16. Finnish Food, Sauna Culture and More with Rachael Jukarainen

On this episode, Jess talks with her high school friend, Rachael, who has a special tie to Finland. During this hour, they discuss Finnish food, sauna culture, and various other things Rachael has learned from her travels to Finland.

This is the eighth installment of Foodies Take Flight, a series where Jess talks with world travelers, expats and citizens of countries outside of the United States about their food experiences. Whether you have wanderlust and want inspiration for your next trip, or you're a homebody who just wants a mental vacation, Foodies Take Flight will take you up and away.

Rachael Jukarainen

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachaeljukarainen/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MissesJukarainen

The Flaky Foodie 

• Website: http://www.theflakyfoodie.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theflakyfoodie/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theflakyfoodie
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theflakyfoodie
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/theflakyfoodie
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4qHKumrGTuQzjKiaFYxXGw

Instacart - Groceries delivered in as little as 1 hour.
Free delivery on your first order over $35.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

The Flaky Foodie
Website: http://www.theflakyfoodie.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theflakyfoodie/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theflakyfoodie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theflakyfoodie

Episode Transcript

Jess (00:08):
Hi, it's Jess and you're listening to the flaky foodie
Podcast. Today we're going toanswer the question, What the
heck do they eat in Finland. Andwe're gonna talk with my high
school friend Rachel, who has aspecial connection to Finland.
And she's going to talk abouther food experiences there, as

(00:28):
well as her overall experiencethere as an American. So you
won't want to miss that. Afterour brief message. We'll talk
with Rachel about Finnish food.
So if you're a busy mom, like Iam, maybe you have one kid,
maybe you have six, maybe you'reworking mom, whatever it is,
make sure grocery shopping isnot the worst thing on your to

(00:51):
do list. Make it simple withInstacart, they can have
groceries from the store to yourdoor in under an hour. And now
with a special offer from theflaky foodie podcast, you can
get free delivery on your firstorder of more than $35. All you
have to do is click the link inmy show notes or show
description. Or you can go towww dot the flaky

(01:17):
foodie.com/offers or o f f e r sto take advantage of this very
special discount and save yousome time.
Welcome back to the flaky foodiePodcast. I'm Jess and we have
with us, Rachael. She is one ofmy friends from high school. And
she's currently getting hertheology degree. And she has

(01:40):
also has a connection toFinland. And she's lived in
Taiwan for a few years. Sowelcome to the show, Rachel.

Rachael J. (01:47):
Thanks, Jessica.
Nice to see you. Nice to behere.

Jess (01:50):
I know you've been kind of into other cultures worked in
like international internationalkind of education before. So
what kind of draws you to Iguess...Hey! you have a map
behind you. I don't know. Athome, you can't see this, but
she has a map behind

Unknown (02:09):
My husband for my birthday. Once he bought i He
asked me what I want. And I saidI want a giant global map. So he
bought me a huge one. And I loveit. Yes. Yes. So I was a math
major in undergrad. And thefurther I got into math, the
more I started takinginternational culture classes as

(02:30):
like a relief from the mathclasses. And then my my
professors and my advisors like,Hey, you're taking so many
international studies classes,is there a reason for that? And
I was like, Oh, just I love themfor fun. And then they
encouraged me to switch majors.
And I realized how much I enjoypeople and learning about
cultures being an advocate forpeople. And so a part of that I

(02:55):
got to study in Taiwan for a bitbecause they switch majors. And
then I also have been to Japan,Nepal, all different places in
Europe. And then of course, Iworked with a lot of
international students. Istarted an international
ministry with my friend fromJapan at my school, which was
the University of West Florida.

(03:18):
And we did a lot of outreach andstuff with international
students from all over theworld. And that's where I met my
husband, who is from Finland. Soyeah, it was raining one day and
I saw him on campus and I droveby I was like, Would you like a
ride? And he took the ride andinvited me over for dinner to

(03:41):
eat with him and his best friendfrom Spain and I was like, oh
Finnish and Spanish food fusion.
I'm all about it. And then fromthere invited him to the
international stuff. And anyway,

Jess (03:54):
do you remember that first meal at all?

Rachael J. (03:56):
Ah, yeah, I think I remember there was salmon with
like, pie. Yeah. Which is like arice dish. It's like so in
salmon smoked salmon with cream.
Finished food has a lot of heavycream. It was like a resumo
Spanish rice dish with salmon.

Jess (04:23):
Was it good? It

Rachael J. (04:23):
was good. It was good. Yeah. And from that lots
of friendships we had I met alot of the Europeans through my
husband or friend at the timebecause all the Europeans hang
out together all the Asianstudents hung out together and
and it was fun to just go overto their house. They they often

(04:46):
my husband had the biggestkitchen, one of the apartments
or dorms that have the biggerkitchens on campus. So a lot of
times all the Europeans would goto his place and cook together
and I Got into that loop andhung out with him a lot. And it
was fun 10 years ago. Anyway,

Jess (05:07):
so you all kind of met this first meal being kind of
almost your first kind ofunofficial date. And now, in the
present, you've gone back toFinland with your husband a
couple of times. So how haveyour food experiences been when
you go back to Finland?

Rachael J. (05:24):
Yeah, I've been to Finland, I think six or seven
times each for about a month.
And from the very beginning, Iwent when I was not a vegetarian
or a vegan, so I ate everythingin anything. And I was there
first in the winter. So if youcan imagine if you're up north
in the winter, there's a lot ofhearty food, a lot of soups and

(05:48):
casseroles and a lot of bakedthings. A lot of the warm up
from the inside. Yes. And thenin the summer time, it's very
fresh, a lot of fresh. They hadthey have a lot of greenhouses
because it's Finland. So youcan't grow a lot of veggies
unless it's like potatoes. Sothey have a lot of these

(06:08):
greenhouses. And so there's alot of fresh herbs and salads
and tomatoes, and a lot of openface sandwiches. And I, you
know, I tried everything andanything, a lot of smoked fish,
a lot of fried fish. And thenthroughout the years, slowly, I
turned to like vegetarian andvegan. And so when I would visit

(06:28):
and other times my my palette,sort of veganized and they and
Finland is actually veryinnovative. They have so many
vegan and vegetarian dishes now.
really been fun to like over thelast 10 years, sort of visit
Finland every you know, it firstwas every year and then every

(06:51):
other year.

Jess (06:52):
First of all, Pause. it's been 10 years.

Rachael J. (06:55):
I've been married to my husband for nine years. And
then we've been dating for abouta year and a half to two years
prior to that. So you know, mygosh,

Jess (07:07):
because it feels like your wedding was yesterday. Like
literally Oh, yeah.

Rachael J. (07:11):
Yeah. It's 2013 We got married. So yeah.

Jess (07:18):
Oh, wow. Oh, wow. I'm sorry. I'm having a little
crisis right now. We grow out onhow fast the time to go. So they
really increased vegetarianoptions. What are some like new
of the new vegetarian dishesthat you've kind of discovered
in Finland that you enjoy?

