Tyneside visit leads to Finland’s first leek show
Oct 14 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal
THE leek show poster in a Tyneside pub was a puzzler for Finnish visitor Joppe Ranta.
Eventually he learned about the North East tradition and during an internet search back in Finland he came across North Tyneside Council’s annual horticulture show.
So Joppe, 45, contacted organisers for advice on how to host his very own show.
The result was Finland’s first leek show, with an added class for carrots, in Vantaa – the fourth most populated city in Finland and the birthplace of racing driver Mika Häkkinen.
Father-of-two Joppe said: “The North East is definitely my favourite area of Britain and I have been several times.
“During one visit, I was sitting in a pub and was shocked to see a sign that read ‘Leek Champions’.
“I questioned whether I had translated the poster correctly, as I thought the word couldn’t have had the same meaning as the vegetable. But I discovered it was.
“It was funny because in Finland we have no contests like this. We use leeks only in soups, and even these days it’s unpopular as it’s seen as fairly boring.”
The Finnish show leeks were well behind their North East counterparts – but it is early days.
“Because we have such a short summer in Finland, we cannot grow them to the size that they are in Britain, but we gave it our best efforts,” said Joppe.
