Market Square · Harbor Snack

Muikku (Fried Vendace)

📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

Vendace are fried and eaten whole, heads, bones and all, and in eastern Finland's lake towns a plate of fried muikku is the classic summer market lunch.

Whole vendace, a small freshwater whitefish, dredged in rye flour and pan-fried until crisp, then scooped into a paper tray or cone and eaten by hand — a staple of summer market squares in lakeside towns like Savonlinna and Kuopio, and of Helsinki's Kauppatori, usually with a garlicky mayo dip.

Why it's made this way: Vendace has been fished from Finland's lakes for generations, and frying them whole, bones included, was the fastest, cheapest way for market vendors to turn the day's catch into a hot snack.