Food from wood - Finnish food products made of wood attracted interest at the International Forest Day Gala at the UN
United Nations' Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) organized various forest related events at the UN in Geneva to celebrate the International Day of Forests on Friday 20 March. Organized every year, the event aims at increasing awareness of the importance of forests to people and the society. This year's event "Forests for Food – Food for Forests" emphasized synergies between the forestry sector and food industry as well as the significance of forests as a source of nutrition.
The all-day event consisted of forest themed seminars, food tastings and an opening ceremony of the forest exhibition "Learning from Forests". The day climaxed with a Forest Gala in which the guests could taste various forest related food products. Finland approached the Gala with a theme "Food from the wood" serving birch sap and spruce sprout drinks, Xylitol chewing gum, pine bark bread and rowan berry jam, all of which gained much positive attention.
In his opening speech at the Gala, Minister-Counsellor Juha Niemi told the audience about the importance of forests to Finland and the Finns. He highlighted Finland’s long standing commitment to manage forests in a sustainable way and to find new, innovative ways to utilize them. In addition to Finland The United States, Russia, Germany, Poland and Switzerland provided their national contributions to the Gala.
The Permanent Mission of Finland wishes to thank its partners:
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry www.mmm.fi(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
Nordic Koivu Ltd www.nordickoivu.com(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
Cloetta www.cloetta.fi(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
Korpihilla KY www.korpihilla.fi(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
Ämmän Leipä Oy www.ammanleipa.fi(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)