You're unlikely to encounter New Nordic cuisine at church events in New York. The annual Finnish Christmas Fair offered no exceptions; over the years the traditional menu has changed very little, a state of affairs that the church-goers seem to endorse.
Shown: riisipuuro, rice porridge with plum-raisin sauce (lingonberry was the other option); open-faced sandwiches (the most recent assortment looked less dashing than these, which made their appearance several holiday seasons ago); and a karjalanpiirakka (Kar-ee-ah-lahn-pee-Rok-kah). This last is a savory pastry, baked by Northern Rye, that girds a filling of rice, butter, egg, and milk in a supple rye-and-wheat crust. Sampled as is — in the fair's upstairs bazaar, where packaged sweets competed for table space with holiday trinkets — it was unenticing. Preferably a karjalanpiirakka is eaten hot, with butter; ideally the butter is combined with hardboiled egg, a mixture that Finns and their Estonian neighbors know as munavoi. There's a reason for the wide brim of the crust.
Shown at bottom: the Christmas Fair banner, also little changed with the years.
Finnish Christmas Fair
St. John's Lutheran Church, 83 Christopher St. (Bleecker St.-Seventh Ave.), Manhattan
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(The 2013 fair was held on December 7)
