Greatest Holiday Ever....

I have just discovered that the Swedes have the greatest holiday ever!!

Våffledagen!

(Waffle Day)

According to my American calendar this day is listed as "Feast of the Annunciation" (I lack the religious training to know what that is all about), but apparently in Sweden--maybe it is a Lutheran thing--that means the whole country has waffles. Not bad, not bad at all.

Swedish waffles are thinner than American waffles and way thinner than those Belgian behemoths. Combine that with the fact that a Swedish waffleiron has 220 volts surging through it and you can cook a waffle in about 42 seconds. Then you go for the syrup (which oddly enough comes in a bottle that looks like it should be full of motoroil), and scoop on pile of lingon berries from up north and you've ot a meal! I tell, you, these Swedes have it all figured out.


I might as well tell you about some of the other bits of typically Swedish cuisine I have discovered here so far...

First of all, there is knäckebröd which is an absolute icon of Swedish culture. These are big round crackers with a hole in the middle so they can be hung over the stove and kept dry (background). I am not sure where the name comes from, but if I had to guess, it is because these rigid, almost neolithic wheels make a "knäcke" sound when you try to bite into them (okay, my Swedish dictionary translates 'knäcka' as 'to crack or break. Crispy.' Makes sense...).

The proper way to eat knäckebröd is to load it up with cheese, sliced vegetables, or a boiled liverspread that is really more popular with the Danes.

Now cheese in Europe is sold by the metric ton...well, almost. There is no such thing as 'a bit of cheese'. It is only available in wheels, half wheels, and wedges of wheels. So, before you blow your savings on a 'piece of cheese,' it is wise to make sure you ask for a sample first because if you don't like a particular kind (and there are more kinds of cheese in Europe than there are pigeons at a carnival), you'll just have knuckle down and eat it anyway.

Fish is quite common too. In fact, it is the primary source of protein in this part of the world--an interesting fact considering that the Baltic fisheries largely collapsed in the 1950s. The Soviet fisheries expansion didn't help matters.

Frankly I've become quite fond of these little guys, sill. They are a species of herring but don't receive the honorary title of 'herring' because they are not Baltic herring. Location, location, location...

Usually you find sill in this form; packed in a jar and smothered in all kinds of exciting flavors like garlic, mustard, onion etc...

But if you want your regular, meaty, semi-bovine protein source around here, you generally turn to the all-providing reindeer. You can think of them as the Buffaloes of the North. The Sami (native peoples in northern Scandinavia) seem to get everything from these animals. Indeed, Reindeer can be served in a variety of ways that the Vasa Museet cafeteria has explored thoroughly. Everything from reindeer roasts to reindeer sausages to reindeer jerky and reindeer steaks is available. My, it is good stuff....

Another popular Swedish dish is pytt i panne. It is the potato side of Swedish cuisine (a very large part of Swedish cuisine). It is very Midwestern at first glance...or rather, Midwestern is very Scandinavian... It is diced and fried potatoes with all kind of onions, peppars, and spices with a few eggs plopped on top to keep you warm on a winter day. The fancier the restaurant you visit, the more 'fluid' the eggs will be. I've become a big fan of this as well, though the cholesterol must be through the roof...

But then again, I can't exactly say that Swedish dietary habits are the healthiest I've ever seen. In addition to the five meal breaks a day (which I love); frukost, morngon fika, lunch, eftermiddagsfika, kvällsmat...

...there are treats like pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies) that can be bought by the tin and as a rule generally form at least one large product pyramid in any grocery store...

...and then there are also the confectionary shops that are absolutely overflowing with candy of every sort. These places are about as common as a Starbucks back home (by the way, I have sighted two of these coffee joints in town...they're spreading...). Somehow, despite the fat and sugar-rich diet here in Sweden, the population is remarkably slender. A few try to explain the odd phenomena by citing the constant metabolic effort to stay warm during the winters, but overall it appears that it is simply a matter of excercise. With such easy mass transit and such pleasing streets, most Stockholmers prefer to walk--regardless of the weather. Then on the weekends everybody and their uncle's dog go out walking, skiing, skating and so on.

Well, on that note, it is time for lunch. I hope they have reindeer today....