Rachael J. (07:39):
So the last time we were in Finland was just this
January, and it had been aboutfour years since we had gone
because we were gonna go in 2020and then you know, stuff
happened. So

Jess (07:52):
the Panini Yeah.

Rachael J. (07:55):
But so so we went and 20 just this January, and
this was winter. So you canimagine it's like negative 15 to
negative 20 degrees. And it'sbeautiful winter wonderland.
Apparently this has been one ofthe snowiest coldest winters

(08:20):
like it's still snowing Normallyat this point, it should be
melted and starting totransition to spring. But I were
just on the phone with hisparents yesterday because it was
his mom's birthday and she justtalked about how they just had a
fresh giant amount of snowfallso Oh wow. Anyway, so it was
winter so there's a lot more ofthe hearty dishes a lot of

(08:44):
casseroles since it was aroundthe post Christmas time you have
just so many casseroles so manymeat pies.

Jess (08:58):
You actually made like a handheld vegetarian meat pie. I
remember one time at your house.
I think you all had just starteddating. It was like a re a
reunion between us and our therest of our friend group and you
may like it was a meat filledvegetarian meat filled pie. That
sound good. It was very good. Idon't actually went home and

(09:18):
tried to recreate it. Oh

Rachael J. (09:21):
really? Yes. Yeah, like meat pies are a big thing.
fried meat pies, baked meatpies. When I was there one of
the first things I wanted to getbecause it's one of my favorite
dishes in Finland is sandwichcake. And so you you have layers
of bread typically like a kindof a light rye bread or just

(09:46):
some kind of standard bread. Butthen what they do is they in
between they layer it withdifferent types of you could
have like smoked salmon with meanaise You could have an egg
salad kind of like boiled eggswith, with all sorts of

(10:06):
different there's so manydifferent options you could
have. But basically, inside ofthe layers of bread you have
different kinds of sort of meatsalads or veggie salads that are
with mayonnaise or cream cheese,and fresh dill, salt and pepper.
It's very light and then thevery once you got all those

(10:27):
layers stacked kind of like asandwich lasagna, the outside
you have like a sour creammayonnaise or cream cheese and
sour cream, kind of like awhipped lighter cream that you
put on the outside. So it layersthe whole thing a lot of people
use mayonnaise and that mixedmixed in with other things and
then you on top of that youlayer it with all these fresh

(10:48):
veggies. Bell peppers, smokedsalmon, and you make them really
pretty like flowers, carrots andI mean it's just really really
pretty. I recommend looking itup sandwich cake. And you'll
sandwich Yeah, and

Jess (11:04):
I wonder if it's like I watch me made on YouTube. Have
you ever watched Yeah, videosand she made like a fruit.
Sandow, which is like, creamcheese. And it's like this big,
really thick, fluffy whitebread. And then it's fruit and
you cut it in half. And you cansee like the fruit makes a
flower and different shapes.

Rachael J. (11:25):
I've had those in Japan. They're delicious. But
those are sweet and fluffy.
Okay, well, this

Jess (11:30):
is like the savory this is super savory. But

Rachael J. (11:33):
no, not similar in that when you cut into it, you
see shapes, it's more like theythe the inside just looks like a
lasagna because it's justlayers. The outside, they just
take a lot of veggies and thingsand smoke fish and they turn
them into just flowers. Sothey're sitting on top as if
you're looking at a wedding cakethat's been decorated, but with

(11:57):
savory things. And then youslice it like you slice a
lasagna or a slice of cake. Andyou serve it and it's so good.
And it's so like fresh. And ofcourse they because Finland is
very vegan and vegetarianfriendly. They have a lot of
options that are like withoutthe smoked fish. We actually

(12:17):
made one with his mom at home.
So it was like the thing I wascraving. She's like, alright,
let's let's make it and yeah,that was That was delicious. And
we made it with smoked tofu. AndI mean hummus. And we have a lot
of pickled things, pickledmushrooms that I know that
sounds really strange. But inthe winter, you're eating the

(12:39):
pickled versions of things you'dhave in the summer. So in the
summer, it preserves everything.
The land of Finland is justlakes and forests, lakes and
forests, lots of fresh fish, andlots of berries and mushrooms.
And people live off the land.
It's a very earthy, like thepalette is just like you're

(13:02):
living off the land. I feel likeyou step back in time. And so
like for his, for example, hisfamily, they have a little
summer home called a monkey. Andthey go there in the summer and
it's on an island. So during thewinter, we walked across the ice
to get there and in the summeryou take a boat, of course.
Anyway, in the summer, you youlook out in the forest, and you

(13:26):
see all these berry bushes thatjust are like the carpet of the
forest. And so you're just goingaround with the little stupor
and you're picking all thesefresh blueberries and you can
even eat the blueberry flowers.
They taste like honey likenectar. They're so delicious.
Anyway, the blueberries so hisfamily collects so many

(13:49):
blueberries and then they freezethem so that throughout the rest
of the year, especially duringthe frozen tundra, you can still
have access to these yummythere's nothing like wild
berries. They have also wildstrawberries. And something
called a lingonberry

Jess (14:06):
Yes, and that's the flavor of Swedish fish.

Rachael J. (14:10):
Yeah, they're like sour. Yeah, and then so these
are all in the forest and thenmy favorite berry in Finland is
called cloudberry and it growsin sort of the swamp area and in
in a lot of times more of theArctic Circle so in the north
part of Finland but sometimesyou can find them in the Mid

(14:30):
South Finland and they areorange and they are like a
little cloud and they're soyummy and anyway Sue lots of
berries and then lots ofmushrooms. I never thought you
could go scavenging formushrooms that weren't for you
extracurricular activities more.
These were these are mushroomsthat you enjoy Should I say

(14:57):
free? Yes,

Jess (15:01):
we'll the they typically tell us that you know if you go
pick mushrooms either gonna dieor end up on cloud nine.

Rachael J. (15:11):
But in Finland they do have a poisonous mushroom
that they pick. And what they dois they cook it and once it's
cooked, it's not poisonousanymore. And it has like a
pepper like a black pepper tasteand there's so good. So, anyway,
this winter, we got to enjoysummer picked mushrooms, both

(15:32):
the ones that are poisonous andones that aren't the canter
rally I think is what they'recalled. They're beautiful orange
mushrooms. They kind of like Idon't know, they bloom in a
really pretty way. But so we hadmushroom pies and berry soups
and just fresh berries. Her hismom was a thawing out fresh
strawberries, wild strawberries.
And I just wanted to get a bite.

(15:56):
Because there's something aboutstrawberries that are from the
forest. There's so much sweeterand juice here. And I ended up
eating the whole container.
Anyway Oh, yeah, the this pastwinter. It was wonderful. I
really enjoyed a lot of myfavorite dishes. I could go on.

