Visitor’s experience

Saturday 5.10. we took a trip to the Fiskars Slow Food Festival. Slow Food is good, fair and clean food, produced with the idea of sustainable and quality food. The festival had 73 different producers and organizations presenting and selling their products. The event also featured speakers on different topics as well as tastings on different themes.

Road to Fiskars village is small and beautiful. First thing we recognize was fresh air and calmness. We walked across the parking field and cross the river to the marketing area. The river was so calming. The autumn weather also emphasized the atmosphere of the place where the Slow Food Festival was held.

In front of the main building there was hens and a goat from a local farm. That was a smart move because all the kids (and adults) loved them. Those animals made the entrance more lively and authentic. We think there could have been more farm animals in the area, because so many people were interested in them.

The marketing area was old drying barn. There were a lot of people there, but the atmosphere was generally happy. The sellers were eager to tell more about their products and the customer service was excellent in every way. It was nice that there were lots of different kinds of food. Also, the festival area wasn’t too big, so it was easy to navigate to places and see all.

Unfortunately, there was not enough food for all of us, so we did not get properly food there. We decided to eat after our lecture and during that all food ran out. It was a little disappointing because we were already hungry after lecture and it would have been interesting to taste the local food. Because the festival was hold basically outside and the weather was not that warm, it was quite unpleasant after a while to be there that long time.

We had also an opportunity to listen a lecture by Martin Ragnar. He is a Swedish researcher and author who is engaged in the Slow Food movement. The lecture was about food and how the place and identity effects it. Ragnars speech was impressive and compelling. His point of view was reasonable and the way he expressed himself was interesting. However, there were a few negative things. The vocabulary of the speech was quite challenging which is why we didn’t understand everything. Also, the space where the lecture was held was a bit cold, so it was hard to concentrate on the show. After the lecture Ragnar offered a chance to get more information and knowledge if the subject interested us more. He told us also how we could attend Slow Food movement.

Text and photos: Nelli Vertainen, Jenna Nieminen, Minna Paananen, Emilia Nummelin (Course Food Culture)