LEARNING ABOUT SWEDISH FOOD

Swedish cuisine is mostly hearty meat or fish with potatoes, derived from the days when men needed to chop wood all day long. Besides the ubiquitous potatoes, modern Swedish cuisine is to a great extent based on bread. Traditional everyday dishes are called husmanskost (pronounced whos-mans-cost). They include:

- Meatballs (k?ttbullar), the internationally most famous Swedish dish. Served with potatoes, brown sauce and lingonberry jam.
- Hash (pytt i panna) consisting of meat, onions and potatoes, all diced and fried. Sliced beetroots and a fried egg are mandatory accessories.
- Pea soup (?rtsoppa) with diced pork, followed by thin pancakes afterwards. Traditionally eaten on Thursdays since medieval times when the servants had half the day off as it is an easy meal to prepare.
- Pickled herring (sill), available in various types of sauces. Commonly eaten with bread or potatoes for summer lunch or as a starter.
- Blodpudding, a black sausage made by pig's blood and flour. Slice it, fry it and eat it with lingonberry jam.
- Gravlax, a widely known and appreciated cold appetizer made by thin slices of salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill.
- Falukorv, a big baloney from Falun. Sliced, fried and eaten with ketchup and mashed potatoes.
- Sweden has more varieties of bread than most other countries. Many of them are whole-grain or mixed grain, containing wheat, barley, oats, compact and rich in fiber. Some notable examples are tunnbr?d (thin wrap bread), kn?ckebr?d (hard bread - might not be an interesting experience, but is nearly always available), and different kinds of seasoned loaves. Bread is mostly eatened as simple sandwiches, with thin slices of cheese or cold cut. Some more exotic spreads are messm?r (whey cheese) and leverpastej (liver paté).
- Tunnbr?drulle, a fast food dish, consisting of a bread wrap with mashed potatoes, a hot dog and some vegetables.
- Kroppkakor Potato dumpling stuffed with diced pork.