(16:18):
I do love finished food. So isthere any kind of food you'd
like to know more about orcustoms or I don't know. Well,

Jess (16:29):
what are some like key differences between like our two
cuisines? Finnish and maybeAmerica is big. So maybe like
Southern America or you're fromactually Michigan. So maybe what
you used to have north as well.

Rachael J. (16:46):
Surprisingly, you know, northern United States has
a lot of influence from Europeancountries. So for example, in
Finn and Michigan, we havesomething called a pasty, which
is like a meat pie. And you eatit with gravy and it's got like
turnips and so it's like a beeffor slowly roasted beef

(17:09):
casserole or like a crock potbut then inside of a bread and
served with gravy anyway that'skind of like what they have in
Finland like meat pies but yeah,I would I would say comparing it
to southern Florida you know,here we have so many fresh

(17:31):
fruits and veggies because youknow it's just year round you
get all these fresh things. Butin Finland there's so much
reliance on importing freshvegetables and fruits so the
fruits and veggies aren't asflavorful so there's a lot more
reliance on like, what you cangrow in a greenhouse which is a

(17:53):
lot of like different lettucesand herbs and tomatoes and
simple like onions and garlicand and dill so the flavors are
much more focused on theingredients. Then the spices. So
like here, I do love Southerngreens, like I really enjoy, you

(18:17):
know, mustard greens and thingslike that. Not so much with the
bacon. But but I do love thatbut in Finland I would say they
don't really have they wouldthey would have more of cabbage.
So you could find like cabbagerolls. I feel like we have
cabbage rolls here kind ofalright got like the minced meat

(18:38):
inside and with rice and it'slike wrapped into the egg roll
shape. And casseroles I feellike we have casseroles here in
Finland though the flavors aredifferent. Like for example, my
husband's favorite has a liverand raisins and rice and it's

(18:58):
got kind of like maple syrupcooked in and so it's like a
sweet liver rice casserole. Itsounds really strange. I'm not a
big fan but if you like liver,it's like really common and
popular and loved. But I feellike we have like the carrot and
raisin kind of salad down here.
You know and they they have theydo have a carrot and rice

(19:19):
casserole

Jess (19:22):
me we we do the the part of Florida and from you eat
liver but it's fry

Rachael J. (19:29):
and you know, I feel like we have the liver sausage
which is like a pate right? Ifeel like they they have a lot
of liver sausage and the liverthat they put in the casserole.
It's like, you know, it keepsits creaminess because it's been
on like the fried one where youactually it's like the whole
liver right? Yeah, I'm also nota not a big fan of that. But

Jess (19:54):
oh no, that was my least favorite.

Rachael J. (19:57):
Um, rutabaga. They use a lot of rutabaga so there's
really Oh, there's this rutabagacasserole that my husband also.
Yeah they cream the rutabagawith cream and butter and salt.
And they add maple syrup. Theylove maple syrup and they make
that into like a really creamything and then they bake it so
the top gets kind of like yummyand then inside is creamy and

(20:24):
then soups. We have soups. Theyhave

Jess (20:30):
lots of finished soup like a popular one.

Rachael J. (20:33):
Salmon. It's like a salmon cream soup. So if you can
imagine you got like everyfamily does it different just
like everybody's doing theirlasagna different. And but I
would say the core is a heavycream with butter onions and

(20:53):
fresh dill. And then of courseyou've got the salmon. And it's
really fresh salmon and

Jess (21:02):
it's really rich, is it smoked or just plain salmon?

Rachael J. (21:06):
I would say it's probably not smoked salmon that
they put in their smoked salmonis what they use normally as a
topping to a sandwich or put onthe sandwich cake or just eat on
top of the rye bread. They haveso many kinds of rye bread, but
they they just take a rye breadbutter and put some smoked
salmon on top. But in a soupthey've got Yeah, this the fresh

(21:29):
salmon is not dry. It's reallyrich, very, very popular. I've
had it's very good. And then ofcourse sausage. Finland is a big
they they just they call itmokara. They love their Makara
they have so many kinds ofmokara. Like the blood sausage.

(21:51):
They've got the smoked sausage,they've got kind of what's like
our Polish sausage. You know,the kielbasa, I think is what's
called the you know, when you goto the store they got it's like
a big U shape. And it's kind offat, they got that. Anyway, they
have they've a kind that arelike small and skinny, that

(22:14):
would almost look like ourhotdogs, but they taste they're
not so they're not processed.
They're just small hotdoglooking sausages. And of course
because Finland is reallyinnovative with the vegan and
vegetarian they have. I am sojealous. I wish we had access to
the Finnish vegan sausages. Theyeven have a vegan blood sausage

(22:37):
that they use right there. Therye flour is inside. But it's
rich and it's delicious. And,and in in the summer. And in the
winter you always have a freshSo anywhere you go in Finland,
there's all these little hutsand inside the hut is a place
you can have like a fire andit's kind of like parks are

(23:00):
everywhere. There's there'sthese little huts. So a lot of
people have like, they like tomake a fire and cook sausage
over the fire. And that couldalso be in their sauna. A lot of
people have their own sauna intheir home. And so is

Jess (23:16):
it so is it like the hut with the fire is a kind of like
the way we have grillseverywhere you go to a public
park and there's a grill butthere's this like a hut with a
fire. Okay,

Rachael J. (23:25):
yeah, and it's a kind of reminds me of like,
Native American style, kind oflike really tall, almost like a
teepee, the roof goes all prettylow all the way down. And so
when you're inside, it's almostlike a like a teepee if that's

(23:45):
how you call it. But anyway,the. And they're and people at
their own homes, they just havea lot of grills and they just
love grilled sausage at anyoneand you're in the sauna. Of
course you're naked because, youknow, and that's the Finnish
sauna away. You. You're notallowed to wear anything and

(24:07):
your grill and grill andsausages and

Jess (24:12):
make it okay. And that's a little bit of a danger.

Rachael J. (24:20):
When I was there this winter, we stayed at our
friend's Mulki, which is thewind, the home that's typically
on the lake, and their sauna isright on the edge of the lake.
And of course now it's frozenwith about a couple of feet, at
least maybe two or three feet ofsnow on top. So you're in the
sauna, and it's me and the girlsand these are like our friends

(24:43):
and we're, you know you'regetting really toasty and then
everybody wants a break. Okay,so we run out and we jump into
the snow and make a snow angel.
And that's like, and then we runback into the sauna. And you do
that like two or three times atleast Come and drink a beer or
they have a lot of sparklingwater, which is salty. It's like

(25:05):
a salty sparkling water. It's Itsounds strange, but it's it's
kind of I think it's like aRussian thing because we're near
my husband.

