Crisp
bread, doughnuts, flummery, pea soup and pancake ... all Finnish conscripts
remember these for decades after their military service. Perhaps the most
traditional fare of all is crisp bread, which has gained many nicknames through
the years. What was known as ‘plywood’ during the war really has nothing to do
with today’s crisp bread, but the familiar name remains and is passed on from
one generation to the next.
The significance of crisp bread in
the army was also apparent in the ‘crisp bread wars’ of a few years back; most
Finns will remember the furore that arose when, for a year, the Swedes were
permitted to supply crisp bread to the Finnish Army. New to EU trade, Finland
followed the directives to the letter, and the low prices quoted by Swedish
producers took Finnish suppliers by surprise. As a consolation we can note,
however, that with the exception of that one year, the Finnish Defence Forces
have only ever eaten Finnish crisp bread.
Eighty thousand meals a day
The Finnish Defence Forces serve
seventeen million meals a year, produced at twenty-six provisioning centres.
This means annual purchases of foodstuffs totalling some EUR 20 million, which
feeds not only 27,000 conscripts but also 8,400 professional soldiers and 8,000
civilians a year.
Conscripts need an intake of
12.6-16.8 MJ of energy through their daily rations, which include an average of
300 g of grain products. Most (two thirds) of the grains consumed in the army
are in the form of bread. ‘Up until the 1990s the only bread served in the army
was crisp bread. Soft bread was available only under doctor’s orders for people
who could not consume crisp bread due to weak teeth or other health factors,’
recalls Liisa Gröndahl, Chief Inspector of the Defence Forces’
provisioning services.
‘These days our bread selection is
rather more varied: crisp bread is always offered alongside fresh bread, rolls
or pastries at breakfast and supper. Fresh bread is almost always served with
lunch and dinner. We especially favour wholegrain bread thanks to its fibre
content, and we often try different varieties,’ Gröndahl reports.
The appearance of fresh bread
alongside crisp bread is reflected also in crisp bread consumption figures.
Naturally, the peak consumption levels of the war have never been matched in
peacetime; in wartime each soldier’s rations included half a kilogram of dry
rye bread, which, compounded by 300,000-strong troops, meant a colossal 150
tons per day. Finland’s bakeries worked around the clock to fulfil the needs of
the army. ‘In post-war times, up to 700,000 kilograms of crisp bread were
supplied to the army in the peak years. Since then, the quantity has settled at
around 120,000 kilograms per year,’ says Key Account Manager Jukka Laurila
from Vaasan & Vaasan Oy.
Long-lasting ‘commando bread’
Multiple rumours and beliefs have
been associated with the army’s beloved crisp bread. The long expiration dates
of the product have led people to conjecture that for several years conscripts
have been eating ancient crisp bread from enormous stocks acquired years ago by
the army. Many also maintain that the special requirements regarding the
production of crisp bread in wartime are still adhered to. Jukka Laurila
refutes these claims: ‘During the time of centralised purchases for the army,
someone apparently got the impression that huge amounts of crisp bread are
stored for years and years, although in truth crisp bread only lasts for one
year.’
Nowadays the Defence Forces do not
make centralised purchases of any foodstuffs. Each unit orders its own crisp
bread from wholesalers, and can do this weekly if desired. There is one
exception, however: commando bread for commando troops. ‘Commando bread
packages, wrapped in aluminium, contain 90 grams of VAASAN Voima crisp bread
and last for up to four years,’ explains Jukka Laurila from Vaasan & Vaasan
Oy. Commando bread is ordered centrally by the army; this year, Vaasan &
Vaasan will send a total of 135,000 packages to the Quartermaster Depot in
Hämeenlinna.
For conscripts and prisoners only?
Gone are the wartime days when
soldiers had to eat 1cm-thick ‘plywood’; these days the crisp bread served in
the army is exactly the same as that which any Finnish consumer can pick up on
supermarket shelves. In addition to VAASAN Koulunäkki, familiar to most
conscripts from their schooldays, VAASAN Voima is now served. Both types of
crisp bread are produced at Vaasan & Vaasan Oy’s Kotka facility. Regiments
are obviously welcome to order other brands as well, but these two are by far
the most popular. The slogan ‘For conscripts and prisoners only’, used on
packaging in times past, arose from the idea of centralised purchases, not from
the quality of the bread – though it did become the butt of many a joker’s wit.
Continued crisp bread tradition
Finnish conscripts of the future
will continue to munch on crisp bread, just like their predecessors, promises
Liisa Gröndahl, Chief Inspector of the Defence Forces’ provisioning services:
‘Bread is important for the army’s catering services as a source of energy,
iron and fibre.’ Bread, especially crisp bread, is an essential element of everyday
meals in the messroom, but also out in the field and in battle ration packages,
thanks to its light weight and long expiration dates. With all due credit to
its flavour too, of course! ‘It is easier to get fed up with other, less varied
types of bread than with crisp bread, as it ranges from wholegrain, bran-based
varieties to lighter, crisper types,’ Gröndahl goes on to explain.
Further information on wartime crisp bread:
The legendary ‘plywood’ served
during the war was produced in accordance with the following directions
provided by the Ministry of Defence on 13 October 1939:
- The baked bread must be dry, sour rye bread. The bread and the ingredients
used in baking it must fulfil the following requirements: …
- The bread must not be too sour.
- The bread must be square in shape, as close as possible to, and a maximum of,
25*25 cm in size.
- The weight of the squares should be as even as possible, at around 200 g.
- The bread must be scored deeply enough to be easy to break into even pieces.
Each square must be divided into eight parts.
- The dough must be pierced with enough holes that it becomes airy when baked.
The bread must be baked for long enough, until it is a suitable shade of brown.
The bread must not be floury on the surface; any excess flour must be dusted
off before packaging.
- The moisture content in the bread must be approx. 7-8 % when packaged.
Further information
Vaasan & Vaasan Oy
Jukka Laurila, Key Account Manager tel. +358 400 585618
Kirsti Kehusmaa, Director, Corporate Communications and Human Resources tel.
+358 405 068742
The
Vaasan & Vaasan Group is the largest bakery business in Finland and the
Baltic region, one of the main crisp bread producers in the world and a
significant Nordic producer of bake-off products. Some of the best-known Vaasan
& Vaasan products are the Finnish favourites VAASAN RUISPALAT rye bites,
VAASAN KOULUNÄKKI crisp bread and VAASAN KOTIUUNIN bake-off products. The
Vaasan & Vaasan Group’s subsidiaries are Vaasan & Vaasan Oy in Finland,
AS Leibur in Estonia, A/S Hanzas Maiznicas in Latvia, UAB Vilniaus Duona Plius
in Lithuania and Delice Scandinavica AB in Sweden. In 2003, the group had a
turnover of EUR 275 million and employed approximately 3,900 people.
www.vaasan.com
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