Just Vege Helsinki.

This time I want to give you a glimpse of the well-known hipster area of Helsinki called Kallio (meaning ‘rock’ as in the solid ground in the context of geology). Above you can see the tall landmark which is the church of Kallio behind Karhupuisto (the bear park, named after the bear statue I didn’t get a shot of unfortunately).

A view from ‘Piritori‘ (direct translation is ‘the park of speed’ – but don’t let it scare you) next to the Sörnäinen/Sörnäs metro entrance.

For a tourist, I’d definitely recommend taking the metro and exiting in ‘Sörnäinen/Sörnäs‘ and walking towards the Kallio area located between Hämeentie and Helsinginkatu (use your phones or ask anyone).

The pictures below are taken from Vaasankatu which is right next to Helsinginkatu near the ‘Sörnäinen/Sörnäs’ metro entrance.

Veggie junk food restaurant ‘Soi Soi‘ is actually one of the places where I used to hang out with my boyfriend-at-the-time years ago. The food can be delicious (if they get your order right), but this time I had another place close by that I wanted to try out.

I’ve been walking past Just Vege for the longest time without actually checking it out (though I’ve seen many satisfied faces inside) – but now I had even planned it out…

The interiors are pretty small (like basically in every restaurant in the Kallio area) but they do also take-out meals. Especially during the lunch times the place can be packed but it shouldn’t be impossible to get your order through with an app or a phone call.

There’s also a lot of vegan and gluten-free options (for example the falafel!) for those of us with allergies or digestive issues. If you know what I mean.

The red sauces though!

Finally moving on to the actual food part of this post: just out of curiosity I had to have the meze platter. The majority of the components, like the falafel, hummus, salsas and bread, I absolutely adored and the other ones were okay. I mean, in general, everything was absolutely delicious, but when it comes to eating out, I kinda expect the food to taste fancier than the stuff I can prepare at home. Nevertheless, the meze platter is a healthy and tasty option for eating out!

The fries and the dip were SO GOOD.

My friend had the veggie halloumi burger though he wasn’t able to finish it due to the actual meat-likeness of the soy patty! I tasted it myself too, just to confirm you guys that if you’re up for the meaty flavour and texture (without harming the animals or the environment), this one is definitely for you! Overall everything was really tasty, there’s no doubt about it. But if you’re one of us old-school vegetarians who actually still prefer vegetables over fake meats, I’d recommend trying something else inside your hamburger bun. And they do have a lot of options for that as well.

I hope you all have a wonderful day (or night, depending)! Be sure to stay tuned for my upcoming posts since I have a ton of new stories and picks of my favourite town, Porvoo…

Yours,

Miah

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Climate March in Helsinki (part 2).

I know this might be a bit obvious to say but… Welcome to the second part of the climate march post! As I mentioned in part 1, we had quite a big demonstration in Helsinki last month. I mean, 8000-10 000 people in one place a lot in the Finnish scale (in our culture we hate being in contact with others plus there’s only approximately 5,5 million of us anyway).

The Finnish parliament house, again.

Whereas in the last part I focused on giving a more general overview of the vibes, this time I want to give you more detailed glimpses on the emotions and meanings that people wanted to express on that day. So here we go!

The bicyclists’ block gathering their groups before the start of the demonstration.

A lady holding the globe in her arms tightly.

Well, the way things are going really isn’t okay. The climate and ecosystems are rapidly changing everywhere – but are we finally ready to act when it’s already too late and the consequences are overbearingly visible?

‘You fucking cannot be kidding me’. Vittu (as in ‘fuck’) is an essential part of the Finnish vocabulary and very useful in every kind of phrase we use around here.

People marching down the Mannerheiminkatu (meaning that thousands of people completely jammed the transport in the middle of the capital city for a decently long time).

‘Climate action now <3’

Loving the simple but yet straight-forward message!

On the far left: ‘System change, not climate change’. In the middle: ‘Off from the fossil fuel’ with the hashtag ‘now we must’. On the right: ‘Known for 40 years, spoken for 30 years – we must act now!’

A young child with the massive peace sign with the text ‘100% renewable’

‘I love. That’s why I won’t destroy.’

An interesting reference to the feminine ‘Mother Earth’ myth/symbolism.

‘Speeches have been held – time to act’.

‘Remember Paris’ referring to the infamous Paris Agreement in 2015.

‘Financial support for the corporates into history; taxation for the pollution (for real!)’.

Another example of the juxtaposition of femininity/motherhood and planet Earth.

Since many of the current people in power are practically useless in terms of controlling climate change, I (sadly) believe that the future of a better environment is in the hands of the young people who are taking ecological matters way more seriously than the old farts.

Demonstrators standing behind better policies for climate and the environment.

‘Is the current government the biggest safety threat for Finland?! with the hashtags ‘now we must and ‘don’t sleep’. After all, nothing will ever change if people won’t demand the proper action to be done – now.

Yours,

Miah

Climate March in Helsinki.

As I mentioned in my last post yesterday, your favourite blogger is back here with a bunch of new (or old depending on the perspective you’re looking at) material!

The next couple of posts will be all about the big climate march we had in Helsinki last month. The majority of the signs are understandably in Finnish but I’ve tried to come up with as decent translations in English as I am able to. But I’m not a linguist, you know.