Jess (25:15):
I've just never heard of that before this

Rachael J. (25:17):
interesting like carbonated ocean, you can get
really really salty or slightlysalty but, and and the tap water
the finish tap water it's hardto explain how delicious water
can be. It's like from the tapsuper cold. Super fresh super

(25:42):
not really tasting likeanything, but it's I just I want
that I would drink so much morewater. If the water was like
Finland water. Anyway, sausagessauna, and really good water. I
salted water. Yeah, and and youcan also take birch I think it's

(26:05):
birch young birch branches withtheir leaves on them. You can
buy them from the grocery store.
They like sell them everywhere.
And you get a bundle. And thenwhen you're in the sauna, you
whack your back with them. Likeexfoliating.

Jess (26:18):
Okay.

Rachael J. (26:20):
The blood? Excuse me blood flow and okay. Yeah, I
love sauna culture. And I wouldsay my skin was much happier.
Like eating your skin feelsgood. And

Jess (26:32):
so is it like a COVID situation? Or is it separate?

Rachael J. (26:36):
Sometimes it depends on your family friend group. Oh,
like Europe, nudity doesn't.

Jess (26:42):
So it's like no strangers in there, or it's just your,
your group that you're our

Rachael J. (26:46):
group because it was a friend group of about, I think
there were eight or nine, maybenine of us. So there were three,
or there was four girls and fiveguys. And so we went the girls
went first and like but somefriend groups, everybody goes
together. But I personally feltmore comfortable with just the
girls. And when in familiestypically it's like aunts and

(27:11):
grandmas and moms and cousins,all the girl cousins like would
go together. Like, if you're onthe in the summertime, and
you're on a boat and you'regoing down the lake. If it's
around like the sauna time, youyou keep your eyes on the water,
because the Saunas are typicallyon the lake. So if you look

(27:34):
over, you're gonna see a bunchof naked butts. You know,
depending on what time of theday it is, you're gonna see
nudity and saunas. It's justlike, not sexualized at all.
Whereas an American nudity, it'ssuch a like a promiscuous thing.
But in Finland, it's like, it'sjust a body. It's just what you
have that you're, it's just youand it's not like you're staring

(27:58):
at each other, but you'relooking each other's faces and
talking and you're just in eachother's birthday suits. And it's
no big deal. It took me, Ithink, the like after two visits
to Finland to kind of get overit. And now it's totally fine.
But definitely an adjustment.
Like it's my first trip there. Isaw my husband's Grandma and

(28:20):
mom, everybody's name. Iremember waking up one morning
and looking out like it's likethe beginning of the day. And I
see his grandma and her birthdaysuit running down the dock. And
then she she jumps into thelake, and I just swim around for

(28:40):
a minute and they get out and Iasked her later and she's like,
Yeah, that's how I love to wakeup. It's very invigorating in
it.

Jess (28:50):
That'll get you there.
Yeah. That's a good blend. getthe day started and really be
like, I'm awake.

Rachael J. (29:02):
And I'll say it's a totally different experience if
you don't have a bathing suiton. Yeah, but anyway, Finnish
culture is a lot of just natureliving off the land. Like when
they go fishing, and they use anet. They try to get the bigger
fish but sometimes they'll catcha bunch of the small little fish

(29:23):
and those are actually fried anda giant wok with salt and pepper
and oil and they're they'rereally crispy. There may be I
don't know, three inches long.
And you just it's like theFinnish french fry. You pop the
whole thing in your mouth. Youknow, and it's kind of like
anchovies, I guess becausethey're smaller and they're
they're not the bones aren't abig deal at all. And, um, and I

(29:45):
got to try those one. I wasn'tveg person and they're, they're
delicious and like, you wouldnever buy that from the store
because my my husband's Emily'sfrom the countryside. Apparently
there's like two kinds ofFinnish people. There's the
Finnish people that come morefrom like the Swedish

(30:06):
background, they have moreetiquette, maybe they have more
rules more way of eating.
Whereas then then there's thecountry, people that the people
who live in the countryside andthat would be my husband's
family. So even their accentwould be what you'd think of as
like a country accent inAmerica. And they they don't

(30:29):
have any special etiquette andvery relaxed very anyway. And
you you eat off the land, youenjoy the land, you would be an
insult to buy something that youcould get off the land from the
store. So

Jess (30:46):
yeah, so tell me about like walking into a finished
grocery store as an American,what stands out as being like
completely different and foreignand what are some things so
we're just like, hey, we havethat.

Rachael J. (30:59):
Um, so what was interesting when you walk into a
Finnish grocery store is kind oflike when you walk into a Whole
Foods or a fresh market, whenyou see all the flowers. Almost
every grocery store sort of hasa beautiful floral section. And
I think that a part of that isbecause there's not a lot of

(31:19):
fresh flowers in Finland, sobrightens it up, there's a lot
of, especially in the winter,it's kind of dark all the time,
like the sun comes up at around11am and sets around 2pm. So
there's like when you walk intoa grocery store, it's so fresh
and bright, and I think there'ssomething nice about being able

(31:42):
to take some of that home tolight in your own home. There's
also so much fresh herbs andlettuces and stuff because of
the greenhouses, year round. Soyou you see just a whole bunch
of sack is a giant section withlike the lettuce and the herbs
are actually little pots ofsoil. So a lot of people can

(32:02):
just in they're cheap. They'reso cheap, and just abundant and
then the sauna section of eventhe typical grocery store
there's going to be this is awhole song. I mean, you know
like it's not a whole pile butthere's like an aisle that is
okay sauna stuff sauna bucket,sauna branches that I was

(32:25):
talking about. Get the sauna,oilseeds for the buckets because
you you want. So the Finnishsauna setup is you've got an A
wood oven on top of the woodoven or rocks. And so you always
want to have a bucket or fivebuckets in your sauna that you
can use with a they have a giantladle and you use the ladle the

(32:47):
splash the water onto the rocks,because when it's not just a dry
heat, it's a wet so it feelshot. But then when the water
gets on there, it's like thiswave of heat that kind of
prickles your skin in a way thatgives you kind of this, these
kind of goosebumps, I don't knowit feels really good. And makes

(33:08):
you sweat more and you got tohave a bucket. And also you want
another bucket because in orderto stay in the sauna longer as
you take that ladle and you putit on top of yourself too. So
you're getting yourself wet. Andyou know, as women we want to
keep our hair wet because youdon't want to hurt or burn your
hair. So I like to keep my hairreally wet more put it in a

(33:32):
giant bong and continue to like,make it make it pretty wet. So
anyway, yeah. And then of coursethey have essential oils. And so
they'll put essential oils intothe water and so when the water
hits it you also get that blastof wonderful smells. And yeah, I
saw the sauna section andanother section that surprised

(33:53):
me was there. ready made foods.
You know, if you go to ourgrocery store, there might be a
I don't know a couple thingsthat are ready made, but they're
like junk or they're just like asandwich. If you go to like a
Publix you might find you knowsome salads and sandwiches, but
that's about it. But when you goto a Finnish grocery store,

