Comprising an entire week of festivities, Streat Helsinki culminates in a two-day street food bonanza in Helsinki's Tori Quarters 21–22 March 2015 from 11am–7pm. Last year, the event’s draw took everyone by surprise. This year the anticipated event has a larger site, longer opening hours and – what's best: more food entrepreneurs and mouth-watering dishes.
“Streat Helsinki EATS now runs two days instead of one. The scope and offering of partaking kitchens is remarkable, and we’ve managed to take over an even larger slice of the centre of Helsinki. This year, there are plenty of reasons to eat out on the streets during the entire weekend", explains Streat Helsinki producer Anna Pakarinen.
A mouth-watering selection of 64 street kitchens
Streat Helsinki EATS brings together the best of the street food scene: A total of 64 street food vendors will prepare their best dishes on site. The festival is free of charge, with anticipated visitors numbering up to 20 000 per day. The one-day festival in 2014 hosted 37 street food entrepreneurs, with a whopping 25 000 portions sold. The area was visited by over 20 000 festival-goers.
"We are overjoyed with all the entrepreneurs making their way to Streat Helsinki with their fabulous menus. We are proud to present almost 30 more street food vendors than last year, the list of applicants was astounding. The street food scene has developed hugely in the last year. This is truly the street food fiesta of all time", says Anna Pakarinen.
This year, Helsinkians and visitors to the city will embark on a journey of flavours from Berlin to Stockholm, from Tallinn back to Helsinki, and into the depths of Finland. Streat Helsinki EATS welcomes 11 international kitchens, 7 street food chefs from outside the capital, and an astonishing 38 entrepreneurs from the Greater Helsinki area. In addition to the aforementioned, 9 Tori Quarters restaurants will also take it to the streets.
The 64 Streat Helsinki EATS kitchens showcase over 200 one-of-a-kind dishes. The entrepreneurs have been challenged into deepening the definition of street food, and to offer new flavours. There are treats galore from ramen to Finnish meat pies, and from kimchi to bull testicles. More traditional street food fare can also be found at the festival.
The Streat Helsinki EATS portion prices vary from four to ten euros. The whole menu and the festival map can be found on the Streat Helsinki website on Monday 16 March.
Streat Helsinki EATS among the biggest street food festivals
The two-day festival engaging 64 street kitchens and serving over 200 different dishes stands out on the international street food scene. The amount of kitchens at Streat Helsinki is close to the number at the mother of all street food festivals, the San Francisco Street Food Festival, where a total of 80 vendors took part in 2014. Next weekend, the festivities in Helsinki get even busier than at Europe's street food hotspot, Berlin Street Food Thursday, and its count of 45 vendors. On the other hand, Berliners enjoy street food happenings of the sort every week.
The selection of dishes at Streat Helsinki EATS will be tasty, top quality and rich. Alongside the best Scandinavian street kitchens, the full menu includes treats from street food classics to Finnish specialities. San Francisco Food Festival attracted 50 000 visitors in two days in 2014, and Streat Helsinki EATS is set to witness some 20 000 visitors a day.
"Demand and supply meet at Streat Helsinki EATS, that became clear last year. But how could the spirit of street food settle into everyday life more than once a year? This is something we want to challenge everyone to give thought to during the festival weekend", Anna Pakarinen says.
Don't miss Streat Helsinki NIGHT BITES on 19 March
This year Streat Helsinki also sets out to consider the meaning of nighttime snack kiosks, and their role in the city’s food culture. True to its nature, Streat Helsinki also walks its talk: Streat Helsinki NIGHT BITES dives into the nighttime fare classic to the city’s grill kiosks, a project that culminates in a nighttime street food treasure hunt on 19 March from 6pm onwards.
Streat Helsinki NIGHT BITES calls together five night kiosks and three professional chefs with an interest in the future of kiosk food. The participating kiosks are legendary spots for nighttime cravings in Helsinki. The chefs Teemu Aura, Meri-Tuuli Lindström and Sami Garam took on the challenge with excitement.
The collaboration between the chefs and the kiosks was kicked off in one-on-one workshops, where the menus, dishes, practicalities and new opportunities were analysed. The results - five signature nighttime dishes - are put to test on Thursday 19 March. Find the map and descriptions of the kiosk dishes closer to the event at www.streathelsinki.com
"We wish to shake up citizens, entrepreneurs and the City to consider the meaning of night kiosks as a part of our food culture. What works in terms of the current offering, and what might we reconsider now that there is space for new ideas? Above all, we hope that this form of street food reaches its full potential and best quality", Streat Helsinki producer Nina Ruotsalainen explains.
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Streat Helsinki 16–22 March 2015
Streat Helsinki expands into a week-long event, focusing on street food development, supporting the field, exploring possibilities of nighttime food kiosks, and hitting the suburbs.
• SUBURBS 21 February – 14 March
• WORKSHOPS 16–20 March
• NIGHT BITES 19 March
• PARTIES 21 March
• EATS 21–22 March
Streat Helsinki's main organisers are City of Helsinki's Food Culture Strategy, Tori Quarters, and the Abattoir. The main partner is the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, other partners include Visit Finland, City of Helsinki's Public Works Department, Nyt and Eskimo Finland.
