Cuisine of Sweden
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Swedish cuisine tends to be hearty, practical and sustaining. There are large regional variations in the cuisine in Sweden, but most dishes are traditionally simple. In the north, some variations, including Bear, and other game dishes, have their roots in the Sami people while in the south, historically the supply of fresh vegetables has been better and the traditions are in large parts very similar to many other European cuisines.
Swedes have traditionally been very open to foreign influences, ranging from French cuisine during the 17th and 18th century, to the sushi and cafe latte of today. Many Swedish restaurateurs mix traditional husmanskost with a modern, gourmet approach. On the fast food side, the pizza has been an integral part of swedish culture since the 1960s. Twenty years later, the same could be said about kebab and falafel, as many small restaurants specialise in such dishes.
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[edit] History
Sweden's long winters explain the lack of fresh vegetables in many traditional recipes. Plants that would sustain the population through long winters became the cornerstones: various turnips in older times such as the native kålrot (in British English, aptly named "swede"), gradually supplanted by the potato in the 18th century. Before the influences of French cuisine during the 17th and 18th century, as well as German food traditions, both before and after that period, a lack of spices made the food rather plain, although a number of local herbs and plants have been used since ancient times.
The importance of fish has governed Swedish population and trade patterns far back in history. For preservation, fish were salted and salt became a major trade item at the dawn of the Scandinavian middle ages, which began circa 1000 AD. Cabbage, preserved as sauerkraut, or lingonberry jam was used as a source of vitamin C during the winter. Lingonberry jam, still a favourite, also added some freshness to the often rather heavy food.
[edit] Meals
Swedes usually have three main meals per day, but there are at least two traditions followed:
The older tradition, still common among blue collar workers, consists of breakfast in the early morning (morgonmål), a light lunch before noon (called frukost earlier, today named lunch), and a heavy dinner (middag) at around five.
Since the early sixties, most 9 to 5 workers eat breakfast (frukost or morgonmål) when they wake up, a lunch around noon, and a dinner (middag) around six or seven in the evening.
It is also common to have a snack, often a sandwich or fruit, in between meals (mellanmål). In all schools including high school, a hot meal is served at lunch as part of Sweden's welfare state. Most Swedes also have coffee after lunch, and a coffee break in the afternoon, often together with a biscuit or similar.
[edit] Breakfasts
Breakfast usually consists of open sandwiches, possibly crisp bread (knäckebröd). The sandwich is most often buttered, with toppings such as hard cheese, cold cuts, caviar, messmör (a spread made from butter and whey), ham (skinka), vegetables (grönsaker) like tomatoes (tomat) or cucumber (gurka). Swedes sometimes have sweet toppings on their breads, such as jam (like the French and Americans), or chocolate (like the Danes), although many older Swedes chose not to use these sweet toppings. However, orange marmalade on white bread is common, usually with morning coffee or tea.
Many traditional kinds of Swedish bread, such as sirapslimpa (less fashionable today, but still very popular) are somewhat sweetened in themselves, baked with small amounts of syrup. Like in many other European countries, there are also lots of non-sweetened breads, often made with sourdough (surdeg). Swedish breads may be made from wholegrain, fine grain, or anything in between, and there are white, brown, and really dark (like in Finland) varieties which are all common. "Barkis" or "bergis" is a localised version of challah usually made without eggs and at first only available in Stockholm and Göteborg where Jews first settled but now available elsewhere.
Filmjölk (fermented milk), or sometimes yogurt, is also traditional breakfast food, usually served in a bowl with cereals such as corn flakes, muesli, or knäckebröd, and sometimes with sugar, fruit, and/or jam.
A third food that is sometimes eaten at breakfast is porridge (gröt), often made of rolled oats or rice, and eaten with milk and jam or cinnamon with sugar.
Common drinks for breakfast are milk, juice, tea, or coffee. Swedes are among the most avid milk and coffee drinkers in the world.
[edit] Dishes
In August, Swedes traditionally eat boiled crayfish at feasts known as kräftskivor.