(34:14):
there's not only regular thingslike meat pies, and smoked
salmon sandwiches. I don't know.
Kebab kebab Turkish kebabs arereally big and Finland like
everybody loves Turkish kebabs.
So you can get like a kebab youcan get. And then of course

(34:38):
because it's this innovative inFinland, veg culture, so there's
vegan and vegetarian, like everyeven in the middle of nowhere.
If I walk into a grocery store,there's going to be a vegan or
vegetarian ready made sandwichor pie, like savory pie or I
don't know if Fresh, somethingreally fresh made every day. Oh,

(35:00):
and one of the things that Ialso love is I'm a I'm a bargain
girl like you give me I'm acoupon I love seeing at the end
of that receipt, you just save$20 and coupons. And in Finland
always there's like, it's alwaysmarked like, you'll find
something marked 30% down. Andthen if you buy it after a

(35:23):
certain time in the evening,like, I don't know, if it's like
seven o'clock then it's nowmarked 50% off, or 75% off. And
I'm like, Yes. And you know,it's still got a couple of days
left. And I like on everything.
It could be the readymade stuffit could be the yogurts, it

(35:43):
could be, it could be anything.
And another thing that I loveabout finished groceries, okay,
I, I will say when I when Itravel the world, one of my
favorite places to go is agrocery store. Because, yeah.
Find like good local things, andyou don't feel like you're
getting scammed sometimes. Andyou're in certain places they

(36:04):
see a foreigner, especially inAsia, like you get marked up or
the food is fine. But like ifyou go to a grocery store,
you're eating what the localsare eaten. And anyway, all that
to say there's also always agiant bakery section. They love
their pastries, because thecoffee culture place like coffee
is 789 cups a day and they evenhave like It's freezing

Jess (36:26):
out that it warms you up.

Rachael J. (36:29):
You have to drink coffee. And there's even like, I
think official governmentrequired thing you have to have
a coffee break when you work fora Finnish company. And so
anyway, oftentimes with yourcoffee, you're served pastries,
and that could be from savory tosweet. A lot of cardamom

(36:50):
flavored things. A lot of thingswith like berries or cream. Or
custard. Dona?

Jess (36:57):
Do you know that? Fam, you found out that cardamom helps
with breast cancer?

Rachael J. (37:02):
No, I didn't know that, you know? Yes, each are
carbon sugar cardamom and seelike, you can even take some
cardamom pods and just put it insome hot water and have like a
really nice tea with a littlebit of honey. So good. Anyway,
my husband has introduced me tocardamom sometimes he just likes
to put it in the most randomthings, but in Finland, they put

(37:24):
it in like everything. So it'dbe interesting.

Jess (37:27):
I was Yeah, Chai was my introduction to carnival. Okay,
I had Chai somewhere and I wasjust like, This is amazing. I
love this taste. What is thistaste? Like? And then I realized
that's what it was.

Rachael J. (37:39):
Yeah, that like clothes. Clothes can be pretty
overpowering and so can like allspice but but Cardamom is kind
of such a nice flavor, almostlike licorice are hard to
explain, but I love Oh, speakingof licorice, that's another big
thing they eat. But anyway,grocery stores baked things.
Love that.

Jess (38:00):
Do they do the salted licorice? Yes. They always say
less. So it's just them. Yeah.

Rachael J. (38:05):
And it has a warning on the box that says Don't eat
too much. Or your digestivetract is gonna be feeling it.
Because it's a laxative. Yeah.
But it's like a as if you werebuying a box of mints. You buy a
box of salted licorice or sourlicorice or sweet licorice, but
all that was like black licoricethere. And then that you also

(38:28):
find like gummies that are likelicorice and fruit flavored
gummies kind of mixed together.
That's my husband's favorite. Ithink this last trip he bought
probably one bag every other dayand probably gained a bit of
weight when we were there. Shecan't find it here. And so yeah,

(38:48):
one of one of my favorite bakedthings is actually savory. It's
called a Karelian pastry. Andwhat they do is they take like a
really thin rice dough, and theyturn it into sort of like a boat
shape. And it's filled with arice porridge that's really
really rich. And then they buy

Jess (39:08):
like a rice pudding almost.

Rachael J. (39:10):
It's not sweet, but yes, and then they bake it and
then when it comes out you theyput buttermilk on top and it
kind of softens the pastry butyou get like that crisp outside

Jess (39:22):
my face is not discussed.

Rachael J. (39:25):
I know it's like the textures. I'm a texture person
and so you got like the kind ofnice crisp outside that has
absorbed some of that salty,buttery flavor. Then you got the
inside which is like this nicecreamy rice porridge that on the

(39:45):
very top of the rice porridge isnow it's like a nice crispy
layer that also has beenabsorbing that buttermilk, and
then they just sell it it's beendried. The buttermilk was
completely absorbed and you canbuy them for so cheap. And then
what they do is they At home,they'll top it with an egg
butter, which is scrambled likea boiled hard boiled egg that

(40:05):
you cut up into little piecesand you kind of melt butter down
and mix it together. And thenyou put in the fridge again. So
you just kind of as if you'retaking butter, but it's got
butter with boiled eggs in itand you kind of spread it on
top. And then they'll put somefresh dill and smoked salmon, or
just with the butter, or withjust nothing like me, I just
will eat it as is it's so good.
Anyway, it's kind of like asandwich base, but like an open

(40:30):
open sandwich base. And youcould put anything like any
sandwich e things on top.
Anyway, it's one of myfavorites, and you can't find it
anywhere. And it's so exhaustingto make. I've tried making it
and it just takes so much timeand so much effort and it's not

(40:51):
worth it. But in Finland, youcan get it for like 25 cents a
piece. And it's like, oh, well,yeah. Wish we can have them
here. Yeah, I missed them.

Jess (41:02):
So you mentioned that Bill's family isn't as they
don't have like a lot ofmealtime kind of Frou Frou
customs. But are there any likedifferences in terms of
etiquette between sitting at afinish table is sitting on an
American Table?

Rachael J. (41:15):
Yes. And it goes like this....Silence.

Jess (41:26):
Oh, okay.

Rachael J. (41:28):
It's like these. For me. It's really awkward. Like,
they're just eaten away and justbeing really quiet and like not
talking and for them. Like smalltalk isn't really a thing like I
don't know, they just arecomfortable with just being in

(41:52):
each other's presence for like,sometimes five minutes and
there's just no talking. And,and

Jess (42:00):
I don't think that will bother me. Or my extrovert?
Yeah, I

Rachael J. (42:04):
guess I guess I would say there's a joke in
Finland. And an you know how tomake a difference. tell the
difference between anintroverted Finnish person and
an extroverted Finnish person isthe introverted Finnish person
looks at their own feet whenthey're walking down the street
and an extroverted person looksat your feet when they're

(42:25):
walking down the street. Andthen yes, I'm the extrovert. So
like, for example, I'm walkingdown the street and someone's in
their yard, you know, I knowsome finish phrases. So I'll
like say something to them in agreeting like Good afternoon or
high or how are you? And then myhusband's like, no, like, when

(42:49):
they are in their home on theirproperty and their garden on
their front porch? That is theirpersonal private space and
you're rude by just even lookingat them. By your like invading.
Personal space

Jess (43:06):
you're supposed to have like a bubble. It's a literal
bubble.

