What Do Children Actually Eat in Lapland? A Parent's Guide to Mealtimes

Of all the questions parents ask us before a Lapland holiday, the quietest one is usually about food. Not the huskies, not the temperatures: what, exactly, is a five year old who currently accepts about six foods going to eat for four days above the Arctic Circle?

It is a fair question. You are a three hour flight from home, dinner is in the hands of a kitchen you have never met, and the nearest supermarket is not on the itinerary. So here is an honest tour of how mealtimes actually work on a Lapland Famille holiday, which Finnish dishes children tend to make friends with, and what to do if yours is a committed beige-food specialist.

How meals work on a full board holiday

Every Lapland Famille break is full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner are included on every day of your stay, for every member of the family. Because you stay at one resort for the whole trip, meals come from one kitchen that gets to know your family, rather than a different restaurant every night, and there is a children's menu at every meal, with familiar favourites served alongside Finnish home cooking.

That structure matters more than any individual dish. Nobody is trawling a frozen village at 5pm looking for somewhere that will seat a tired toddler; you come in from the snow, hang up the thermal suits, and dinner happens. On a trip where the days are full of firsts, mealtimes staying predictable is half the battle won.

Which Finnish dishes do children actually like?

Finnish home cooking is, happily, quite child shaped. It leans mild, warm and comforting rather than spicy or complicated. Dishes children tend to take to without negotiation include:

• Creamy salmon soup (lohikeitto) - gentle and warming, and often the surprise hit with children who claim not to like fish.
• Meatballs and mash - the Nordic classic that needs no introduction to anyone who has ever eaten in a certain flat-pack furniture shop.
• Finnish pancakes with berry jam - thin, sweet and dangerously moreish; lingonberry jam gets spooned onto almost everything.
• Rye bread - darker and denser than bread at home. Some children love it instantly, others treat it with suspicion for a day and then convert.
• Cinnamon buns (korvapuusti) - the afternoon treat you will find yourself trying to recreate at home in January.

And running through all of it: warm berry juice. You will meet it soon after arriving at Torassieppi, it reappears around the fire on activity breaks, and by day two most children have decided it is the official drink of Lapland. It does the job hot chocolate does at home, with slightly less sugar-fuelled chaos.

The reindeer question

One thing worth knowing in advance: reindeer is a normal part of Lapland's food culture, and you may well see it on menus during your stay. For some children, meeting the reindeer in the morning and spotting reindeer on the evening menu raises an obvious and urgent question.

Our advice is simple: nobody has to try anything. There are familiar alternatives at every meal, and how you handle the conversation is entirely your call. Some families treat it as a first gentle lesson in where food comes from; others quietly steer past the subject and order the meatballs. Both approaches work, and the kitchen has seen both a thousand times.

Cold air, big appetites

The Arctic does something remarkable to children's appetites. A morning spent sledging and meeting huskies in the snow burns through breakfast at impressive speed, and children who graze indifferently at home often eat properly in Lapland for the simple reason that they are genuinely hungry.

Two practical notes: keep breakfast unhurried on activity mornings, and do not panic if one meal barely gets touched. Excitement makes some children ravenous and others briefly too busy to eat. Both are normal, and with three included meals a day plus warm-up breaks in between, there is no version of this trip where anyone goes hungry.

If your child eats six things

Bring your confidence, not a suitcase of food. The children's menu exists precisely because most families travel with at least one selective eater, and there is always something plain and recognisable on the table.

A few tried and tested moves. Pack a small stash of familiar snacks for the flight and the transfer, which together take around four hours door to door. Let your child fill up at breakfast, the most familiar-looking meal of the day anywhere in the world. And treat the trip's novelty as an ally: children who refuse a dish at home will sometimes try it in a log cabin in the Arctic, simply because everything else about the day was new too, and the new things kept turning out to be wonderful.

If your child has an allergy, an intolerance or a genuinely fixed routine, tell us at the quote stage rather than at the airport. The reservations team will talk you through exactly how menus and mealtimes are handled before you book, so nobody is crossing their fingers at 68 degrees north.

Frequently asked questions

Are all meals really included?

Yes. Full board means breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for the whole family. Exact inclusions and timings can vary a little by departure date, and your final schedule is confirmed closer to travel.

Should we budget extra money for food?

Not for meals. Some families bring a little spending money for treats and souvenirs, but there is no point in the day where you need to buy anyone a proper meal.

My child lives on plain food. Will they starve?

No. There is a children's menu at every meal with familiar favourites alongside the Finnish dishes, and the kitchen looks after selective eaters every week of the season. Come armed with a few flight snacks and expect to be pleasantly surprised.

Still weighing up the practical side of Lapland with small children? Our guides to Lapland with toddlers and packing for the Arctic cover the rest of the parental notebook, and if you would like to talk mealtimes through with a human, request a quote and ask away.