Maintenance and scaling up potato growing and consumption heritage in Northern Baltic region to build up resilient communities

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Exlploring the past: austerity-era potato recipes from 1940s Finland

04 July 2024

Luke, in collaboration with museology students at the University of Turku, collected potato recipes from the austerity era of the 1940s in Finland during the spring of 2024

Technical details

Recipes were gathered from Finnish old cookbooks and household magazines. Recipes are compiled in a 24-page booklet, “Pelastajana pottu. Pula-ajan perunaruokaohjeita.”.Potato was an important raw material in Finland in the 1940s because of its high-yielding, non-perishable, and versatile properties. Potatoes, with their mild taste and high starch content, were suitable for food and sweet pastries. In the 1940s, potatoes were used as substitutes, such as artificial butter, to replace raw materials that were in short supply.The local 4H association of Turku used the recipes to prepare an austerity-era style lunch for the potato event on May 9th at the Kupittaa allotment garden. The salad, known as “Vihtori pulikali,” featured boiled white cabbage and potato pieces, seasoned with salt and cumin. As the main course, a soup of potatoes, goosefoots, and onions was served. For dessert, potato pancakes.