It’s interesting how the city almost slumbers during the colder months, and then suddenly awakens with the first rays of sunshine,” says Toni Kostian, owner of Michelin-starred Grön, one of the stars of Helsinki’s culinary scene. Summer is coming, and his city is indeed wide awake. And most likely smiling: for the eighth consecutive year running, the UN World Happiness Report has ranked Finland as the happiest nation in the world.
In its capital, though, the root of happiness isn’t considered to lie in extravagance or materialism. Here, it’s about things that are both smaller and more profound. Among Finns, the general consensus is that happiness is intangible in everyday life; but whatever it is, it leans more toward contentment than it does pure bliss.
