50 Fun Facts About Scandinavian Food

Surströmming is a fermented version of which fish?

The smaller Baltic strömming is caught before spawning in April and May and fermented for at least six months.

Retailers traditionally release the year's surströmming on which day?

A 1940s royal ordinance banned earlier sales to stop under-fermented fish reaching shops; the date stuck as the 'premiere'.

Lutefisk is dried whitefish cured in what?

It is rehydrated for days and takes on a gelatinous texture; the name literally means 'lye fish'.

Which fish is most commonly used for lutefisk?

Ling and burbot are used occasionally; it is served at Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish Christmas tables.

Smørrebrød is usually built on which bread?

The dense dark sourdough rye is buttered before cold cuts, fish or cheese go on top.

What does 'smørrebrød' literally mean?

The Swedish equivalent smörgås translates, oddly, as 'butter goose'.

Which Copenhagen restaurateur opened a smørrebrød restaurant with a famous long menu in the 1880s?

Henry Stryhn later popularised liver pâté by delivering it around the city by bicycle.

Gravlax is salmon cured with salt, sugar and which herb?

It is served with a mustard-dill sauce that Danes call rævesovs, 'fox sauce'.

The 'grav' in gravlax refers to what medieval practice?

Fishermen salted the salmon and fermented it above the high-tide line; the word means 'to dig'.

Swedish meatballs are traditionally served with jam made from which berry?

The tart jam cuts through the cream gravy and mashed potatoes.

In which year did IKEA add Swedish meatballs to its store cafeterias?

By 2022 it was serving over a billion meatballs a year worldwide.

In 2018, Sweden's official Twitter account claimed meatballs originated where?

The claim, tied to King Charles XII's exile, was refuted by food historians and retracted.

What does the Swedish word köttbullar literally mean?

The term first appeared in Cajsa Warg's cookbook of 1755.

Why do Swedes traditionally eat pea soup on Thursdays?

The yellow ärtsoppa is followed by thin pancakes; the armed forces still serve it to conscripts every Thursday.

What is the classic Swedish pea soup called?

Kalops is a meat stew, raggmunk a potato pancake and pytt i panna a fried hash.

Jansson's temptation is a Swedish casserole of potatoes, onions, cream and what?

Swedes call the sprats 'ansjovis', which is why the dish is so often mistranslated as anchovies.

Smörgåsbord became known in the US at which event?

It was served at the Swedish Pavilion's Three Crowns Restaurant.

What is the Swedish Christmas buffet called?

Lutfisk, gravlax and meatballs are regulars; a lighter påskbuffé appears at Easter.

Swedish crispbread was traditionally baked as a round loaf with a hole for what reason?

Crispbreads were baked just twice a year and hung to dry, possibly also keeping rats away.

What is the Swedish coffee-and-cake break called?

Sweden ranks among the world's top coffee consumers per capita.

Sweden's Cinnamon Roll Day, Kanelbullens dag, falls on which date?

Swedish kanelbulle dough typically includes cardamom, and the day has been promoted since 1999.

A semla is a cardamom bun filled with whipped cream and what?

In Finland a jam-filled version competes with the almond original, a debate as heated as pineapple on pizza.

Semlor are traditionally associated with which day?

In Sweden it is also called fettisdagsbulle, the 'Fat Tuesday bun'.

In which month are Swedish crayfish parties traditionally held?

The harvest was legally limited to late summer for most of the 20th century; paper hats and moon lanterns are customary.

Under EU rules, akvavit's dominant flavour must come from caraway and/or which seed?

It is distilled from grain or potatoes and is typically 40% alcohol.

What is the best-known Swedish drinking song sung before a shot of akvavit?

Such songs are called snapsvisor; in Norway akvavit is sipped slowly and unchilled instead.

What do Danes call the pastry the rest of the world knows as 'Danish'?

It means 'Viennese bread'; in Austria the same pastry is a Kopenhagener.

Flæskesteg, a Danish national dish, is roast pork always served with what?

It is the traditional Christmas Eve dinner, with boiled and caramelised potatoes.

Rødgrød med fløde is a Danish dessert of what?

Its pronunciation is so hard for foreigners that Danes have used it as a shibboleth since the early 1900s.

Danish æbleskiver, eaten in December, are spherical cakes made with what?

Despite the name meaning 'apple slices', there are no apples in them.

What prize traditionally goes to whoever finds the whole almond in Danish risalamande?

The cold rice pudding with cherry sauce is eaten on Christmas Eve.

What is the Danish hot-dog stand called?

They serve the bright red røde pølser with remoulade, mustard and a bun on the side.

Which Copenhagen restaurant was named the world's best five times between 2010 and 2021?

Its name squashes together 'nordisk' and 'mad', Nordic food.

Who co-founded Noma with René Redzepi?

Meyer also drove the 2004 New Nordic Cuisine manifesto signed by chefs from across the region.

The New Nordic Cuisine manifesto was written in which year?

Chefs met in Copenhagen to champion 'purity, simplicity and freshness' and seasonal local produce.

Where did Noma hold its final regular dinner service in December 2024?

Redzepi cited the financial and emotional toll of fine dining; Noma continues as a food lab.

Brunost gets its brown colour and sweet taste from what?

Whey, milk and cream are boiled down until the lactose caramelises.

Which milkmaid is credited with creating modern firm brunost in Gudbrandsdalen in 1863?

Her cheese is said to have rescued the valley's struggling dairy economy.

Fårikål, Norway's national dish, combines mutton with which vegetable?

Whole black peppercorns go in the pot, and over 70% of Norwegians eat it in early autumn.

When is Fårikål Feast Day celebrated in Norway?

A 594 kg portion in Oslo in 2012 set a Guinness World Record.

Norwegian rakfisk is made by fermenting which fish?

It is salted under a weight for one to three months and eaten uncooked on lefse or flatbread.

Lefse, the soft Norwegian flatbread, is made mainly from what?

It is rolled with butter and sugar, or wrapped around lutefisk, and cooked on a big flat griddle.

Pinnekjøtt, a western Norwegian Christmas dish, is cured ribs of which animal?

The name means 'stick meat' because the ribs are steamed on a bed of birch sticks.

Smalahove, a Norwegian Christmas-season oddity, is made from what?

The head is torched, salted, dried and boiled for about three hours, served with mashed swede.

Which Norwegian product is described as the region's biggest gift to international food?

It is now a major export, often served with scrambled eggs, dill and mustard sauce.

Hákarl, Iceland's fermented national dish, is made from which animal?

Hung to dry for four to five months, it reeks of ammonia and is washed down with brennivín.

Norwegians whip cloudberries with cream and sugar into a dessert called what?

The amber Arctic berry grows wild and is never farmed commercially.

Which Finnish liqueur is made from cloudberries?

Finns also eat the berries warm with leipäjuusto, a squeaky 'bread cheese'.

What does the Swedish term husmanskost describe?

It comes from husman, 'house owner', and covers pea soup, herring, meatballs and pytt i panna.

At Swedish midsummer, new potatoes are traditionally served with what?

Chives and sour cream accompany them, and the year's first strawberries follow as dessert.