Rachael J. (43:10):
Yes. It's funny because they say Finland is the
happiest country and it's notbeen a few years but Finnish
people are like, really becauseI don't feel very happy. I don't
know about you. And I would saythere's a little bit of a
loneliness there's a lot ofisolation and a lot of a lot of

(43:31):
alcoholism. There's, there'slike a every country has things
they struggle with. And I thinkin Finland, a part of the
loneliness factor does come inwith this kind of social
privacy. And I've heard frommultiple Finnish people who
visited America that one of thethings they loved about coming
here is that there is just thisgreeting of warmth when you go

(43:54):
into a grocery store or whenyou're walking down the street
like you don't have to knowsomeone super well to be greeted
with love and care and so notall Finnish people are super
wanting the private seat privacybut there they would be
considered rude if they are outyou know, doing you know, they
would be they don't want to hurtother people and they're very

(44:15):
respectful, very honest culture.
Anyway,

Jess (44:19):
interesting because with our, with our culture, being so
extroverted, being an introvertfeels like that sometimes you
wish, like you had that bubblewhere people okay, they're
expected. Right? You know, I'mnot expected to make
conversation here. And extrovertliving in the Finnish society
probably feels the same way anextrovert would in our society.

(44:42):
So that's, that's reallyinteresting.

Rachael J. (44:44):
And you think about like how much more effort it
takes to have really goodfriends, right? Not just have
social drinking buddies, whichdrinking culture is huge in
Finland. It's funny as anotherpart of the grocery store. I was
surprised by Do you have to goto a liquor store to get
anything really alcohol likethey don't really sell regular

(45:06):
alcohol in a grocery store, butthey do have in a grocery store
a giant non alcohol section soyou get like the non alcoholic
wine and beer and stuff. And Ithink that also has to play with
like, because drinking cultureis so big there's also so much
excessive alcohol drinking sothe grocery stores are trying to

(45:29):
for those who love the taste ofbeer but are trying to cut down
but anyway, yeah. Definitelyintroverted and extroverted has
a has a piece in that and even,I mean, even Don't you love
having some good friends, eventhough you're introverted, you
still enjoy having people thatcare about you. And how did you

(45:54):
meet those people? Sometimesit's extroverted people who
reach out to the introvertedpeople that yes,

Jess (45:58):
I say it takes both of us to make the world go round. You
know, behind every introvertthat stays more than probably
about 20 minutes at your partyand extrovert is the only reason
keeping them there. Oh,

Rachael J. (46:15):
yeah. I mean, that was kind of like high school
like with some of our friends,right? Some of my closest
friends were introverted, andyeah, just works. And my husband
is an introverted man, and I'mextroverted. We make it work.
Um, definitely, um, when wefirst got married, when we did

(46:36):
the what is it that when youhave the four letters, the Myers
Briggs, and we did, like we werecomplete opposites. And we just
took it recently, and instead ofbeing on the opposite spectrums,
we're still in the oppositespectrums, but more close to the
middle. So it's interesting howwe kind of influenced each

Jess (46:56):
other each other. Yeah, that's sweet. Very nice. Yeah.
Oh, I'm getting sentimental inmy old age.

Rachael J. (47:07):
We're only 30 Something I'm 3030 33 we're
young, we're young and 30 isgood. It's a good year. It's
good. It's good decade. Anyway.
Yeah.

Jess (47:24):
So you've kind of answered how easy it is to find things to
eat and Finland as a vegan orvegetarian. Are there any dishes
that you had to kind of adapt tomake meatless other than the
sandwich was it sandwichsandwich cake, cake labor

Rachael J. (47:44):
cuckoo labor cuckoo is what it is in Finnish. I
guess macaroni casserole is issomething and Finnish pancake
mix macaroni casserole is like acasserole. But you've got a lot

(48:04):
of ground beef and egg andcream, salt and pepper. It's
really simple. But it's myhusband's like, favorite thing.
It's like It's like thechildhood mac and cheese. You
know, you just you justsometimes desire it. And VLAN my
husband, he he doesn't eat beefanymore. He does eat fish, but

(48:25):
he doesn't eat beef. Andsometimes he's just like, I
still want that. So in Americanow we have all of these like
beyond burger and impossiblemeat and stuff. And you can make
really nice ground beef and kindof just easily supplement it
with now you got the just eggfor the egg. When we first got
married nine years ago, it thatwasn't a thing yet. So there are

(48:52):
people in Finland who werevegetarians, and they wanted to
make it so I follow some of therecipes and they use like
lentils and stuff instead of andthat was all right. Well, of
course it's not the same. And Imean, I went vegan for health
reasons. And so sometimes I justcrave a good beef, you know,

(49:12):
there's the texture and thesmell. And it's not just like a
flavor swap. So it's so nicenowadays to have like the
impossible meat and be able togrind it up. And then with the
finished pancake, so it'sactually baked in a casserole
dish. And it's about an inch toeven on the edge of sometimes

(49:34):
like an inch and a half or twoinches deep.

Jess (49:37):
Is that similar to what we will call like a Dutch baby here
or like the German Pancake Dutchbaby. That sounds weird, but
that's what you call yours likea bakes pancake.

Rachael J. (49:51):
Okay, maybe I don't know, like the it's it's got a
totally different texture. Iwould say it's more dense. It's
because they use a lot of eggsand cream or milk and some
people use yogurt and of coursewith flour and cardamom, you got

(50:12):
to put cardamom in and, andsometimes fresh blueberries they
put in it and it bakes and thenthey cut it into squares. And
it's like a really like onesquare will fill you it's very
dense. And you put on top, youcould put cloudberry jelly,
which is so good. Or like freshberries, or of course they got

(50:34):
their maple syrup. Oh, oh, youknow, there's one thing that I
haven't had the courage to make.
That is it's what is it called?
It's like a holiday. Nam me.
That's what it's called, man.

(50:55):
Me. It's like a pudding madefrom rye flour. And molasses. It
sounds really weird.

