In my review of this morning’s Sauna news, I happened upon a review of The Sauna Cookbook: Food for Body and Soul posted on The Culinary Cellar blog. This cookbook, written by Tuula Kaitilia and Edey Saarinen has 130 recipes with color photos and measurements in English and Metric Units.
So what does the sauna have to do with a cookbook , you ask? It is known that sauna bathing depletes the body of fluids and electrolytes, thus making it necessary to replenish them with a refreshing drink and salty snack. The sauna and the ensuing drink and treats together provide food for the body and soul, hence the title of the cookbook. The Finns will cook food inside the sauna as it heats up. Some of the popular items include sausages and fish. Sausages are wrapped in foil and placed directly on the sauna rocks. Others like to have sandwiches or salted salmon ready to eat inside their homes after relaxing in the sauna. The cookbook has chapters on all the traditional sauna foods, along with wonderful bread recipes, desserts, beverages, sauces and condiments, and even Christmas foods. Before all the recipes, the first chapter explains the culture of the sauna itself in Finnish life, which is fascinating. It has been a ritual in Finland for thousands of years, and is an integral part of entertaining and family life. People will build their sauna before they even build the home alongside it.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the sauna used for cooking. At Therme Erding near Munich, they have their “Bakery Sauna” where the sauna stove is used as an oven to bake bread while you’re enjoying the heat.
Do you like your saunas hot? Really friggin’ hot? Then maybe you should consider entering the Sauna World Championships. They’ve been held in Heinloa Finland, a two hour bus ride from Helsinki, every August since 1999.
If you can get yourself to Finland this August 5-7, get a note from your doctor, and pay the € 50 entrance fee, you can add to the 137 men and 20 women from 22 countries who competed in 2008.
How hot is it? It’s 110°C / 230°F in there. If that isn’t hot enough, twice a minute an automatic shower dumps a half liter of water on the rocks of these specially constructed saunas. There’s no high-tech clothing that helps here: The rules allow the competitors to wear only a swimsuit, with strict regulations on the maximum size. The winners have to endure up to 4 qualifying rounds, each requiring the contestants to outlast their other competitors in the heat, taking from 4 to 13 minutes. The 2008 final took 17 minutes to decide the men’s winner.
If you can’t get an idea of what this feels like, American Sports journalist Rick Reilly competed in the 2007 World Sauna Championships, and describes his experience in his new book, Sports from Hell: My Search for the World’s Dumbest Competition. There is an excerpt from it on ESPN.com. In it he describes his experience:
We went in, and it was so instantly, shockingly, insanely hot, my brain just stopped working. It was like walking into a bonfire and pulling up a chair in the middle of it. My strategy was to go in and keep time by the 30-second water splashes, but that plan was scrapped approximately seven seconds in. Thinking literally hurt. I tried to stare at the rocks and not blink, because blinking hurt. I tried to take very few breaths, because breathing hurt. I was sure flames were coming out of my mouth. My back seemed to have ignited. I was convinced my ears were literally on fire, but if I moved even slightly, they hurt more. I tried sitting up higher, but it was even hotter. I tried crouching down more, but then I was nearer to the unforgiving rocks. Then came the hideous, cruel, pitiless splashes of water, each one lasting three seconds. I was just about to bolt into the fresh air when — miraculously — the tall, skinny guy next to me ran out. Amazing! I wasn’t last! I had no idea how much time had elapsed — four minutes? Six? I promised myself: When I get to the point where I can no longer stand it, I’ll count 60 seconds and go.
Four seconds later, I decided I could no longer stand it.
So I started counting. One, two, three … It was the longest minute of my life. At 60 I went barreling out. Watching other heats, I’d wondered why even losers came out grinning and raising their hands in victory, but now I knew. The cool air was so beautiful, so redeeming, so life giving. You could French-kiss Osama bin Laden.
I looked at the clock. 3:10? That was it? When did the first guy bolt? “2:40,” I was told. Which meant I’d counted my 60 seconds in 30.
If you just want to watch the proceedings, admission costs € 15 each day.
For those of you who are enthusiastic about both saunas and philately, Finnland Post has just issued the stamp set for you. Rather than rewrite it, we’ll let their press release do the talking.
“When I chose the pictures for the Sauna booklet, I aimed for Finnishness and the authentic sauna atmosphere,” says the designer of the booklet, Päivi Vainionpää. “The first stamp shows a moment before a sauna. The sun is going down, there’s a fresh birch whisk in the bucket on the jetty, and soft towels await the bathers,” as she describes the scene. The second stamp shows the bathers actually in the sauna, and the third stamp depicts an idyllic shoreline sauna in its natural setting. The fourth and fifth stamps show sauna atmosphere inside and out: a sauna whisk bathes in the sunlight on a log wall, and inside the sauna the sunshine lights up the bathing place through a window.
The Sauna stamps include microscopic scent capsules. When the stamps are rubbed, the capsules burst and spread a pleasing aroma of birch leaves.
Checking their website, the stamps were supposed to have been released on May 6. As of today, we can’t find a link to buy these on their online stamp shop. It looks like the booklet will cost € 4.00 (approx. US$ 5.35)
Nokia Löyly showing the conditions the new Nokia 5800 Sauna Edition is enduring from AllAboutSybian.com
For those of us addicted both to our sauna and our smartphone, Nokia today announced the release of their 5800 Sauna Edition today. AllAboutSybian.com broke the story earlier today. They interviewed Dr. Huhtikuun Ensimmäinen of Nokia’s Consumer Innovations Unit who said:
So, here we have the 5800 Sauna Edition, heat resistant up to 120 degrees celsius and able to work without problems in a typical sauna humidity. We have included a thermometer/hygrometer application so you can follow the progress of your sauna, but the real innovation here is our work on the casing. The Sauna Edition’s casing is coated with a special organically-derived plastic which allows radio signals to move unimpeded but blocks 99.99% of all humidity from entering.
Dr. Ensimmäinen expects the device to be popular in the Nordic regions, central Europe, and Russia. They believe a niche product like this would have a market to sauna enthusiasts worldwide, including us in North America.
AllAboutSybian.com found that the specialized thermo-hygrometer application bundled with the phone, Nokia Löyly reported accurate temperatures, and since most saunas are dimly lit, “a backlit phone-based meter app clearly offer a potential advantage over traditional sauna meters.” They also report that “there are tentative proposals to make a Bluetooth-compatible sauna stove which will adjust its temperature automatically according to your personalised settings on the 5800 SE”
They recorded their full interview with Dr. Ensimmäinen, including a [NSFW] demo of the phone being used in a sauna by young women. It is available here. Enjoy.
Mihael Cankar, a Finn living in Helsinki, has been maintaining his Finnish Sauna site since 1994. He has achieved his mission of bringing information about sauna culture to the internet.
He covers all of the important topics for the potential sauna-goer: How to Use the Sauna, Health Issues, building and maintaining Your Own Sauna, and the History and Traditions of the sauna. He rounds out his own content with judicious links to content by others, including Dr. Weil and a first-time sauna goer.
Pay his site a visit, and you’ll never wonder what Avantouinti means again.
. There is an excerpt from it on 
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