Eat & Joy

An invitation to Eat&Joy 2008,

Welcome to our celebration of Helsinki’s vibrant restaurant and bar culture, running from 18 to 30 September 2008.
Now in its fourth year, Eat&Joy highlights the city as an attractive and affordable destination for food lovers.
Helsinki’s transformation into an international capital of cuisine is relatively recent, so organisers are delighted that leading journalists and opinion-makers from Finland and across the world will attend the event.
More than just a food festival Eat&Joy also gives visiting journalists an opportunity to experience contemporary music, fashion, design, and art in one of the most creative centres in northern Europe.
The first Eat&Joy was held in September 2005 since when it has hosted more than 400 journalists and established an estimated 250 million media contacts.
The event is promoted by leading trade magazine Viisi Tähteä (Five Stars) on behalf of Finland’s restaurant industry. The magazine is grateful to a range of Finnish organisations, both private and public, for the funding and support which makes Eat&Joy possible.
Highlights

Eat&Joy 2008 will be a truly international media event for both Helsinki and Finland.

1.    Eat&Joy on the web: www.eatandjoy.com
-    This English-language site tells people what’s on in Helsinki;
-    15 channels covering the city’s restaurants, food, drink, design, fashion, music, art, well-being, media, and more;
-    100 restaurants have joined forces to show what Helsinki has to offer;
-    50 designers, artists, fashion designers, graphic designers, DJs, photographers and other creative’s have contributed their take on the Finnish capital.

2.    Tasting Eat&Joy
-    The Eat&Joy Poro* Project looks at how top restaurants in Helsinki use Poro as an ingredient, and offer special Poro menus;
-    The Eat&Joy Poro Festival runs from 18-30 September;
-    Eat&Joy Bread showcases Helsinki as one of the world’s best cities for small bakeries and specialist restaurants that pride themselves on local breads;
-    Eat&Joy offers option for most interested Poro journalists to travel to Lapland.
*Poro (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) is native expression for Nordic wild reindeer

3.    Eat&Joy New Nordic Kitchen Meeting in Helsinki
-    Meeting for leading Nordic Chefs, Finnish local producers and international journalists.
-    Presenting Finland as treasure chest of Nordic ingredients
-    Finnish Small producers highlight their products
-    The Best of Finland –project is launching first Café / Mini Market at the Helsinki Airport

4.    Eat&Joy goes to St. Petersburg and Tallinn September 2008
-    In cooperation with the restaurateurs of St Petersburg (Russia) and Tallinn (Estonia), Eat&Joy is running media trips to both cities to spread the word about the interesting concepts of local restaurants;
-    Eat&Joy Tallinn trips are planned for September 2008;
-    Eat&Joy St Petersburg is scheduled also for September 2008;
-    Eat&Joy hopes that Helsinki, Tallinn, and St Petersburg will come to be seen as an engaging Nordic triangle for visitors and food enthusiasts, all within easy travelling distance of each other – Helsinki occupying the position of culinary gateway.

5.    Eat&Joy Berlin 3rd – 8th of April 2008
-    The Best of Finland –breakfast at Restaurant Facil, Hotel Mandala Premiere 3rd of April 10.00 am
-    Poro Heart Sashimi at Restaurant Shiro I Shiro
-    Presentation of Finnish Creative`s at Eat&Joy events (Eat&Joy Team: Paola Suhonen, Harri Koskinen, Markus Maulavirta, Dj Slow, Jani Leinonen)

Eat&Joy is run by Uni One Oy. For more information on any aspect of the event, or the trips to St Petersburg, Tallinn or Berlin contact aki.arjola@unione.cc .