Jess (51:06):
But man, it's

Rachael J. (51:07):
actually it's really rich. And you tap it with like
whipped cream or, or just creamor milk. And you can either have
it hot or cold. It's like a Ithink they typically have it

(51:28):
around now around Easter. And Ifeel like it's already pretty
vegan. But I don't actually knowthe recipe. But it's again one
of those things that you can getso easily in Finland, but I feel
like would take so much effortto make here. I don't know what
else. So man may finish. So thefinished pancake, I swapped

(51:53):
vegan yogurt and soy milk and Ididn't have to use egg and it
turned out delicious. Even myhusband was like this isn't the
real thing. And I was like it'sgood. It's good. Macaroni
casserole I hate by the way,macaroni casserole, you eat it

(52:14):
with ketchup. So after it'scooked and ready to go, he puts
his giants he calls it freshtomatoes on top. Because that's
of course his vegetable of theday. Very potato man and most
Finnish people because mostveggies are kind of unless you
get them from the greenhouse,which is like the fresh herbs

(52:36):
and lettuces but even that, youknow, it's like potatoes. That's
that's their vegetable, which ofcourse we now know is not really
a vegetable, right? It's like ait's like a starch so I don't
know, I feel like they don't eatenough vegetables in Finland.
But um, my husband would be aperfect example of that. I don't

(52:56):
know, I haven't really beensuccessful at casseroles so I I
feel like plus the rutabaga. Idon't even know where to buy
that. Do do you? Is that like acommon thing in the grocery
store? Maybe I just don't searchenough for

Jess (53:14):
it. Um, I feel like I've seen it in a Publix but you will
probably have to go to thecountry and find like a produce
stand or something or a marketsomewhere in the country because
pentru people eat rutabagas oryou have to know somebody who I
guess grows up I guess I don'tknow. I'm not a I'm not a big

(53:35):
rutabaga fan. I didn't know thatat a church potluck every once
in a while to show up. Yeah,somebody's talking about

Rachael J. (53:43):
like, it's not probably it's not a common thing
served in the city of Orlando.
But

Jess (53:52):
if you come up here and maybe go to like a Quincy or
Havana you might be able to find

Rachael J. (53:56):
some, alright, it hasn't been it's like its own
unique flavor. It's almost likesweet, and I really like it. So,
but

Jess (54:04):
well it would always just fool me because I'm like, this
is a potato. It's gonna tastelike say goodbye. It is like
this is Apple's

Rachael J. (54:15):
own texture, right?
It doesn't get creamy. Unlessyou make it creamy. Yeah, there
you know, there's one thing Ican't get in America. And I
could never make it on my own.
And it's a liquor that's madefrom pine sap, or pine tar. Oh,

(54:39):
have you heard of it?

Jess (54:40):
No, I just I just had a memory. I just thought Tiktok
was somebody who was eating likethese mini pine cones. And it
was like a jelly out of him. Sohe was like, it was looked like
it looked like honey surroundinglittle baby pine cone. Oh, and
he was just like it tastes theway it tastes the way a pine
cone and kind of smell sweet.
And I was just like,

Rachael J. (55:03):
I feel it kind of reminds me of like sweet menthol
it's hard to describe, but theyhave like drinks made from this
liquor made from pine tar andit's like own. It's kind of
smells smoky has a very smokytar smell, but it's sweet. And

(55:31):
yeah, you just drink it.
Sometimes they put it in like asoda or another's, you just
drink the liquor straight up.
And also they they make liquorfrom those cloudberries I was
talking about. And actually, westill, we still have some
finished chocolate leftover fromthis last trip. And they take
dark chocolate, that mean,European chocolate in general is

(55:54):
just so much better thanAmerican chocolate. And then
they they take the cloudberryliquor and they insert it into
these little capsules of sugar.
And then they cover the sugarcapsules in this dark chocolate.
And so you have to pop the wholething in your mouth because the
liquor in the middle is stillliquid. And other cars I made
the mistake of biting in halfbecause I wanted to see it look

(56:16):
like them. And then of course itgoes all over me. And I smell
quite quite wonderful for alittle bit. But um, yeah,
there's like, I don't know,there's just certain things you
can't get over here that Idefinitely miss. And can't ever
reproduce it. Or if I do it justtakes too much effort like the

(56:38):
Kirlian paste, pastries and evensandwich cake sandwich cage
takes so much time just likelasagna takes a lot of effort, a
lot of things that you'repreparing ahead of time. But I
did do it for my 30th birthday.
I had a giant like a really bigparty with a really big sandwich

(56:59):
cake. And it was if you got theright occasion. It's it's great
for weddings and stuff likethat, too. I don't know what
else. Yeah, I haven't triedmaking the cabbage rolls but I
think I would like to make thoseat some point too. Because I
feel like it's pretty easy toreproduce. Now that we have

(57:19):
impossible meat.

Jess (57:21):
We have cabbage is not as hard to find his elusive
rutabaga.

Rachael J. (57:30):
I'm sorry. I'm like in ponder Oh, oh, one other
thing that I didn't mention isin Finland. They eat beer a
beer. They eat? They're like B EAR bears the bears. Elk. Moose
rain way. Literal bears. Yeah.

Jess (57:51):
I was thinking you were going to like a cookie like a
teddy Teddy grant.

Rachael J. (57:57):
They do have those?
Yes. No, like the meat selectionis more than cows and pigs and
fish like they've got reindeerand moose and elk and bears and
you can have that as like, youknow, minced meat or, or jerky
or sausage. Yeah, and I don'tknow, it's just again living off

(58:22):
the land.

Jess (58:24):
Have you had bear?

Rachael J. (58:25):
I did. Um, I had bear like smoked salami, Bear
Bear salami. And it was okay.
Just tasted like salami. Kindof.

Jess (58:44):
Okay, so let's face it.
Okay. It was I have for bearmeat in my mind and I think is
from the yearly that book wherethey had some bear they talked
about how greasy it was. And soit was great. So bear with me.

Rachael J. (58:59):
But Salami is greasy. So you know, maybe that
was intentional. And I also hadsalami and reindeer and I had
reindeer sausage. And of coursethis is like a decade ago but I
still remember it being justchewier and greasy. Yeah, greasy
and salty. But you know theyjust eat it as they used. I

(59:22):
think they also have horse meat.
Like you can still find it inthe store. And I think there's
like people are trying to makehorses not on the market because
just like here like it's morelike a pet now so there's like a
sense of like sadness when youyou see a horse meat hanging
next to the pork. But But yeah,yeah. We bought elk jerky for

(59:47):
some family brought it back withus so anywho that was just one
thing that I was kind ofshocked. To buy when I was in
the grocery store

Jess (01:00:03):
this might be Yeah. Yeah.

Rachael J. (01:00:08):
All right, okay.

Jess (01:00:11):
Yeah.

Rachael J. (01:00:13):
Yeah. Anyway, so I wonder

Jess (01:00:16):
if that's that's kinda like that. Wouldn't we have in
the bear for that to be a thinghere? But yeah,

Rachael J. (01:00:23):
yeah, I don't know they might be protected, but I
feel like there's probably ahunting season for it. I'm sure
there's some of your yourlisteners have maybe no. Have

Jess (01:00:33):
Yeah. I'm sure I'm sure they may have had deer sausage
before but well know about bear.

Rachael J. (01:00:41):
I mean up in Michigan deer sausage is a
normal thing. And deer thebackstrip and I grew up with all
of that.

