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31 Mar 2009, Posted by Nora Pouillon in Guests from Washington D.C., 0 Comments

Helsinki TOP-5 by Nora Pouillon


  1. Helsinki, The City – It is an unusual and elegant port city, beautiful turn of the century buildings. The city center on the harbor with enormous ferry ships; big granite boulders, trees and parks around the city. Lots of little islands offshore. The renovations and restructuring projects have made the city even more appealing.
  2. The People of Helsinki – They are friendly, relaxed, interesting, helpful, creative welcoming, and just wonderful. Plus they speak fluent English.
  3. The Food of Helsinki – It is delicious, a great combination of traditional ingredients prepared in a modern way. So many interesting restaurants and creative chefs in Helsinki.
  4. The Agriculture – A big trend to original Finnish products such as old breeds of cattle, lambs and goats as well as reindeer, which produce great artisan products such as meats, cheeses and especially poro.
  5. Landscape – There is a very special Nordic feel with meadows, rolling hills, the spruce trees and aspen trees, frozen lakes and red cottages with white trim. The ocean that comes inland. The jagged coast with islands scattered around.
  6. The Finnish Sauna – An unforgettable experience, which helps to understand the culture and tradition of Finland.

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About the writer

Nora Pouillon Restaurant Nora Nora Pouillon
Three decades after opening Restaurant Nora, the nation's first certified organic restaurant-- now a Washington institution--Nora Pouillon continues to advocate a holistic organic lifestyle, the basis for her cuisine and her commitment to living and eating sustainably. As an educator on the benefits of healthy food and sustainable living, Pouillon helped establish FRESHFARM Markets, producer-only open air markets in the Washington, DC area and beyond. Nora, a film directed by Joan Murray premiering at the DC Environmental Film Festival, documents Pouillon's reputation as one of the most influential pioneers and leaders in the organic and local-food movements. "What really is exciting for me now is how organic food and local food have become nearly mainstream," says Pouillon, named one the city's 12 power chefs by The Washington Post. "After struggling and being called a crazy person and a hippie, and now seeing that the most of the population understands what I was trying to do and is doing it is just wonderful." While Pouillon's late sister was married to a Finn, Pouillon never had the opportunity to visit her there and see Finland. Excited to discover a completely new culture and cuisine, she hopes to connect the chefs and farmers she meets in Helsinki with their Washington counterparts, and to share her knowledge with farmers about starting farmers' markets. "Not many people know Finnish culture, and I'm one of them. Bringing my experience back to Washington and exposing Washingtonians to what I learn will enrich us all."

Host

Aki Arjola Producer, Eat&Joy Aki Arjola
Jyrki Sukula Chef and restaurateur Jyrki Sukula

Eat&Joy is an annual two-week event organised in Helsinki at the end of September by Uni One Oy. It also runs up to four times a year in other cities in Europe. Launched in 2004, Eat&Joy seeks to draw attention to three specific areas: the high quality of Finnish food ingredients from the country's small producers, the New Nordic Kitchen, and to Finland's cutting edge creative efforts in art, design, music and fashion. Eat&Joy's latest endeavour is to highlight Finnish Ingredients and New Nordic Kitchen in different cities around the world. This year, Eat&Joy was organised in Berlin and Paris.

Eat&Joy will introduce the local food, food producers and Helsinki restaurants to Nora Pouillon during her stay in Helsinki. The aim is to enable Ms Pouillon to meet many interesting people involved in food and establish lasting contacts. Her stay will be hosted by chef Jyrki Sukula and producer Aki Arjola, who is the chairman of UniOne Oy, the company behind Eat&Joy. Jyrki Sukula is a renown chef and restaurateur with close to 30 years of experience in the restaurant and hospitality field.