s regions
  • Culinary highlights: the Culinary Team of Finland is cooking in the restaurant, beverages from more than ten micro-breweries and distilleries, reindeer chips, blazed salmon, good things to eat from the forest and oats, because Finland is one of the world’s leading producers of oats
  • Daily cookery courses with the senior chef from the Culinary Team of Finland
  • For more information about the display at the fair: www.ausderwildnis.fi

Helsinki/Berlin, 10. December 2018 – From 18 to 27 January 2019 at the International Green Week Berlin (IGW), more than 80 companies from all parts of Finland will be exhibiting their products and services on a display area covering 1,600 square metres in Hall 10.2.The slogan of this year’s partner country is ’From the Wild’. The focus is on foods from Finland’s natural wild, while the slogan is a reference to the country’s geographical and cultural highlights.

Focus on local regions, oats and fish

Six regions are joining forces to present their local food products and tourism attractions: Southwest Finland, the Saimaa lakes area in the southeast, the Western Lake District, the province of North Karelia in the east, bordering Russia, and Kainuu province in northern Finland. In addition companies from the most northerly province, Lapland, are represented under the collective brand of “Lapland Food Club”.

Finland is devoting separate areas to two particular groups of foods: cereals, including oats, which are a major export, and fish products. Finland is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of oats, and is using the IGW to draw attention to the excellent quality of its oats. The display includes Finland’s largest processor and exporter of organically grown oats, Helsingin Mylly (Helsinki Mills), as well as products such as oat beverages and snacks from Kaslink, a family-run enterprise.

When one thinks of the ‘Land of a Thousand Lakes’ one is bound to include fish. Popular species include herring, salmon, whitefish and pike. The leading company for fish products on the Nordic market, Hätälä, can be found in the fish section, where visitors can also sample popular Finnish blazed salmon.

“Finland aims to capture the hearts of Germans, and to achieve this we have a number of aces in our hand: the purity of our natural environment and our food, responsible production methods, and food and beverages that are innovative, tasty and of a high quality, combined with a touch of the wild and exotic”, says Juha Marttila, President of the National Association of Finnish Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK). This organisation is supervising the display by this year’s partner country.

Reindeer chips and other culinary highlights

The partner country is showing visitors typical regional products. Among the items which form an indispensable part of such a display are snacks like chips made out of reindeer meat, confectionery such as liquorice (including spelt liquorice) and the ever-popular ice cream. With the latter Finland is placing a particular emphasis on such unusual flavours as honey-rum and whiskey-coffee.

Other typically Finnish products include those made with especially aromatic forest berries – blueberries, cranberries and cloudberries, a variety virtually unknown in our country and which grows in Arctic swamps. Arctic berries are used, for example, in beverages, including spirits, as well as in jams, sauces and syrups, and are also freeze-dried.

Among the Finnish spirits that are being served are Napue rye gin from the award-winning Kyrö distillery, and vodka from the village of Koskenkorva – a distillery belonging to the Altia company and the recipient of ‘The Drinks Business Green Award’ for 2018. There is a bar in the restaurant area where spirits from small distilleries and beers from more than ten Finnish micro-breweries can be sampled. Craft beers are currently very popular in Finland, just as they are in Germany. Many of these beers are not commercially available in Germany and can only be sampled exclusively on the Finnish stand at the Green Week.

Cookery course with the Culinary Team of Finland

Visitors to the Finnish stand can sample the country’s specialities directly from the exhibitors or in the restaurant at the fair, where the brewery restaurant Bryggeri Helsinki in Berlin is collaborating with the Culinary Team of Finland, comprising the country’s best chefs, to provide some delicious food for exhibitors. The menu includes dishes which may sound strange to German ears, such as mushroom and emmer risotto with fir needle tips, and liquorice and caramel ice cream with a buckthorn berry marinade.

One of the highlights, in which visitors can get involved: there will be an opportunity twice daily to join the chef at the fair restaurant in preparing cold Finnish dishes. These cookery courses are open to everyone and can also be organised specially for representatives of the press. On entering the restaurant visitors will also be able to see cultural aspects of Finland on the stage opposite: Each day they will be able to hear live performances of music that is popular in Finland, such as tango, folk and pop music. Finnish dances and circus acrobatics can also be enjoyed at the IGW.

Strengthening Finland’s role in the European market

In its role as the Green Week’s partner country, Finland (’Suomi’ in Finnish) is aiming to raise awareness for its products in Germany and the European market. “Being the partner country of the Green Week will give Finland’s image a significant boost for the all-important European market before the country takes over the presidency of the European Council. Praise is due to all producers, and in particular SMEs, who have made it their task to present Finnish foods and expertise to the world. I am confident that their efforts will be rewarded“, said Finland’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Jari Leppä.

The International Green Week will be taking place on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds from 18 to 27 January 2019. More than 1,700 exhibitors from over 60 countries will be represented at the world’s leading trade fair for agriculture, the food industry and horticulture. Messe Berlin expects some 400,000 trade visitors and members of the public to attend. This is the twenty-fifth time that Finland will be taking part in the Green Week and its displays can be found in Hall 10.2. The participation of the partner country is being co-organised by the National Association of Finnish Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK), the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Central Union of Finnish/Swedish Agricultural Producers (SLC) and Business Finland.

Press contact
Nina Parzych
Genius GmbH
Tel.: +49 (0)30 212 34 22 84 ∙ Mobil: +49 (0)174 307 0019
E-Mail: nina.parzych@genius.de

Wolfgang Rogall
Messe Berlin GmbH
Tel.: +49 (0)30 3038 2218
E-Mail: rogall@messe-berlin.de