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Finland not included?
Let me tell you the recipe for the Finnish national dish: Karelian stew.
Cubes of meat. Beef, pork, lamb. Put them in water. Add salt, (but like less than you'd actually need.)
Chuck it in the oven for hours.
Done.
No pepper. No vegetables. Nothing. Cubes of meat and salt.
God I hate Finland. There's great parts and definitely easymode compared to a lot of places, but there's problems as well. A lot, actually. Just very different.
Karelian stew is simple peasant food, easy to make but fulfilling. It's that but also delicious. It's not supposed to go toe-to-toe with the whole culinary world.
"Delicious"?
My fucking god.
I'd like to see Gordon Ramsay reacting to people saying that cubes of meat in lightly salted water are "delicious."
The self-deluding is insane.
I mean, there are modern versions which actually add spices and vegetables, and then it is good, but that isn't "traditional" per se.
I mean I like the taste of meat so I really like it
Just... plain, unpeppered meat?
Whatever floats your goat, man.
What makes you feel like pepper is such an incredible and necessary ingredient?
If the meat is good, it'll be good with or without pepper.
Overall I feel like boiling is in general ignorantly ridiculed far too much by modern cooking culture, especially famous restaurant chefs. Stews are usually easily better than the average "home chef's" steak attempt #62.
It's no the lack of pepper. It's the lack of everything.
What makes you think boiled undersalted meat cubes are a meal?
Good meat doesn't need anything else than salt imo. But usually Karelian stew has pepper and other stuff in it too.
Traditional Karelian Stew only says salt in the recipe, though.
Some do, some don't. It's not a set in stone thing afaik. Some old recipes are simpler than others. These days mostly always it's more than just meat(s), water, salt.
But like... you definitely see my point here.
Our national dish is boiled, lightly salted meat.
That's shit.
When have you ever heard of anyone discussing "Finnish cuisine"? When have you ever heard of there being a Finnish restaurant somewhere outside of Finland? I'm sure a couple exist, but most are probably "Nordic" and I'll genuinely be surprised if you find one that's a "traditional Finnish food" restaurant in another country.
I mean it's peasant food. Simple, fulfilling and imo pretty good for what it is. Karelian stew being a good example, though I've never actually had it as plain as you described.
Traditional Finnish cuisine isn't anything fancy but it's not really supposed to be either. And I don't mind, I like it.
I dunno, long-drink is a pretty solid beverage. Cheaper in Estonia tho.
There are good things, yeah.
But lately, for me, the problems have become too much to bear living here.
The emotional coldness is not exaggerated.