We went FOODYCLE

Foodycle poster in Suomenlinna.

What is it?

Held between 12-13th of September, we participated in Foodycle - an event organised as a collaboration between Pixelache Helsinki and Ruoan Tulevaisuus (Future of Food) and other partners. Foodycle is a transdisciplinary and participatory food festival that brings together artists, designers, scientists, grassroots organisations, students, and consumers in general.

What we did

We had a role as organisers of a Tomato Tasting Workshop, participants of  a panel discussion with topics within "food & culture" and also gave a short lightning talk about artificial meat. The most precious experience was to meet and share thoughs with other Foodyclers.

Below some photos of the event - results of the tasting will be coming soon!

Thank you for all the tasting participants, Foodycle organisers and Oma Maa for the tasty organic cherry tomatoes.

Our tomatoes before tasting came from: Stockmann, Hakaniemi market hall (Luomupuoti Satumarja and A. Lavinto), the out door market in Hakaniemi, Anton & Anton, K-market and Oma Maa in Kallio.

Tasters being serious.

Puutarha ja kauppa -magazine journalist (Gardening magazine)

Ferenc cutting tomatoes to be tasted.

The score board.

Viewing the results and end discussion.

Panel discussion.

Lab grown meat presentation.

About us in Camp Pixelache

Last weekend (18.-19.5.) Porridge and Potatoes took part in Camp Pixelache that was held in Naissaar in Estonia as one programme of Pixelache festival 2013.

Traveling there happened by ferry from Helsinki to Tallin in a very foggy weather. We truely experienced a feeling of going towards the unknown - because of fog we concretely didn`t see the way ahead of us! From Tallinn, after some adventures of being in a wrong place at a wrong time, we succeeded in catching boat Monica that took us to Naissaar.

Naissaar is an island located near Tallinn, 10 km away from the Estonian coast. The name of the island means "Island of women". Naissaar has a military history and the traces of it are visible all around it: old sea-mines, abandoned military buildings about to collapse, rail tracks, old war objects for curious visitors to admire, even a small Nargö Museum. It`s also an Estonian nature conservation area.

Photos: Niina Ala-Fossi

more at : http://www.photoblog.com/niiaf/2013/05/18/

Presentation about P.a.P. in Camp Pixelache:

May Day in the park

Porridge and Potatoes went to have a traditional May Day picnic in the park in Helsinki. Every one is out there on this day: people wearing their white hats and university trousers, having fun!

This time our sima tasting was not a very organized one - we had sunshine in our eyes, wind in our hair and heads in the clouds.

However, please take a look at the Sima tasting results:

Tasters captured!

Here is a small video which was shot during a Porridge And Potatoes mämmi-tasting event:



Thanks again for all the participants, volunteers and friends!

Tasters from Niina Ala-Fossi on Vimeo.

How to tame your mämmi?

"The dark matter is hypothesized to account for a large part of the total mass in the universe.
Dark matter cannot be seen directly by telescopes…“ (Wikipedia -“Dark matter”)

100 g of mämmi (photo: F. Vilisics)

As we left Laskiainen (Shrove Tuesday) with its traditional sledding, mushy peasoups and the season’s cake laskiaispulla behind, the season of Lent brought mämmi to our sight.  

For people unfamiliar, this dark matter is an old tradition in Finland. Based on rye malt and flour, it is exclusively consumed in late Feburary and March. Hardly a culinary wonder, but Finns could not care less! Finnish food industry produces over 3 million packages a year!

History, ingredients, production and taste   are not priority here, we only focus on one thing:
How Finnish people like mämmi, and how they eat it?

The survey

A week ago we have circulated a survey on the mämmi consuming habits because we wanted to get an insight into this Finnish peculiarity. The answers shed light to one thing: Finns know what they eat, and develop individual ways of covering the funny taste dressing their mämmis with sweet and even sweeter substances. 

The survey showed a combination of cream, sugar, milk and ice cream to be the most popular way to consume mämmi. The answers indicate, however, that a half of the respondents would not eat it if it wasn't a Finnish tradition!  

Who they are?

From the 105 respondents 73% were women and 82% of the were between the age 18 – 34 (18-24: 28%; 25-34: 54%). 

And now, let the charts tell the rest!

Text and plots: Ferenc Vilisics

Runeberg's tart Test - a summary

Take a quick look at the main results of 2013's Big Runeberg test!