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A culinary consciousness |
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Our national preferences in food reveal much about our national contradictions. The French may be the trend setting masters of haute couture but in general they are still enamoured of traditional food dishes and the nouvelle cuisine is not that nouvelle anymore. The Italians might know a thing or two about innovative design, but they would rather change their government than the recipe for a pasta dish. But the Swedes - the sensible Volvo-drivers - are not content to live on a traditional diet of meatballs and pickled herrings.
No, the myth of the traditional, predictable Swedish meal is easily dispelled after sniffing around an ordinary Swedish dinner table. According to statistics from the Coop supermarket chain, spaghetti Bolognese is the dinner most likely to be served. And if you take a look in a Swedish fridge, you'll find Asian chilli sauce and curry pastes happily co-habiting with ketchup and lingonberry jam.
The truth is that Swedes have a keen interest in food, and an unusual openness to foreign flavours. This year 250 new cookery books were published in Sweden, a country with a mere nine million inhabitants - the highest number of new titles per capita in Europe.
How did this culinary curiosity arise? There is no easy answer. One obvious factor is the short growing season that makes Swedes yearn for variation. Importing foreign foods has long been a necessity rather than a luxury. Another key factor is that Sweden is a nation of travellers. Two per cent of the population visited Thailand and on average, every Swede spent three nights in Spain last year. Back home in their kitchens, Swedes excel in reproducing memories of hotter climates and dishes. Almost 60 per cent of all Swedish households own a wok.
The emerging interest in food and flavours has been mirrored, or even preceded, by the development of the restaurant scene. The total number of restaurants in Sweden has risen from 3,000 in 1980 to the present estimate of 10,000. Several Swedish silver and gold medals in Bocuse d'Or and a victory in the Culinary Olympics have created a Bjorn Borg effect. The number of youngsters at catering colleges has grown from 2,000 to 16,000. Becoming a chef is considered a sensible career choice -unlike in other countries, where it might be seen as a last resort, on a par with going to sea or joining the foreign legion.
The appetite for new ingredients is not limited to dinner tables at home either. From the late 1980s until as recently as five years ago fusion cooking ruled virtually unchallenged in the upper echelons of restaurant fashion. Ingredients and techniques from all over the world merged or clashed on the plates. At its best it was pure fun, and diners came to anticipate the unexpected. At its worst it meant total abandonment of all culinary rules and a blatant disregard for fresh and locally produced food. A weak culinary self-esteem and an admiration for American fusion chefs contributed to the huge impact of fusion cooking in Sweden. Even today many Swedish chefs display a sad preference for dry frozen tuna with the off-taste disguised by a perky mango salsa rather than freshly caught local fish.
Some food critics argue that that the fusion stage was inevitable; the next step on the culinary ladder was a new awareness of quality. Most chefs now prefer a more restrained cuisine. Even Fredsgatan (which once boasted the highest coriander density in Stockholm) works with a more restricted palette of flavourings and the influence is limited to one continent per plate. But you can still spot the occasional pike perch fritters boldly combined with chanterelles and a salsa verde.
Old Swedish traditions were never abandoned completely. Even at some of the poshest restaurants there has always been a prospering niche for the traditional hearty fare; hand-made meat balls, brined meat and slow simmered stews such as "kalops". These are dishes that are too time-consuming to prepare at home. Old classics are definitely reappearing, but now they often arrive with a twist, a little ironic twinkle from the chef. An old timer like "wallenbergare", a cream enhanced veal patty, is served with the traditional lingonberries substituted by a gingery chutney of apples and carrots. These reinvented classics are usually safe bets as they appeal to adventurous and conventional diners alike. Native ingredients like stinging nettles and the wild berry from the sea buck thorn with its exquisite passion fruit aroma, are being rediscovered. A new culinary confidence is slowly gaining foothold.
It is not surprising that the New York Times recently devoted two full pages of praise to the Swedish restaurant scene. The abundance of berries, all the varieties of fish roe ... Fredsgatan (awarded one Guide Rouge star) was described as one of those rare places where "everything works".
Only one thing is certain in the rapidly changing and diverse food scene in Sweden: You can find terrific food.
Source: Swedish Institute
by Lisa Forare Winbladh
(2004/01/21)
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