Chef Pedro Mata takes a break at Du Dii, a popular Thai takeout joint in Kallio, a blue-collar neighborhood in northeast Helsinki. A native of Valencia, Spain, he moved here four decades ago with his Finnish wife. She died young and Pedro married a woman from Thailand. Having worked as a waiter and cook in several of Helsinki’s finest restaurants, Pedro opened Du Dii in 2001 after being schooled in the cuisine by his wife. The restaurant was a success, the marriage was not. His third union, to a Vietnamese woman, has lasted 17 years. One reason it has worked, he says, is she speaks little Finnish and he doesn’t know Vietnamese. “We can’t talk, so we don’t argue.” At 74, Pedro lives with the youngest of his three sons from his first marriage and four of his nine grandchildren. His near future does not include retirement: “As long as my health is good maybe I’ll work until I’m 80,” he says.