The most highly regarded mushroom is the chanterelle. It is considered a real treat. The chanterelle is usually served together with a piece of meat, or just fried with a sauce and some onions and put on a sandwich. Second to the chanterelle, and considered almost as delicious, is the porcini mushroom, or Karl-Johansvamp named after Charles XIV John (Karl XIV Johan) who introduced its use as food.
Internationally, the most renowned Swedish meal is meatballs, or köttbullar.
Traditionally, Thursday has been soup day because the maids had half the day off and it was easy to prepare. One of the most traditional Swedish soups is the pea soup, or ärtsoppa. It dates back to the old tradition of peas being associated with Thor. This is a simple meal, basically consisting of yellow peas, a little onion and often pieces of pork. It is often served with a little mustard and followed by thin pancakes (see Pannkakor). The Swedish Army still serve their conscripts pea soup and pancakes every Thursday.
Potatoes are the main complement to most dishes. Only in the last 50 years have other complements such as rice and spaghetti become standard on the dinner table. There are several different kinds of potatoes: the most appreciated is the new potato, which ripens in early summer, and is enjoyed at the feast called Midsummer. Other sorts of potatoes are eaten all year around.
Other traditional Swedish dishes:
- Ärtsoppa — Pea soup
- Blodpudding — Black pudding
- Falukorv — Sausage originating from Falun. The lifts and pumps at the Kopparberg copper mine in Falun were, during the 16th and 17th centuries before the introduction of steam engines, powered by oxen. When these oxen died from strain or old age, the skin was turned into leather ropes used in the mine, and some of the meat was turned into Falukorv sausages.
- Fiskbullar
- Gravad lax — Salmon, salted, and cured
- Inkokt lax - Boiled Salmon
- Isterband — Sausage made of coarsely ground pork, barley and potatoes
- Janssons frestelse (Jansson's temptation) — Grated potatoes, onion, anchovy and cream - the anchovy here is not the genuine anchovy, but the sprat - quite a different species and is also spiced. [1]
- Julbord — Christmas smorgasbord (smörgåsbord)
- Julskinka — Christmas ham
- Kaviar — Swedish caviar comes in tubes and is typically made from cod roe.
- Kalops
- Kåldolmar — Cabbage rolls
- Köttbullar — Swedish meatballs
- Köttsoppa — A rustic beef and root vegetable soup
- Kroppkakor — Boiled potato-dumplings, filled with pork
- Lutfisk — Stockfish
- Palt — Potato-dumplings with a filling of pork
- Pannkakor and Plättar — Pancakes
- Inlagd sill — Pickled herring
- Pölsa — Hash
- Raggmunk — Potato pancakes
- Rotmos med fläsk
- Stekt fläsk och bruna bönor — Pork and brown beans
- Pyttipanna — Chopped and fried meat, onions, and pre-boiled potatoes.
- Smörgåsbord
- Smörgåstårta — Sandwich cake
- Surströmming — Fermented Baltic herring - a rather different tasting species of herring - it has about 10% fat whereas Atlantic herring is 16% - this may occur because of the Baltic having half the salt concentration of many seas. Surströmming has a strong odor and unique flavour and is considered an acquired taste.
- Våfflor (Waffles) — Often served with jam with ice cream or whipped cream. Waffles also have their own day on March 25.
[edit] Bread and pastries
Sweden has a great variety of bread, baked from wheat, barley and rye. Swedish bread can contain additives such as bran, oats, potato or carrot, adding dietary fiber. It is usually served as one-layer sandwiches.
Crisp bread and tunnbröd (wrap bread of rye) are considered typical to Sweden.
[edit] Drinks
Sweden is one of the heaviest coffee drinking countries in the world, second only to Finland.^[1] It is in fact seen as rude to refuse a cup of coffee in Sweden.^[1] Milk consumption in Sweden is the highest of any country in the world. Milk is bought in milk cartons, and it is no coincidence that Tetra Pak, the world's largest maker of milk cartons, is Swedish.^[1] Milk is considered the standard drink to have with meals during weekdays in most families, for both children and adults.
