A taste of Finland

When EU leaders were discussing where to locate the European Food Safety Agency, Finnish food was ridiculed by the then Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and the French President Jacques Chirac. But Finland will be seeking its culinary revenge when its presidency of the Council of Ministers begins on 1 July.

Earlier this year the Finnish presidency organisers teamed up with Finfood, the country's food information service, and the Finnish Chefs' Association, to produce a booklet describing how best to prepare and present the country's food in the coming six months.

Finnish cuisine is ready for its place in the spotlight, according to Alex Stubb, a Finnish centre-right MEP.

"I think it is a good thing that the presidency focuses on food. Finnish cuisine should be brought forward - it is clean, fresh and very natural. And it has a much softer approach than most continental food," says Stubb.

But the Finns' decision to put some emphasis on their cuisine stems from more than just a desire to re-educate snobby southerners. Health, particularly tackling obesity, is one of the priorities for their presidency and Finland has a proven track-record in improving citizens' dietary habits.

By tradition, Finnish food is healthy with a diet based on wholemeal products such as rye, barley and oats. But in the region of North Karelia further efforts were made to improve the local diet. Launched in 1972, the North Karelia Project set out to study the causes of high blood-pressure and fatal heart disease which were contributing to the region's high mortality. Both local and national authorities supported the project as did the World Health Organization, local business and non-governmental organisations.

The project had a huge impact. While in 1972 about 90% of the population in the region used butter on their bread, today that figure has fallen to 7% - and the rest of Finland is following suit. Food makers have since greatly reduced the amount of salt and animal fat in their products.

But officials travelling to Finland during the EU presidency should not worry that they will be fed only hearty food such as ryebread. "What guests to Finland can expect is a lot of fish, vegetables, potatoes and probably reindeer," says Stubb. He concedes that 20 or 30 years ago Finnish haute cuisine (if it existed) lagged behind but insists that these days it can compete with restaurants in any European capital.

Stubb's three-star Finnish menu

Starter: Herring with new potatoes sprinkled with freshly chopped dill

Main course: White perch and vegetables drizzled with olive oil. With vodka or beer

Dessert: A mix of Finnish summer berries lightly dusted with sugar

When EU leaders were discussing where to locate the European Food Safety Agency, Finnish food was ridiculed by the then Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and the French President Jacques Chirac. But Finland will be seeking its culinary revenge when its presidency of the Council of Ministers begins on 1 July.