From the 141 participants in the Hungry for Finland – Food Tourism Competition 2026, Sahanlahti Resort’s Pajapirtti Fireside Dinner has been chosen as the best food tourism experience in Finland.
Finland’s best food tourism product in 2026 was Sahanlahti’s Pajapirtti Fireside Dinner. The award was presented to them by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestery, Sari Essayah, in the Helsinki City Hall’s banquet hall on September 24th, 2026.
You can enjoy Pajapirtti Fireside Dinner at Sahanlahti Resort, owned by Jaana and Janne Kuivalainen, in Puumala, in South Savo.
The Dinner is the ideal food tourism experience: memorable, immersive, responsibly produced, delicious, and expertly marketed. The setting itself is nothing to scoff at. The toasty open fire of Pajapirtti’s historical cabin keeps the guests warm as it heats up the main course.
– The atmosphere is hazy and inviting, but it does not feel like a museum. Upon arriving, the blazed salmon was already being prepared by the open flame, Marjaana Nelimarkka, a member of the jury, describes.
Pajapirtti serves a single menu. Rustic, but finer, as described by the hostess. Appetisers are brought in on wooden shingles, and the food is shared by everyone, fitting the spirit of the cabin. The salmon is local from Puumala, and is traditionally blazed.
The dessert is the highlight of the meal. Each guest gets to cook their own lettu, a Finnish version of a crêpe, on the open fire. Being able to cook your own dessert heightens the mood and brightens the mind.
– There is a sense of joy in doing things yourself, especially since I managed flip the lettu on the pan succesfully, Nelimarkka rejoices.
Sahanlahti leans strongly towards local produce. All food is prepared from local ingredients available during the season. It is also evident from their D.O. Saimaa -designation of original recognition.
The Helsinki-based Taiga Times placed second this year with their Baltic Bites – Food & Island Experience in Helsinki. Though aimed for international clients, this picnic at Pihlajasaari is a fantastic experience for foreigners and locals alike.
Restaurant Solitary, a fine dining restaurant standing in the middle of a Savo forest, placed third. Their carefully constructed surprise menu and overall experience convinced the evaluation jury.
Three honourable mentions were praised for their great efforts towards developing Finnish food and drink tourism: Restaurant Elsa in the town of Hannukainen; Vaski Cider & distillery along a motorway in Salo, and The Finnish Porridgebar By N4KU in Helsinki.
The complete experience is what counted in the evaluation. An outstanding food tourism product is memorable, has a story and is cost-effective. Of course, tasty and responsibly produced food is a core component of the experience. Customer-first marketing was strongly emphasised in this year’s evaluation.
The goal of the Food Tourism Competition is to encourage the development of immersive and responsible food tourism products, to find the top food tourism products, and to strengthen cooperation in the advancement of food tourism in Finland. Products that are in the Visit Finland DataHub service, and those that either already have or are aiming to have a Sustainable Travel Finland label, were looked at favourably.
A more detailed evaluation of the experiences that placed this year are found on the competition’s website (in Finnish).
Hungry for Finland’s Food Tourism Competition 2026 and the development of national food tourism is coordinated by Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences. The 2026 competition is the sixth of its name.
This year’s competition is a part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s and Visit Finland’s Food Country Image Project. Each food tourism experience in Finland is building Finland’s food image.
The jury consists of representatives from the funding organisations, as well as independently invited specialists. More information on the competition and the jury (in Finnish).
View and download the winners' photos from this folder
More Information
Chair of the Competition: Kirsi Viljanen, Senior Specialist, The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, [email protected], 040 509 8986
Project Manager of the Competition: Kristiina Adamsson, Senior Lecturer, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, [email protected], 040 4887595