[edit] At Christmas
- Julmust -- Traditional stout-like, sweet seasonal soft drink (jul means Christmas in Swedish) Also called påskmust (påsk meaning Easter) (carbonated)
- Glögg -- Mulled wine
[edit] Sweet drinks
- Blåbärssoppa -- Sweet soup or drink made from blueberries, served either hot or cold
- Enbärsdricka -- Traditional juniper berry soft drink
- Sockerdricka -- Traditional sweet-sour soft drink (carbonated)
- Fruktsoda -- Traditional lemon-lime soft drink (carbonated)
- Champis -- Soft drink alternative to sparkling wine (carbonated)
- Pommac -- Soft drink alternative to sparkling wine (carbonated)
- Trocadero (drink) -- Traditional soft drink with the taste of apple and oranges, with its roots in the north of Sweden. (carbonated)
- Lingondricka -- lingonberry drink
[edit] Fruit soups
Fruit soups, especially rose hip soup and bilberry soup, are eaten or drunk, usually warm during the winter.
[edit] Liquor
Stronger beverages are mainly of two kinds: The Akvavit, also called Aqua vitae, Scandinavian vodka or schnapps (snaps). A second popular drink is Absolut Vodka, one of the world's best known liquor brands. Both have around 40% alcohol. The production of hard liquor has a tradition dating back to the 18th century and was at a high in the 1840s. Since the 1880s, the governmental Systembolaget has a monopoly on selling spirits with more than 3.5% alcohol, limiting the access. Hembränt (moonshine) has been made in rural Sweden, but it has lessened in later years due to more liberal rules for the import of alcohol as well as increased smuggling.
Hard liquor has a tradition of being mulled. Gourmets pick their own selection of wild herbs, and put them into a bottle of liquor for a few days.
The typical Swedish beer is lager beer of a bright and bitter kind. The brands Pripps Blå and Norrlands Guld are typical examples.
[edit] Treats
In the summer, various cakes are common, often made with the fruit of the season; strawberry and cream cake is highly regarded. Strawberries are also often eaten on their own with sugar and milk or cream. With the late summer and autumn, apple cakes are baked. The apple cake is often served with vanilla custard, but sometimes with ice cream or whipped cream.
During the winter holidays, other traditional treats include:
- Knäck -- Christmas toffee
- Ischoklad -- Cold ice-chocolate "toffees"
- Lussebulle or Lussekatt -- Saffron bun, a Swedish saffron bun eaten on the Saint Lucia celebration (13 December).
- Pepparkaka -- Ginger snap
- Semla -- With the new year, the Lenten bun, or semla, is baked. It is a wheat bun with a cream and almond paste filling , traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday.
Popular kinds of kaffebröd ("coffe-bread") found in a typical konditori (a coffee shop with patisserie):
- Kanelbulle -- Cinnamon roll
- Wienerbröd -- Very similar to Danish pastry in the US, comes in several varieties and shapes, not as many as in Denmark though.
- Chokladboll -- Round balls made of an oatmeal-cocoa-sugar-butter mix, flavoured with vanilla and coated in coconut shavings or pearl sugar. (Negerboll, which literally means negroball, is the older, today less accepted, name of the treat. However, chokladboll (chocolate ball) is misleading as they don't actually contain any chocolate).
- Dammsugare -- "Vacuum cleaner", also "punsch-roll" or "150-ohmer" (due to the brown-green-brown coloring), a small pastry with a cover of green marsipan with the ends dipped in chocolate, and inside a mix of crushed cookies, punsch, butter, and cacao.
- Biskvi -- A small round pastry with a bottom made of almonds and sugar, filled with butter cream and covered with a thin layer of chocolate. Was first made in France during the 19th century.
- Prinsesstårta -- "Princess cake", a cake layered with sponge cake, whipped cream, and custard under a green marzipan coating with powdered sugar on the top; often decorated with a pink marzipan rose.
- Budapestbakelse -- "Budapest pastry", basically made of sugar, egg white, hazel nuts, whipped cream, and pieces of fruit like apricot or mandarine, decorated with some chocolate and powdered sugar.
