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Vesijärvi fish patties featured on school and daycare menus for Finnish Food Day

To celebrate Finnish Food Day on Thursday, September 4th, schools and daycares across Lahti will serve a special new dish: fish patties made from fish sustainably harvested from Lake Vesijärvi through local stock management efforts.
Kuvaaja: Lassi Häkkinen / Lahden kaupunki

This marks the first time children and young people throughout Lahti will have the opportunity to enjoy the Vesijärvi fish patty.

Arja Kyyrö, Head of Food Services at the Laune Multipurpose Center, is proud of the initiative:

– I’m delighted we can offer children a tasty, locally sourced treat.

Päijät-Häme Meal Services is keen to hear what students think of the new dish. Feedback can be shared directly with school kitchens during the day.

– Feedback helps us refine the recipe and supports the continued use of local fish in everyday meals, says Jukka Turta, Product Development Manager at Päijät-Häme Meal Services.

According to nutritional guidelines, it’s recommended to eat 300–450 grams of fish per week. Including a variety of fish species adds diversity to the diet, and locally caught lake fish is also a sustainable choice.

The Vesijärvi fish patty day is part of a pilot project under the URBACT-funded One Health 4 Cities initiative, which promotes planetary health in Lahti through hands-on experiments.