Finland,  Food

5 Plant based Finnish brands to try

If you’re in Finland or planning to visit in future, let me tell you about the plant-based products scene here. The availability of plant-based alternatives in grocery stores has increased exponentially in the last 4 – 5 years. Hmm, around the same time I moved to Finland – a nice coincidence. Now we have so many different brands selling plant based products, it’s hard to choose. In this post, I focus only on plant based Finnish brands and our top picks:

1- Gold&Green

Gold&Green foods started out in Helsinki and is now known for the revolutionary plant protein made from Nordic oats and legumes. Our favourites are the Delikaura – readymade oat bits, so tasty and can be used in almost any main dish! Wraps, subs, tacos, salads, soups, on pizza etc. They come in 3 flavours (chili-ginger, smoked bbq, mushroom truffle). Just need to heat ’em up!

The main product is pulled- oats. This is like something I had never had before, I don’t buy it often but it does go well in pasta, for example. Another product of theirs I truly loved were the pulled oat balls. Sadly, I don’t see them in store anymore.

Did I mention high in protein?

Unfortunately, in 2022, the company was sold to Finnish dairy company Valio – so we are not sure about the future of these products. I suggest another good local brand – Tasty Choice. They make really good ‘meatballs’ and plant-based burgers. The products can be found in the vegan section in several big supermarkets.

vegan finland
Tasty Choice Finland.

2- Vöner

Award winning Finnish product – also a junk food vegan favourite! You will most likely find this seitan based product to eat with pizzas and other fast-food. Vöner is available in most big grocery stores in Finland. We love the curry slices and use it to make a quick stir-fry or wok meal now and then. They have some different versions of this and also a new ‘crushed’ version. Other products include Ranch sauce and Mayo. All their products are vegan.

Readymade Vöner sandwiches are also found in some stores and these are super good – I wish they were more widely available. Vöner is made out of wheat protein and is literally full of protein. Do people still think plant-based food doesn’t have enough protein? Check out the next one too.

3- Beanit – Härkis

Another revolutionary plant protein from Finland, which comes from local fava beans [Härkäpapu in Finnish]. Härkis is the name of the products made out of processed fava beans and they most often also contain pea protein. The main product – Beanit chunks are very meaty and dense and extremely high in protein. Available in a couple of flavours. I rarely buy these but sometimes it’s a good addition to meals. Another good product was the Härkis rouheseos, a dry version of it.

Recipes (in Finnish) HERE.

4- Friendly Vikings

This is a new brand that I’m starting to love. Some of their products like the Mango and Vanilla Greek style O’gurt are so good, I have to tell you about them. First of all, love the brand name. They are the Friendly Vikings, not the savage ones and they make delicious plant-based yoghurt and beverages from Nordic oats. Pretty good oat lattes. The oat yoghurt come in small containers and make a good snack – they are super smooth, creamy and consistent!

5- Planti

Sweden has Oatly but Finland has Planti! And Yosa.. and Aito (both sub-brands of Fazer). Couldn’t decide which one should take the 5th place on this list because I think all their products are good. Personally, I buy Planti products the most. These brands make alternatives to dairy products – including milks, yoghurt, cooking cream and various oat snacks. All made from local Nordic oats. Oats are life!

I used Planti oat milks and creams also before I was actually vegan, they have a neutral taste and are affordable products. I liked the Planti Oat latte too. The cooking creams come in nice different flavours. Oh, and the mango Soy-gurt is delicious!

Aito oatmilks have a strong oaty taste and many cafes serve it with coffee. Yosa products include a variety of fruity oat-yoghurts which are good for morning breakfast bowls. Yosa also makes the popular Oat blocks ‘kaurapalat’ – used as an alterative to tofu or cheese, which are currently out of stock in stores, due to a development break. We are waiting..

Plant-based Finnish brands

These are our picks of some of the best plant based Finnish products. Which ones are your favourites? Which ones would you add to this list? Leave comments!

Note that all the products here are vegan. ‘Plant-based’ and ‘vegan’ terms are used interchangeably in this case. Often, it is confusing with all the labels on products but something that is 100% plants is vegan, of course. In Finland, there are many terms as I list below – look out for these when grocery shopping:

  • Vegaaninen – Vegan.
  • Vege – another label that just means ‘veggie’ and most products with this term should be vegan.
  • 100% kasviperäinen – this means the product is 100% of plant origin and is vegan.
  • Kasvis – means vegetable or vegetarian and thus might include milk or even egg.. silly and confusing term, so check the ingredients for bold terms.
  • Maidoton – dairy free.
  • Sopii vegaaneille – suitable for vegans

PS. I review a lot of products individually on Abillion, a free vegan food and product review app that also raises money for donation. Check it out and sign up with our referral VEGANHAVEN. More info on Resources page. If you’re already there, find me @veganhaven!

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