Spent grain crackers and bread rolls with weeds – Local Food Stall with changing selection opens

From 9 September onwards, the Local Food Stall will offer first access to new and emerging food innovations. In addition to more traditional local foods, the autumn selection will include exciting delicacies such as meadowsweet ice cream, bread rolls with weeds and crackers made from brewer’s spent grain, a by-product of beer production. 

Selection changes every three weeks

The stall will diversify the market hall’s offering, provide more local food and support small businesses. It will allow small producers and other food entrepreneurs to try out short-term market hall entrepreneurship and see how their products sell. The maximum duration of the sales periods is three weeks. Many of the entrepreneurs sell their products at the stall for two weeks. 

“One-sided production structures, long global food chains and concentrated retail trade do not favour small and local operators. The stall’s products travel a short distance from the field to the table,” says Project Manager Roosa Halonen from Forum Virium Helsinki.

During the autumn, the stall offers a chance to learn about responsible food cooperatives, share food memories or buy both brand new food innovations and traditional food products from small farms, such as runny honey or dark comb honey produced locally in Espoo. 

The stall’s first products are fresh shoot juices, fresh tofu made in Malmi and artisan salsas.

Visit the Local Food Stall web page to see what is on offer at any given time. In addition to this, updates on the pilot will be posted throughout the autumn on the Hakaniemi Market Hall website (in Finnish) and on Instagram @hakaniemen_kauppahalli.

Opening on the national Local Food Day

The stall will open its doors to the public on the national Local Food Day 9 September at 10am. The opening of the stall is an opportunity to taste, smell, try and experience local foods. The programme will also include identification of grain varieties and a raffle. 

The stall will be open from September until the end of the year.

The pilot is part of the Urban&Local – Future Food Ecosystem project to develop responsible and innovative food solutions and practices. The project is coordinated by Forum Virium Helsinki, and the project partners are Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Perho Culinary, Tourism & Business College and the City of Vantaa. The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The pilot is being carried out in cooperation with Helsingin kaupunkitilat Oy.