- Napoleonbakelse "Napolitain" or "Napoleon pastry" -- Made of pastry dough, whipped cream, custard, and jam, the upper plate covered with icing and currant jelly.
- Kladdkaka -- A chocolatey and sticky cake.
- Arraksboll -- A ball flavored with arrak, similar in appearance to a chokladboll but very different taste.
- In recent years American brownies, cookies and cup-cakes have become popular in cafés and restaurants.
Common desserts include:
- Ostkaka -- Swedish cheesecake (very different from American cheesecake).
- Smulpaj and Smördegspaj -- ("Simple" pie and "pastry based" pie) Various kinds of pies and cookies are typical desserts, mostly served with coffee. Typical pies are apple pie, blueberry pie and rhubarb pie and there are many different recipes for each.
- Pannkaka -- Pancakes are almost never served "American style" (for breakfast) but either as dessert with sweet jam and/or whipped cream, or as a meal in itself, using less sweet toppings. (Pancakes for dinner are sometimes made thick (using an oven) and sometimes with pork meat or apples inside.)
- Spettekaka -- A sweet Swedish cake, shaped like a hollow cylinder, only common in the southern regions of Sweden, Skåne.
Typical Swedish treats (candy) include:
- Saltlakrits -- Liquorice candy flavoured with ammonium chloride.
- Polkagris -- Peppermint flavored candy, traditionally made in Gränna.
[edit] Food and society
Brödinstitutet (The Bread Institute) once campaigned with a quotation from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, recommending eating 6 to 8 slices of bread daily.
[edit] Health issues
Those who are not familiar with the cuisine may think of it as similar to that of its neighbor across the Baltic Sea, Germany, but, in fact, Swedish cuisine could more accurately be described as similar to Japanese food, centered around fish and pickled vegetables, but with potatoes instead of rice.[citation needed] In addition to fish, shellfish, and root vegetables, staples include vegetables in the kale and cabbage families, pork, cultured dairy products, rye breads, berries and stone fruits. Butter is the primary fat source, although olive oil is becoming more popular, as are other Italian imports, especially pasta, pizza and wine. Sweden's unique pastry tradition features a variety of yeast buns and cakes, which are considerably less sugary than those in the U.S. Although the number of overweight Swedes has been rising in recent years with the increase in more highly processed junk food, the obesity rate is still well below that of the U.S., at least in part due to smaller portions and a more active lifestyle. Low-fat products, wholemeal bread and other healthy alternatives are common - grocery stores usually sell milk in four or five different fat levels, from 3 to 0.1%.[citation needed]
The Swedish alcohol consumptions has increased greatly during the last decades due to more "continental" habits, as Swedes combine their traditional holiday binge drinking with casual weekday drinking, and relaxed import regulations - see alcoholic beverages in Sweden. Tobacco smoking has decreased greatly during the last decades, most because of many Swedes' transition to the national specialty snus and (more recently) due to smoking being prohibited in bars and public places.[citation needed] Recreational drugs other than alcohol and tobacco are less common in Sweden than in continental Europe, partly due to the long distance to areas of production.[citation needed]
[edit] Ethical issues
The Swedish people are concerned about the environment and animal protection. Swedish farmers actively advertise their products as free from genetic engineering, cruelty against animals, un-organic chemicals and excessive transportation (with the implication that these features are common in foreign food production and that Swedish farmers actually live up to animal protection laws). The national organic farming label, KRAV, is popular, and a fair trade label was recently established. The vegetarian and straight edge movements are widespread among Swedish youths.
[edit] See also
- Culture of Sweden
- Cuisine of Finland
- Cuisine of Lapland
- List of Christmas dishes
- Swedish festivities
[edit] Further reading
- Simply Swedish, Margareta Schildt-Lundgren, 2000. ISBN 91-974561-7-9
[edit] References
1. "Swedish Cuisine." Ramble from the Chef. 18 February 2007. 24 May 2008 <http://log.pelleplutt.eu/swedish-cuisine/>
[edit] External links
- VisitSweden - Sweden's official website for tourism and travel information (English)
- Swedish Recipes for American Kitchens
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