This story was originally published in Dwell’s September 2012 issue.

“There are a lot of regulations in Finland, particularly for establishments serving food,” says Timo Santala, who alongside friends Antti Tuomola and Olli Sirén decided to hatch a plan that would allow any citizen, for one day only, the chance to indulge in a very common daydream—opening a restaurant of one’s own—without worrying about the rules. “We were three people who were good at getting people excited about things, organizing everything from festivals to urban interventions.”

The trio planted the idea on Facebook and watched it explode. “We didn’t ask permission; we just encouraged normal people who are enthusiastic about food,” Santala recalls. “It could be referred to as a sort of slight civil disobedience.”

The first Restaurant Day in May 2011 launched with 40 pop-up food depots springing up in 11 different Finnish cities. “People were serving everything from frozen pizza and ‘candies of the season’ to experimentations in mole-cular gastronomy served from a hot-air balloon. Great creativity happens when there are no limits.”

Today the movement has grown to a four-times-per-year event, and Restaurant Day has spread to 19 countries and counting. “The whole atmosphere is about creating a one-day carnival, something extraordinary,” says Santala. “It’s a chance to see how people really live, see how people really eat. The very concept of a traditional Finnish home is changing, and that’s a good thing. We’re trying to change the face of Helsinki completely.”

Top photo by Hanna Anttila

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Finland’s Grassroots “Restaurant Day” Movement