Popular Christmas buffets are tried to be renewed every year, but traditional favorite dishes cannot be left out of the table setting.
Many appreciate the familiar favorite flavors of the Christmas table year after year. Polina Niemi
The shipping company Eckerö Line, which operates between Helsinki and its southern neighbor Tallinn, has omitted a few traditional Finnish Christmas dishes from its Christmas buffet: lye fish and rosolli.
– The more traditional rosollis have now been left out of the salad table and replaced by other salads. In addition, this year, the brine fish was left out, because it just didn’t have enough sales. The temptation of Jansson, familiar from the Swedish Christmas table, is also not found in Eckerö’s Christmas buffet, the chef of the M/S Finlandia ship opens changes Kim Sandell.
In Eckerö Line’s 2025 Christmas buffet, you will find a rich and versatile dessert spread. Polina Niemi
In the ships’ Christmas buffets, you want to be able to enjoy traditional Christmas dishes, but there is an interest in experimenting with newer flavor combinations. That’s why the menus are renewed every year. Polina Niemi
The ship also tells us that vegan food is no longer so hugely popular.
– The trend of a vegan diet has clearly declined compared to a few years ago, when more people were asking about it. Instead, more attention is currently being paid to choosing lighter meat such as chicken and fish. Of course, there are still many fans of traditional meat such as pepper steak and roast beef, says the ship’s caterer Christina Strom.
The novelty of Viking Line’s Christmas table this year is a tapas-style selection, which includes various cold meats. Polina Niemi
We compared the rich Christmas buffets of three cruise lines sailing in the Baltic Sea, where we found both traditional and more experimental Christmas table settings suitable for different tastes.
The Christmas buffets of all three shipping companies have conveniently sized, small tasting portions. Viking Line’s Christmas buffet this year includes, among other things, game jerky and lye fish dishes. Polina Niemi
Ready, small tasting portions also trended for all three. They were seen in both cold and warm dishes in the appetizer, main course and dessert menus of the buffet. The chefs on the ships say that this has also reduced the amount of food waste: however, the customers get to taste carefully prepared dishes, which can then be taken again several times if they wish.
– Food waste decreases year by year in buffets on ships. Since the bio-waste is weighed, we can clearly see that the numbers have decreased. Customers are also paying more attention to this themselves, says the ship’s head chef Katja Tähtinen.
Efforts are made to reduce food waste in many different ways in the restaurants of shipping companies. Polina Niemi
Story edited on 2.12. at 18:28: Corrected in the caption that the tapas-style selection comes from Viking Line’s Christmas table, not Silja Line’s.