Pepparkakor
On the weekend we went to three different Christmas fairs (plus one other food fair) in one day – and came back with a whole haul of sweets, treats, and other delicious edibles.
We’d gone to the Finnish fair at the Finnish Church in London two years ago, so we knew exactly what we wanted to buy: licorice! We got a fair amount of that, including some licorice-filled chocolate (surprisingly tasty). We also got some other great items, which I loved even more for their packaging than for the taste novelty. European packaging is always so funny! I guess someone looking at a squeeze bottle of Aunt Jemima might think it was pretty weird too, but I think the teddy bear with the cast on his leg and the sling on his arm on this package of ginger cookies takes the cake. I also loved the wholesome-looking country girl on our instant porridge box.
Elovena instant porridge
After purchasing our items we went across the street to where they’d set up a sausage grill, and ate some pretty good, very large hot-dog type sausages with lingonberry sauce. When we came out the queue for the Finnish fair was even longer than it had been when we’d arrived. It’s extremely popular – I had no idea there were so many people from Finland or of Finnish descent in London. Everyone there seemed to be speaking Finnish.
We had a good time at the Norwegian bazaar at the church down the street from there, too. We’d already filled our backpacks with purchases but we managed to cram in a few more chocolate bars, including Kvikk Lunsj, a KitKat-type confection. The ladies in the church were wearing beautiful hand-embroidered traditional clothing. For the second time during the day, I wished I’d brought a camera (the first time was for when a person in a Moomin costume came by the checkout line in the Finnish church. His costume had no holes for eyes so someone had to be leading him by the hand the whole time!)
By the time we got to the German Christmas fair from Cologne at the South Bank, we were all so tired and full from eating so many treats that we just couldn’t force ourselves to get any of the edibles. We just walked around and looked at the Christmas decorations and other German handicrafts on offer.
We did manage to eat a pork sandwich and a few other savouries at the Slow Food fair, which was also going on at South Bank. The Slow Food market is something I love going to for its organic delicacies. They had a special tent for exhibitors from Romania this time, with lovely rugs and some nice jam.
Four food fairs in one day is too much, though, even for me. There’s a smorgasbord of candy on our couch and I don’t know where I’m going to put it all!
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