Sweden's Christmas Food from India?!

My sociological/ anthropological ‘fly-in-the-wall’ perspective on Sweden’s culture, gender and diversity, food, forests, health care and ‘sustainable development’. As an international expat to Sweden, I am often being asked by my friends and family as to how is to live in Sweden. For a person who have lived in various countries, I have learnt the tricks to adapt. One of my friends/mentors from the Netherlands insisted I should jot down anecdotes, observations, and all unbiased interactions with Swedish so that others (like you) can enjoy reading, learning, and may be initiating a dialogue about Sweden and its way of living. This is my first thread of hopefully many more as a LinkedIn blog titled, ‘Sustainable Sweden’.

Is Sweden's Christmas Food from India?

December 24, 2021. SWEDEN. Christmas Eve Morning: Minus five-degree Celsius, white layer of 5 cm snow, and to resemble the weather my morning breakfast is supermarket ready-made Risgrynsgr?t or Swedish ‘rice pudding’ – rice cooked in milk with cinnamon powder and one naughty almond. This supermarket pudding is packed in a flimsy plastic bag, which I pour out in a bowl with a bit of excitement, and a bit of nervousness. It smelled good.

My Bengali mother, if she was alive, would have asked me, "Do you get rice in Sweden? What about the spices?" Whenever I moved to live in a new country - this would be kind of her standard question. As an Indian - that too a Bengali - rice is a staple food. While I was working (with CIFOR) in Indonesia, I took her to Bali and we lived in a lovely cottage overlooking rice paddy field! I for sure would have made her taste Swedish rice pudding - she, as a food critic, would have dismissed it as 'dudh baath' i.e. rice and milk - a simple version used to feed to toddlers. To be qualified as a Bengali payesh, Swedish risgrynsgr?t would have to be prepared in Govindobhog rice (a fragrant sweet rice) boiled in full cream milk for several hours and to be mixed with date jaggery (patali gud or nolen gur). Yet, I think, she would have been happy to know that in Scandinavia - where rice never grows nor does cinnamon or where 90% of children have never seen paddy field - you wake wake up on Christmas morning to eat rice pudding with cinnamon powder!

One of my office colleague explains, in the past (early 18th century) the traders travelling in the ship would bring rice and spices from Asia, which used to be the most exotic and expensive food items. The way spices travelled reminds me of one the nice book I have read by Giles Milton - Nathaniel's Nutmeg. My colleague, Kent, suggests that because the rice was expensive Swedish families might have been able to only afford to buy in less quantity. During Christmas, you want to share the best food with your family and friends, and thus, rice and spices like cinnamon, vanilla, and cardamon found its way to Swedish kitchen.

Ten million Swedish would have their own story of how rice pudding became their tradition. However, the one I loved the most is from one of the members of Swedish Food group in one of the social media platforms. This closed group of some 15k members is mostly 'Swedish root' people settled abroad - often, these non-resident Swedish are more traditional than others! One of the members responded to my curiosity and replied, "My mormor (grandmother) who migrated to USA in late 1880s would never celebrate Christmas with rice pudding. A 'tradition' we continue in our family in Americas. I bet she never saw rice field or cared little from where (and how) cinnamon is harvested, but to be a good Christian - she documented her rice pudding recipe. Our mormor's recipe has been passed down the generation; does origins of ingredients matter to make it as part of our Swedish tradition?"

Eliane, working with corporate food industry in the Netherlands, explains, "Swedish traditions have deep entangled roots of corporate influence in economics of the country. Why cloudberries or mushrooms did not become part of our tradition is because these foods are 'commons'." Food as commons means everyone has access for free to forage from nature. Thus, corporates would have no business in selling what is abundantly available in nature, in Sweden. She further says, "Sweden has corporate influence in creating traditional food - 4th October is the cinnamon bun day, Taco (yes Mexican tacos) is every Friday night, or pizza day is on the 1st of January. We make profit by selling exotic food, not local. Local food is (un)sustainable for business" Eliane with her family in Stockholm loves to eat kebab pizza on New Year's day - it is a tradition for her!

On 14th January, every year, Indian celebrates Sankranti - a (rice) harvest festival. It is one of the festival - irrespective of diverse ethnic backgrounds, rice pudding is the key element of that day. I would definitely miss the taste of India, but am glad that in case I have strong carving then, one of the supermarkets in Sweden might still have a ready-made risgrynsgr?t packet in stock. Or, I just have to wait for next Christmas morning breakfast, in Sweden.