This August, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland organised a four-day course in Helsinki for Finnish chefs working at embassies around the world from Tokyo to New York.

I have to say, I was not entirely sure what to expect, as this was my very first course like this.

But I have to follow that up straight away by saying: the course went above and beyond anything I expected. It was SO well planned and executed!!

I genuinely feel like I’ve just had a complete, long-overdue software update.

Day One

On the first morning, we met in the hotel lobby. The ice was broken pretty much immediately because all 13 of us had one massive thing in common: the love of cooking.

We headed to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs headquarters, just around the corner from our hotel, where our organisers, Anna and Annariina, welcomed us and explained what would be happening over the following days and, more importantly, what the purpose of the course actually was.

We started with Elina Ovaskainen and Annaleena Soult, both specialists from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, who gave us a lecture about Finland’s food strategy and the campaign around Finnish gastronomy.

It was genuinely eye-opening.

I’ve always known how important it is in my position at the embassy to “push” Finnish cuisine, but I hadn’t fully realised how much food can actually impact exports, tourism and the image of an entire country.

We have been ranked the happiest country in the world for the ninth time in a row, may I just point that out, so perhaps it’s about time we pushed the cuisine as well and made Finland known as the country of happy food!

After all, we produce incredibly sustainable ingredients, not to mention the healthy and nutritious way we cook and eat them.

We then had lectures from Nicole Blechingberg, Lili Lehtivuori and Hanna Heiskanen from the Ministry about strategies for exporting Finnish food products and improving Finland’s country image work, followed by Annariina’s presentation about the importance of Finnish food culture.

After a delicious lunch at Engel Hall and after stuffing our faces with trout, we headed to an organic grain farm in Nurmijärvi.

The owner, Olli, showed us around and explained how all the different grains are grown and processed.

And did you know there is basically no waste whatsoever? Every little grain or even part of the grain is used for something!

They had made us porridge from their oats which was hands down the porridge I have ever had!

The whole day was packed with lectures and conversations. As a chef, I was slightly nervous about whether I could actually sit still and concentrate for an entire day but the topics were so interesting that I could have easily carried on!

Day Two

Tuesday was a cooking day!

YAY!!

We started with a fish workshop. Roy Norro showed us different filleting techniques and talked us through the seafood found in and around Finland.

And let me tell you, there is A LOT.

I suppose that shouldn’t really be a surprise considering we have more than 1000 lakes and are pretty much surrounded by sea!

Johan Kurkela, the Finnish Chef of the Year and Finland’s representative for the next Bocuse d’Or competition, then came to speak to us about Finnish food culture, its history and what it means to him and his cooking.

It was great. Thank you, Johan and good luck at Bocuse d’Or!!!

Back to the kitchen.

Vegan desserts with Markus Hurskainen.

Vegan desserts are definitely not my strongest area, so this was a VERY needed workshop. I learned so much and the desserts were absolutely stunning and most importantly delicious!

We worked with combinations including liquorice and cloudberry, strawberry cake, pistachio and limoncello and….more liquorice because….Finland.

Day Three

Probably my favourite day, mainly because we ate SO MUCH.

We started with Ville Aittola, the owner of suomikauppa.fi (the Finnish online shop), who talked us through the business, their products and how they manage shipping Finnish products around the world.

Then we headed for lunch at the Michelin-starred restaurant Finjävel.

And it was absolutely fantastic!

Owner Henri Alén introduced the dishes to us whilst explaining how the famous restaurant was born and about the incredible amount of work that has gone into every little detail.

And when I say every detail, I mean EVERY detail.

Even the restaurant’s original soundscape was composed specifically for Finjävel by Finnish film composer Tuomas Kantelinen.

That is commitment!

We also all got Finjävel cookbooks, signed and everything!!

Then off we went to the next restaurant: Nokka.

@RavintolaNokka smoked black tea and lingonberry

An absolute stone-cold classic of a place.

Owner and executive chef Ari Ruoho gave us a cooking demonstration while casually feeding us some of the best game food from the Finnish forests.

Everything was paired with a lingonberry-smoked tea juice, which completely blew my mind.

That evening, we spent our time at the Government Banquet Hall, you know, like we do every other evening in our normal lives(!)

The reception was beautiful: the food, the venue, everything.

As chefs, we are normally on the other side of events like this, in the kitchen, so it was actually lovely to experience one as a guest for once.

Our task for the evening was to NETWORK!

Annariina, one of the organisers of the course, became our official networking guide and made sure that it was happening.

And it did!

I think we all made some brilliant connections and got to meet some incredibly interesting people.

The Final Day

We started our final day back in the kitchen, cooking vegetarian and vegan dishes.

This was another really useful workshop, I think there is always room for improvement on the veggie front.

The workshop was led by Katja Tuomainen, leader of the Finnish National Culinary Team.

After cooking and, naturally eating, we talked wine.

We talked about wine pairing, what characteristics to look for in wines and how different styles work with different dishes, led by Terhi Oksanen-Alen, teacher in Haaga-Helia school.

I have to say, this is probably one of my favourite topics and I could quite happily have chatted about it for hours.

Our final lecture of the entire course was about game, which is obviously a huge part of Finnish food culture.

I went into the lecture thinking I knew quite a lot about reindeer. I came out realising that apparently I knew nothing about reindeer. NOW I know about reindeer.

Petri Huhta, Head Chef at Lapin Liha, taught us a huge amount and gave us some great samples of their products to try.

Then we all received our certificates and raised a glass of alcohol-free currant-leaf sparkling wine which was absolutely delicious, by the way.

And that was it!

The whole course was so very inspiring and I learned so much!

A very, very special thank you to Anna and Annariina.

You absolutely smashed it!!!

Also a massive thank you to Ville Parkkinen and Jari Karjalainen at Haaga-Helia for letting us loose in your brand-spanking-new kitchen and for helping us throughout the cooking days.

And, of course, thank you to all the students who helped us too!

Lastly, to my 12 colleagues who joined me on the course: it was an absolute pleasure meeting you all, cooking with you, eating with you, learning with you and getting to know you.

Until next time, amigos! 🇫🇮👩‍🍳

Sari, Toni, Petri, Emma, Eemil, Virpi, Milla, Tuija, Petri, ME, Kimmo, Elmo

Helsinki, Aug 2026, a week with the MFA chefs’ course.

Ministry of foreign affairs, chef training course, helsinki 08/26

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