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Swedish Culinary Delights June 15, 2003 My early years were spent in England, and we were not a rich family by any means, so our food was fairly basic. Living in the country with our own garden, we had our share of potatoes and fresh vegetables such as peas, beans, carrots and so on. Our bread and cakes were mostly home baked and if we were very lucky we would have chicken for Sunday lunch, even if it wasn’t Christmas. While it was certainly wholesome food, it was not exactly guaranteed to make your taste buds sing. When I migrated to Australia in the early 1970’s, I was amazed at the range of fresh fruits and vegetables which could be found there – lychees, pineapples, mangos, mandarins - all those tropical fruits which I had previously only been able to eat from tins shipped from South America or other exotic parts of the world. And fresh seafood could be had by all. The expression “throw another shrimp on the barbie” became a catch phrase which seemed to sum up the Australian way of life. Then slowly as Australia began to accept more and more immigrants from Asia, we were introduced to the delights of China, Thailand and Indonesia. Now it was green chicken curry and satay sticks and Singapore noodles. Around the same time there was an upsurge in interest in Australian native food, and we became used to the Bush Tucker Man, Major Les Hiddins from the Australian Army, appearing in his own weekly television program explaining how to eat witchetty grubs, wattle seeds and honey ants. But now I have moved to Sweden and I am undergoing a completely new gourmet experience, one which has little resemblance to my time in Australia. Every day food in Sweden is based on meat, fish and root vegetables. So, for example, we eat meat balls with boiled potatoes – but to add some spice and interest to it, we serve them with lingonberry jam as well. We have fried Baltic herring, with boiled potatoes. We have meat patties with fried onions and boiled potatoes. Living close to the Klarälven River, there is a wonderful supply of fresh salmon available – to be eaten with boiled potatoes. When we are tired of boiled potatoes, we dice potatoes and fry them with some diced meat and eat the mixture with pickled beetroot and fried eggs – this is called pyttipanna, which literally means “put in the pan”. Or another favourite is called Janssons Temptation. This is made by peeling and cutting potatoes into thin strips, then alternately placing layers of the potatoes and sliced onions, with anchovies, into an ovenproof dish. Finish with a layer of potatoes, then pour in lots of cream, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and place knobs of butter on top. Bake the whole lot in a hot oven for around 40 minutes or so until the potatoes are cooked. Totally calorie free, of course, but wonderful on a cold winters day. This is basic, hearty food and this was necessary in the past, when most people worked on the land or as manual labourers. As you can see, the humble potato plays an important role in Swedish cooking. It was back in 1720 that a Swede, Jonas Alströmer visited England and saw that the people there had begun to grow potatoes. At this time Sweden was a poor and undeveloped land and many were close to starvation, so Jonas took some potatoes back with him to his land in Västergötland and began to experiment with growing them and to try to introduce them to the near starving Swedes. But despite their hunger, the Swedes didn’t take to this new root crop, until a woman, Eva de la Gardie, discovered that it was possible to make a potent alcoholic drink, called brännvin, from potatoes. Previously this drink had been made from wheat and was drunk by everybody - men, women and children. Eva’s discovery, when presented to the Swedish Academy and the King was considered very important, as much of the wheat which was really needed to make bread was being diverted into brännvin production. Probably more of an incentive to the population was the fact that it was also possible to make more than three times as much brännvin from potatoes as from an equivalent amount of wheat. But despite my comments above, it is not all meatballs and potatoes in Sweden. Many people in Sweden travel abroad, particularly to the Mediterranean areas, for their holidays and so have become aware of the cuisine of other countries, so nowadays it is becoming more usual to see pizza and kebab bars in almost all the larger towns. It is now possible to buy some, if not all, the spices used in oriental dishes, particularly from specialist shops – the local ICA or Konsum food supermarket is unlikely to have a full range of Thai spices, for example, but there is a good selection. On television we are able to watch popular cooking shows from overseas, particularly Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, but we can also enjoy the locally produced program, featuring a Swedish chef, Tina Nordström. And no, she bears little resemblance to the famed Muppets Swedish chef. From the neighbouring country of Denmark we have many styles of Danish pastries available and there are the local cinnamon buns and Semlors (a bun filled with marzipan and cream) to eat with coffee as well. I mentioned in a previous article the way that some foods were packaged in plastic tubes, as in a sausage skin. I’ve been doing some research during my shopping trips to get the groceries and the variety of things that can be bought this way is quite amazing. Not only is it possible to buy jams and marmalades in a plastic tubes, but would you believe pea soup? Or even ready made porridge? Of course, when you think of the Swedish record on recycling, it makes sense that they’ve managed to do away with cans and tins for many items… But I think that the most unusual meal that I’ve had here in Sweden is a traditional meal, usually eaten around August time, called surströmming. I’ll write some more about this when the time comes, but suffice it to say that it’s not for the faint hearted or those with queasy stomachs… Hälsningar till nästa vecka, ------------ About the author: Robin Alan Bell is an Englishman by birth, but migrated to Australia back in '72. Married and divorced there. Spent the last 3 years living by myself on a remote farm in rural New South Wales with no mains electricity, water etc. All power, heating was from natural resources (solar, wind, wood). "Met" a Swedish girl on the internet, came to Sweden for a holiday, loved the place (and the girl), moved to Sweden permanently Christmas 2001 and married the girl in Easter 2002. Living happily ever after... Email Robin Alan Bell: sosoft@ozemail.com.au Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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