“Sales peak every time the holidays start”

The airport food cup shows how the sale of rye bread increases during the holidays. Eevi Karvinen

Rye bread is still a favorite of Finns. Rye is part of Finnish food culture, so Finns eat rye the most in the world.

According to a survey commissioned by Fazer, four out of five Finns eat rye bread at least weekly. In one third, rye bread is included in the daily diet.

By far the most important reason to eat rye bread is its good taste; 80% of Finns share this opinion. Important selection criteria for eating rye bread are also its healthfulness (69%) and the fact that rye bread is a good source of fiber (63%).

Based on the answers, the popularity of rye bread shows no signs of abating, rather the opposite. Every fourth of those who responded to the survey estimated that they eat rye bread slightly more or even clearly more than a year ago.

It is not just an imagination that a Finn abroad longs for rye bread. Rye bread is often one of the first things to buy when you arrive at the home store.

Many people hoard it as a snack when traveling or take it as a snack to people living abroad. This can be seen concretely at Helsinki-Vantaa airport, where Finland’s largest Alepa is located, says Vaasan’s press release.

– We have a sales spike in rye bread every time the holidays start and Finns go on trips. Another particularly lively moment is when you return from abroad and buy rye pods from the field right after the flight lands. Ruisleivä’s sales are especially lively around the Christmas holidays, skiing holidays, Easter holidays, Epiphany, summer holidays, autumn holidays and practically any weekend, says Alepa Airport’s store manager Mirkka Vesa in the bulletin.

The most popular product category of Suomikauppa.fi, which delivers Finnish products to the world, is rye bread.

– Ruispalat is our best-selling single product. Every week, we send hundreds of packages of rye bread to the world, and it is especially lively during the Finnish holidays, says Suomikauppa.fi Laura Aho in the bulletin.

According to a study commissioned by Fazer, rye bread is part of both the breakfast and dinner table in Finland. Rye bread is chosen by every second Finn as a snack and by every third as a dinner. The research also revealed that Finns prefer to put cheese, cold cuts and cucumber on top of their rye bread.

Every other respondent said that rye bread brings back memories. A large part of the memories are related to childhood and homely, warm moments.