HELSINKI BALTIC HERRING MARKET

This past Sunday (OCT 18, 2019) they held a huge market & festival for herring in the Market Square. The Baltic Herring Market has been going on since 1743! It was packed. Everyone was standing shoulder to shoulder, buying things, eating things, drinking things, all the while supporting local fishermen. We tried some traditional Finnish food in the form of herring soup and smoked shrimp on rye, which I was actually nervous to try at first but it was delicious. The soup was heavy but it was perfect cold weather comfort food and packed with flavor, while the smoked shrimp juxtaposed nicely against the sweet honeyed rye bread. And the pickles were bright and crisp on top of it, giving it a punch of freshness. Oh man, it was good. Just goes to show you, try everything once. I even had a whole fried smelt. Apparently it’s a Finnish tradition to go to the Market Square every Sunday and have fried smelt with a beer. It was a little scary to think of eating an entire fish, albeit a little one, but I wanted to feel like a part of the group. I loved that we got to participate in a tradition anchored (ha! get it?) in the history of the city as a fishing hub. It’s actually still going on this entire week until Sunday the 14th, so if you happen to be in Helsinki, it’s worth a go.