French macaroons with
"Swedish" parfums such as saffron. Photo: Solveig Rundquist
Just
about the only foods you can preface with the word "Swedish" are "meatballs" and
"fish". But meatballs are mundane and Swedish Fish are made in Canada. So what
foods truly set Sweden apart? The Local's Solveig Rundquist heads on a food tour
to find out.
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“New Nordic" cuisine has become a culinary
keyword since Copenhagen restaurant “noma”
popped up in 2004 and became a top-notch Michelin restaurant. It has been voted
best in the world for several years in a row. But that's Copenhagen, this is
Stockholm.
I set off on a Stockholm
Food Tour to find out if the Swedes are as impressive as the Danes. Guide
Francisco assures me, as we hobble across cobblestones, that the foods featured
on the Stockholm tour are uniquely Swedish, painting a much different culinary
picture than the sister tours in either Copenhagen or Oslo. All three have
been successful, and within six months of its birth last year the Stockholm tour
climbed into the top ten activities for the city on Trip Advisor.
The food tour begins at Hötorget, which
has been the scene of one of Stockholm's biggest marketplaces for centuries. The
square got its name in 1644 and has remarkably kept its identity and
significance since then. An actual food hall on the square was finished in 1884,
and the current Hötorget Food Hall (Hötorgshallen) has stood since 1958.
Although Hötorgshallen is massive, the
tour only makes one stop - P&B Delicatessen (P&B Delikatesser). And no,
P&B has nothing to do with peanuts or butter - though it was a lot to do
with jelly. The initials stand for Pelle and Björn, two devoted jam-makers with
a taste for the finer things in life. In Sweden that means heavenly
hjortronsylt, or cloudberry jam, made from a remarkably expensive berry that is
native to the Arctic tundra (think fat golden raspberries growing on the
ground).
Tour participants also get a taste of
beloved Swedish liquorice – and more eye candy than you can bear. Displays of
dainty pastel-coloured macaroons are made with "Swedish" flavours such as
saffron, apple-cinnamon, and pepparkaka
(gingerbread).
From there it’s on to more conventional
flavours, at the Chocolate Factory (Chokladfabriken). Or so we thought. The
first sample: a tiny but intense cardamom truffle. Swedes are practically
cardamom connoisseurs, with the oriental spice playing an essential role in
traditional confections despite its far-flung origins.
“Cardamom is the third most-expensive
spice in the world, right after saffron and pure vanilla,” Francisco grins as
one tour member gingerly spits out the confection and wraps it in a napkin. Her
wrinkled nose hints that such Swedish goodies may be an acquired taste – and
delicacies don’t have to be delicious.
Chokladfabriken is somewhat of a foodie
newbie, established in 1999, but has already carved out its niche at three
locales in Stockholm. While all of the chocolates are made on location, the
ingredients come from around the world, including Belgium and France.
The group wanders on to another food hall
– older and grander than Hötorgshallen, the renowned Östermalms Saluhall. In
2007, it was ranked the seventh best indoor food market in the world, and Jamie
Oliver himself has adopted the market as a personal favourite. Here we acquaint
ourselves with Swedish cold cuts – reindeer salami, anyone? – and a cheeky
lesson in Swedish cheese.
“They even put cardamom in their cheese!”
Francisco announces cheerfully, to the mixed delight and despair of his
followers, passing around a tray of spicey Boxholm cheese cubes. “And this,” he
adds, moving on to a tray of Västerbotten, the king of Swedish cheeses, “is a
very special cheese. Legend has it that the milk maid was stirring the cheese
curd and was distracted by her lover, giving it its strong flavour and bitter
notes.”
Unforunately the cheese didn't find too
many lovers among this particular audience, and the tour moves on.
Next is Pocket, the budget bistro little
brother of French-Swedish favourite restaurant Pontus!, where traditional
Swedish appetizer Toast Skagen is on the menu.
The tour tops off with a visit to a candy
shop and then a rustic café in Old Town, where guests indulge in peppermint,
fudge, coffee, and sweet cardamom buns. (Is there a trend here?)
After four hours the group has covered
quite a bit of space, both geographically and on the food map. Contented moans
confirm the satisfaction of many a full belly – although at 700 kronor ($108),
the tour carries a hefty price tag considering the closest thing you get to a
meal is an appetizer. The tour could use some fleshing out – in fact, an
addition of meatballs wouldn’t be half bad.
Perhaps that would be too obvious.
Scandinavia has a penchant – perhaps an obsession – for the new and unique, and
the food tour’s concept in and of itself sheds light on a superfluous feud
between the old and new. The focus is on New Nordic Cuisine, and the foods on
the tour are decidedly traditional. There is a paradox in the fact that the manifesto
of “New” Nordic Cuisine highlights traditional ingredients, methods,
and dishes. It also focuses on (and even requires) local ingredients, whereas
many of the ingredients we spotted on the tour came from around the world –
Belgium, France, Italy, Estonia, etc.
But that’s what Swedes are best at,
borrowing ideas and ingredients and improving them, incorporating them into a
uniquely Swedish identity. And while the foods on Stockholm Food Tour are not
particularly new, nor so exclusively Swedish, the tour is four hours of
Stockholm at its finest.
Solveig Rundquist
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