Swedish cuisine

Gravlax on crisp bread with pepper and lemon.
Grilled salmon with prosciutto, a contemporary Swedish dish.

Swedish cuisine tends to be practical and sustaining but due to Sweden's large north-south extent there have been strong regional differences historically. In the far north, variations such as reindeer, and other (semi-) game dishes, have their roots in the Sami people, while fresh vegetables has played a larger role in the south. Although many traditional dishes are simple, the cuisine is 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 (see below) with a modern, gourmet approach. On the fast food side, 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.

Contents

History

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 and various kinds of preserved berries, apples etc was used as a source of vitamin C during the winter. Lingonberry jam, still a favourite, may be the most traditional and typical Swedish way to add freshness to sometimes rather heavy food.

Sweden's long winters explain the lack of fresh vegetables in many traditional recipes. In older times, plants that would sustain the population through the winters were cornerstones; various turnips such as the kålrot (aptly named "swede" in British English) were gradually supplanted or complemented by the potato in the 18th century. Before the influences of French cuisine during the 17th and 18th century, a lack of distinct spices made every-day food rather plain by today's standards, although a number of local herbs and plants have been used since ancient times. Both before and after this period, new Germanic dishes were also brought in by immigrants, such as persons related to the Hanseatic League, settling in Stockholm, Visby, and Kalmar. Swedish traders and aristocrats naturally also picked up on food traditions in foreign countries; kåldolmar, being one example, was inspired by the Moldavian dolma and introduced in Sweden by Karl XII and his Ottoman creditors (which moved to Stockholm in 1716). Kåldolmar was described in the famous Swedish Cajsa Wargs kokbok in 1755.

Husmanskost

The word husmanskost stems from husman, owner of a small house without associated land. The term was originally used for most kinds of simple food eaten at the countryside, outside of the towns. Today, Swedish husmanskost denotes traditional sustaining Swedish dishes with mostly local and economical ingredients, that is, classical every-day food.

Genuine Swedish husmanskost uses predominantly local ingredients such as pork in all forms, fish, cereals, milk, potato and other root vegetables, cabbage, onions, apples, berries etc. Time consuming cooking methods such as redningar (roux) and långkok (literally "long cook") are commonly employed. Several spices are used, but in sparse amounts. Examples of Swedish husmanskost are kroppkakor, kalops, rotmos med fläsk, köttbullar, inkokt lax, fiskbullar, palt, raggmunk, kåldolmar, nävgröt, and pytt i panna.

Traditions and dishes akin to Swedish husmanskost are easily found also in other North European countries, even if details may vary of course; surkål (sauerkraut) is more common in Germany and its neighbours than in Scandinavia, for instance. In many countries locally produced wines are combined with lokal husmanskost. Sweden is part of the vodka belt however, and distilled beverages such as brännvin has been a traditional daily complement to food historically. Consumption of wine in Sweden has increased during the last fifty years or so, partly at the expense of beer and stronger alcoholic beverages.

Husmanskost has undergone something of a renaissance during the last decades, as known chefs, such as Tore Wretman, has presented modernised variants of classical Swedish dishes. In this "nouvel husman" one has often reduced the amount of fat (which was needed to sustain hard manual labour in the old days), introduced some new ingredients, and tinkered with the cooking methods to speed up the cooking process and/or enhance the nutritional value or flavor of the ingredients. A similar development can be seen also in other countries and districts, such as in Alsace, where "gastronomical husmanskost" is equally common.

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. It's also common to have coffee after lunch, and a coffee break in the afternoon, often together with a biscuit or similar.

Breakfasts

Typical smörgås (an open sandwich) with hard-boiled eggs and cod roe caviar from a tube.
Swedish knäckebröd, or crisp bread.

Breakfast often consists of smörgåsar (open sandwiches), possibly crisp bread (knäckebröd). The smörgås is most often buttered, with toppings such as hard cheese, cold cuts, caviar, messmör (a sweet 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.

Dishes

Köttbullar med brunsås.
Janssons frestelse.
Ris à la Malta (a christmas dessert).
Kräftskiva (crayfish party).
Surströmming på tunnbröd med lök och potatis.
Table laid for skördefest (Harvest feast) or bedegille ("beet party"), a traditional meal in southern Sweden, perhaps in particular the central parts of Skåne. Various knifes and tools are used to split the raw beets.

Although, modern day Swedish cuisine is in large parts highly internationalized, many "typical" Swedish attributes, traditions and dishes remain, some of which are many hundreds of years old, others perhaps a century or less.

Internationally, the most renowned Swedish meal is Köttbullar, Swedish meatballs. A well known Swedish buffet tradition is the Smörgåsbord and, at Christmas, the Julbord can often be in the form of a "Christmas-smörgåsbord".

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.

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:

Desserts

Common desserts include:

Bread

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 open face sandwiches. Crisp bread and tunnbröd (wrap bread of rye) are considered typical to Sweden and Finland.

Drinks

Julmust.

Sweden is one of the heaviest coffee drinking countries in the world, behind Finland. Milk consumption in Sweden is very high, also only second to Finland. Milk is bought in milk cartons, and it is no coincidence that Tetra Pak, the world's largest maker of milk cartons, is Swedish. Milk is considered the standard drink to have with meals during weekdays in many families, for both children and adults.

At Christmas

Sweet drinks

Fruit soups

Fruit soups, especially rose hip soup and bilberry soup, are eaten or drunk, usually warm during the winter.

Liquor

Main article: Alcoholic beverages in Sweden

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 state-owned 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.

Pastries and treats

A cup of kaffe.
Lussebullar (lucia buns)
Kanelbulle (cinnamon roll).
Prinsesstårta
Budapestbakelse
Napoleonbakelse

Kaffebröd

Pastries (kaffebröd or konditorivaror) are normally consumed with relatively strong coffe (see fika), except for children. Popular kinds of kaffebröd ("coffe-bread") found in a typical Swedish konditori ("coffee shop with patisserie") include

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, traditional candy and pastries also include:

Other typical Swedish treats (candy) include:

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.

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. 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%.

Swedish alcohol consumption has increased during the last decades due to more "continental" habits, as Swedes combine their traditional weekend binge drinking with casual weekday drinking, and relaxed import regulations - see alcoholic beverages in Sweden. Tobacco smoking has decreased greatly during the last decades, mostly because of many Swedes' transition to the national specialty snus and (more recently) due to smoking being prohibited in bars and public places. 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.

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.

See also

Further reading

References

1. "Swedish Cuisine." Ramble from the Chef. 18 February 2007. 24 May 2008 <http://log.pelleplutt.eu/swedish-cuisine/>

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