The lead banner saying ‘climate action NOW!’. Notice the girl on the right who is wearing a dress that for me is similar of the native Sami people‘s costume. This is a very important aspect to remember since climate warming will effect more severely the Northern areas.

On the left: sign that is urging people to ‘demand action from the government’ with the hashtag ‘climate election’. And on the right: ‘0 fighter planes = will cut the army’s CO2 emissions in half’.

A young boy marching in the crowd with a lady holding a sign with the hashtag ‘now we must’.

The long line of people who are ‘rising with the seas’; bypassing one corner of the famous department store Stockmann. The overconsumption and materialism in our society is indeed one of the pressing matters in my mind, at least.

Quite understandably, many NGO’s took part in this demonstration. As you can see from the black skeleton flags, Sea Shepherd Finland was one of them.

‘The atmosphere is not a landfill’. In the back of the picture you can also see a sign by the World Wide Found For Nature (WWF) demanding for ‘political backbone immediately’.

You can be plant-based for many reasons, climate and the environment being one of them. Adopting (at least for the most part) vegan diet is surely one of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce your emissions.

A view behind the crowd and a map-of-the-world umbrella to the parliament house in Helsinki.

‘Stop the fossil fuel capitalism’. To me, the message looks like something I could carry with me next time. A sign hanging from the back and holding my camera in the front, how about that?

The Finnish ecomodernists were promoting nuclear energy as a carbon-free solution to energy production.

The Finnish Nature League (Luonto-Liitto) with their well-known hedgehog symbol in the back.

Young people taking a stand on the foreign minister Timo Soini’s point of view that climate activism is nonsense and over-reacting that will cause even more harmful ‘hysteria’ than from where it originated from. Sounds like a true Republican, eh?

On the back: a lady with a sign that says ‘now quit the rambling’ and on the front a painting of a polar bear with the word ‘goodbye’ (‘jäähyväiset’). In the Finnish language the word ‘jää‘ (painted in white on the pic) actually means ‘ice’ – which makes sense in the case of the polar bears as well. They are losing their natural habitat with the loss of the melting ice bergs.

Another big organisation prevalent in the demonstration was Amnesty International who reminded that climate change is also a matter of human rights.

Despite of the ecomodernist view, many people were preferring purely renewable energy as a solution to produce energy without adding emissions.

The sign above is actually in Swedish (which is the second official language in Finland); saying that ‘there’s no planet B’ – one of the most common slogans seen in the demo.

Two ladies are asking if ‘the government is running away from the responsibility’ of taking care of its citizens. ‘If not now, when?’ is the time for change?

And last, but definitely not least, one of the cutest members of the crowd!

More pics of the climate march, Porvoo adventures and vegan food in Helsinki coming soon…

Yours,

Miah

Halloween Tea at Pink Lemon.

Okay, it’s unfortunately time for all of us to admit that the October’s Halloween season is over and it’s time to start looking forward to the nightmare before the Christmas holidays. Or do you guys already have your star shaped bracelets and jumpers ready for the New Year’s Eve like I do?

Luckily there’s always memories to recall and inspiration (especially in the form of pictures) to share!

Caramel-flavoured pie with pecans and buckthorn berry panna cotta.

On Halloween Friday 2018 me with a friend of mine went to a small local confectionery in Lohja, Finland, called Pink Lemon.

Rye bread with faux-fish topping and cucumber club sandwich.

They offered a Halloween themed evening tea menu with cakes, pastries and club sandwiches. Vegan and gluten-free options were also available though the owner told us that actually approximately half of the menu was vegan for everyone anyway!

Vegan marshmallow and macaron.

If you’re living in Southern Finland and looking for a place where to order gluten-free/raw/vegan cakes, I’d definitely recommend Pink Lemon! My English-speaking readers can check their Instagram page filled with the most spectacular creations I’ve ever been able to see in person!

I am ending this post with a pic of the witchiest chocolate cake and a promise of more content coming up soon…

Yours,

Miah

The Old Hardware Shop.

Today I happened to flaneur around the village of Woolton in Liverpool.

After visiting a couple of charity shops, I decided that it’s about time to visit one of my favourite cafes in UK.

The Old Hardware Shop has served a vegetarian menu since 2014 – and lately gone completely vegan!

Notice the cockerel shakers.

The place is painted dark blue with cute animal-themed decorative items on the tables and on the walls. Also, each table has different kind of salt and pepper shakers.

Unicorn and rainbow shakers.

The Old Hardware Shop isn’t just a place for the cool kids to hang around after high school; each time I’ve visited the place, it has been full of happy customers from all ages and walks of life. I personally find particularly cute that many seniors seem to have found the cosy and affordable cafe as well as the younger veggie enthusiasts.

Little doggie shakers here.

As a somewhat fish-fanatic I had to try the faux tuna toastie with melted vegan cheese inside. Since we arrived about an hour before the closing time, they unfortunately had run out of coleslaw (millennial tragedy right there…) but I got a serving of crisps instead. How very British indeed!

My friend had a chilli hot dog with vegan mayo and kidney beans. The waiter was kind enough to ask if everything was alright and if we wanted to have a glass of water with it. Luckily it wasn’t too hot, even for me!

Finished the meal with two (soy-based) milkshakes – banana on the left and chocolate peanut butter one on the right.

I know what you must be thinking – ew, it’s all vegan…

Yours,

Miah