The National Fish Soup Day was held on February 13th. The theme day was to highlight the health benefits of including fish to your diet and to encourage the whole country to eat fish soup. Manifesto designed and implemented a themed day for Pro Kala ry (The Pro Fish Association).
‘’Fish for good decisions’’ (‘’Kalaa hyviin päätöksiin’’) was chosen as the theme for the first ever National Fish Soup Day. In accordance with the theme, the theme day began at the Finnish Parliament House, the very peak of decision making in the country. The theme was based on the health benefits of including fish in your diet. Fish can be called the superfood of the brain because its high on healthy fish oil and vitamins. This is why healthy fish should be involved in everyday decision making.
‘’The theme also served as a reminder that parliament needs to make good decisions in order to ensure the availability of Finnish fish in the future. Important decisions are expected, especially when it comes to clarifying the aquaculture licensing policies and pests that complicates coastal fishing,’’ says Katriina Partanen from Pro Kala ry.
At the Finnish Parliament, members of Parliament’s plates were filled with perch soup made especially for the themed day. The Parliament’s second deputy speaker and restaurant committee chair, MP Arto Satonen acted as patron for the day.
‘’It was great to have the Parliament included to show an example and raise the issue. According to Arto Satonen, there has been an order for a fish themed day,’’ says Ilari Marzano, Manifesto’s Director of Public Affairs
The whole nation’s Fish Soup Day
The National Fish Soup Day will be organized annually on the second Tuesday of February. The topic was widely highlighted in the national and social media especially. Members of Parliament, social media influencers in the food community and restaurants were also responsible for forwarding on the message of the themed day.
‘’The aim of the first National Fish Soup Day was to modestly encourage all of Finland to eat fish soup.’’
‘’We started to build the concept by thinking how we could highlight the importance of Finnish fish and fish meals through positivity. The phenomenon is easier to build around a topic that raises positive feelings. The idea of a fish soup day based on these ideas as fish soup has retained its position as one of the favourite foods of Finns over the years,’’ says Manifesto’s Communications Consultant, Mari Saari.
‘’The aim of the first National Fish Soup Day was to modestly encourage all of Finland to eat fish soup. Clearly, the topic also appealed to the Finns, as the theme day was widely mentioned in, for example, local and social media.’’ It is a good base for the tradition of the National Fish Soup Day and to inspire Finns to eat fish in the future as well,’’ Saari continues.
Picture: Pro Kala ry