A traditional treat and culinary treasure from Kuopio

Kuopio is a town renowned for its local traditional bakery product, kalakukko. Kalakukko has its roots deep in the Finnish primary production. In Eastern Finland, rye bread was baked and filled with fish to serve as a portable lunch for people working outdoors in the fields and forests. The rye was homegrown and the fish came from local waters.

The rye bread crust was filled with several layers of vendace or perch, with a layer of fatty pork laid uppermost. Kalakukko must be baked for many hours in the oven, to produce a rye crush that keeps the fish and meat fresh, even during the warm summer periods. Today, kalakukko is a much-appreciated organic local food.

The first kalakukko entrepreneur was Hanna Partanen who moved from her home farm to Kuopio in the 1920s to work as a baker. Hanna Partanen’s Kalakukko Bakery still makes kalakukko by hand. The family business continues to operate from its original bakery building. In addition to kalakukko made from vendace or perch, the bakery produces rice pies, meat pies and jam doughnuts.

You can buy our products at the Kuopio market square, and in our bakery shop at Kasarmikatu 15.