Jess (01:00:49):
Yeah. Yeah. My family's country so possums. Oh,
recommends Oh, yeah. Oh, wow.
Thanksgiving. There wasdefinitely there was cooling on
the table with Oh,

Rachael J. (01:01:02):
wow. I mean, like when I was in Taiwan, you know,
turtle and snake and, you know,all those all those things you
can't even imagine are hangingat the market. But I didn't
think about it here in the

Jess (01:01:16):
States. Yeah. It tastes good. I was I was vegetarian. So
yes. Well, well, I'mpescetarian. Now. Okay. I was I
had already covered it. I mean,it looks like a season has
heavily season has usually sweetpotatoes around the company

(01:01:39):
meant for it. Oh, butinteresting is interesting. It's
funny, because you know, theyounger generation doesn't eat
that type of stuff anymore. Notnot as used to it. So a lot of
discus from hobby. What is that?
What is this?

Rachael J. (01:01:54):
Caught it and how was

Jess (01:01:56):
it prepared? Interesting.
I mean, I'm telling you, Igrowing up, my babysitter was
cleaning a squirrel. Oh. I waslike, Okay, I like it's like the
other day.

Rachael J. (01:02:10):
What was it yesterday, I was sitting on the
patio with my two cats and myhusband and we're watching these
two squirrels we live on likethe second floor and they have
crawled up a palm tree. And theyare the palm tree. I don't know
what they're called. But theybloomed these yellow things. And
I don't know if it's a flower orfruit or something. But the
squirrels are having a hay day.
And they were quite enjoyingthemselves. One almost fell. And

(01:02:32):
this is like second floorheight. So like for us, it's
right in front of us. And healmost fell but he grabbed on to
these yellow things. And thenhe's, he's not even fazed. And
he's chewing off the otherbranch. And then anyway, me and
my cats and my husband findsquirrels super cute. could not
imagine eating them. But hey,it's an animal and live off the

(01:02:54):
land.

Jess (01:02:58):
I mean, it makes sense to eat, if you want to eat meat to
eat what's around you. So rightnow, a couple generations back,
that's what it was like. Yeah.
And so, I mean, people inHonduras, you know, they have a
lot of Regatta. And so the tourguy was just like, you know, we
call it Bush chicken, you know?

(01:03:18):
Oh, so people eat the animalsthat are around them if you know
if you partake in meat, so

Rachael J. (01:03:25):
yeah, yeah. Well, I will say if you go to Finland,
you will not be disappointed byyour vegetarian options because
they they make a lot of veganversions of everything. And they
use this meat they made out ofoats. And oh, yeah, I haven't
seen that here. Have you seenit? Well, yeah. Yeah.

Jess (01:03:47):
It's kind of you know, SDA. Oat burgers are a big
thing.

Rachael J. (01:03:52):
Oh, burgers you have you see the oats, right?

Jess (01:03:55):
Yeah, but there's this like really grounded. It looks
more like

Rachael J. (01:03:59):
gluten. They they turn it I guess into a flower
and then they've processed it tothe point where it's very chewy.
Like gluten, like say, Tom orhave you called us gluten meat?
It's It's

Jess (01:04:16):
our third day. And as my dad likes to say, I like that. I
like that.

Rachael J. (01:04:22):
Sounds fancier would you like I guess because, you
know, it makes me sound likeI've got quite an evil palette.

Jess (01:04:37):
So what am I groups they were just like, I'm not calling
it I'll call it a holy thing. Ilike it.

Rachael J. (01:04:47):
Next time I serve it I'm gonna call this is the Holy
10 of the Yuka Ryan andhousehold. That's how we say our
last name, by the way. Anyway,

Jess (01:04:56):
yeah, I've wondered for some time but it was like it
passed. Before it's just like,how do you say, you know, my
brain has already come up with asong for your car?

Rachael J. (01:05:06):
Oh, yeah. Well, this is how I say it's like Yuka like
the vegetable, right? Like therye bread and then no, then you
go right. And then you can run.
And then if you can roll yourr's, you got reinen.

Jess (01:05:22):
I cannot. Okay, it's three years, two years of Spanish. And
I tried. I've tried very hard.

Rachael J. (01:05:31):
And so okay, no worries you and a lot of others.
So I was really excited when Igot married that I all of a
sudden now have in my name,because in Finland, they have
the the rolling RS, which isreally surprising. And they're j
and the J. Yeah, the J soundslike, Oh, why? Like, like
Germany. So. Yeah. Cool.

Jess (01:05:53):
Cool. But this has been very interesting. I

Rachael J. (01:05:57):
feel like we've been all over the place. I hope that
I represented Finland. Okay.

Jess (01:06:01):
Well, I have a lot of questions.

Rachael J. (01:06:05):
I hope everybody goes and visits. It's a
beautiful country with beautifulpeople and wonderful food. And I
mean, imagine going to NorthFinland and staying in an ice
igloo and watching the NorthernLights every night when you go
to bed. I mean, it's justbeautiful, and the lakes and

(01:06:26):
fresh air and the water so cleanand people are really sweet and
kind. So anyway, and if you'rean introvert, you will get your
privacy and if you're anextrovert, there will be
extroverted Finland, Finnishpeople who are very excited to
meet you. Anyway,

Jess (01:06:48):
well, thank you so much, Rachel, for this wonderful kind
of insight into Finnish cultureand food. There are a lot of
things that pique my curiosity,where I'm like, I want to taste
this. I did not know thatFinland had such a big food
scene. So is there any place ifanybody kind of wants to maybe
connect with you? Is there a wayto do that? Are you comfortable

(01:07:10):
giving out if

Rachael J. (01:07:11):
I'm on socials of Facebook and Instagram with my
first and last name? Like onInstagram, my handle is just
first my first name and lastname, which you'll post I assume
in the description, because it'sa little long, so but yeah, feel
free to message me I'd be happyto just Yeah, have you got

(01:07:32):
questions about Finland or youwant to just say hey, I'm a
foodie so

Jess (01:07:37):
that's a definite issue extrovert Yeah. Yeah,

Rachael J. (01:07:44):
I feel like on Facebook they like have like the
setting and I don't know how toturn it off like if you're not
friends and you message yeah,like I don't see those messages
unless I have to check everyonce in a while. But I would try
Instagram first to message me soyeah, anyway,

Jess (01:07:59):
awesome. So this has been Rachael Jukrainan you go right.
And like, right, right? Yeah,rye bread. Jukarainen. And she's
been here to teach us aboutFinnish culture. I have been the
flaky foodie. Thank you so muchfor listening today. Treat this
episode, like gossip or thegospel and tell somebody about

(01:08:19):
it. And make sure that you havean amazing week, eat something
delicious. And if you do, youcan tell me about it on social
media. I'm on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and a little
on TikTok. Alrighty. Thanks,everybody.