News published on May 21, 2026
Visit Finland has launched Have some Finnish, an international food campaign inviting travellers from around the world to apply for a place at exclusive tasting dinners in Finland. Selected participants will be flown in to experience menus created by leading Finnish chefs, built around regional ingredients, local food traditions and settings unique to each destination.
The campaign aims to raise the international profile of Finnish food culture, which remains less known abroad than the country's multiple consecutive years at the top of the World Happiness Report. Have some Finnish puts the focus on the character of Finnish cuisine and on dining experiences shaped by nature, the seasons and local stories.
The first two tasting events take place in September 2026 in the Coast and Archipelago (Turku) and in Lapland (Rovaniemi). Eight international participants will be selected for each dinner based on their social media and website applications.
To shape the campaign, Visit Finland ran a nationwide food survey in January 2026, asking Finns what their Finland tastes like. Thousands of responses came in from across the country, mapping the dishes, ingredients and flavours considered most distinctively Finnish. The results fed directly into the tasting menus, developed with input from chef and restaurateur Henri Alén.
Salmon soup, Karelian pies, Karelian stew and blueberry pie topped the list, followed by pea soup, fried vendace, Finnish cinnamon buns, sautéed reindeer, gravlax (cured salmon) and rye bread.
The Coast and Archipelago menu has been designed by Erik Mansikka, named Chef of the Year in Finland in 2013 and co-founder of Restaurant Kaskis in Turku. Kaskis became the first restaurant outside Helsinki to receive a Michelin star, in 2022, and was awarded a Michelin Green Star in 2025.
The Official Tasting in Archipelago is built around the flavours of the Finnish summer and the culture of eating together. The menu includes a modern take on Finnish fish soup, the survey's favourite, alongside small courses served onboard a boat, featuring cold-smoked pike roe, archipelago bread and cured whitefish.
The Official Tasting in Lapland is created by Joel Manninen, Finnish Young Chef of the Year 2025 and silver medallist at the 2026 Young Chefs World Championship. Manninen is head chef at Sky Kitchen & View in Rovaniemi. His menu draws on northern ingredients, silence and the tradition of cooking around an open fire in the fells. Dishes feature Arctic char, reindeer and wild forest herbs, with desserts built around iconic Lapland flavours such as cloudberry and spruce shoots.
You can find the campaign website at Havesomefinnish.com.
The original news article was published in Finnish at Visitfinland.fi.