The country with the unknown cuisine.

Everybody got it! Now I dont get my prize.

Hi vandana, well the prize has to go to fjaril for accepting my teasing in such a good spirit. Now through mylot I have learnt to know that India incorporates many more styles of cooking than those I was familiar with in the UK, for instance I really don't fancy the less spicey cooking of Malpoas home region which is coconut based as prefer really spicey. In the same way European cuisine differs greatly between countries so what they eat in Sweden bears no similarity to what we eat in Greece,or France. In the UK for instance the named most popular dish is chicken tikka masala I believe. Greek cuisine is totally lacking in spice and instead is flavoured with lemon and oregano, whilst so far the delights of Swedish cuisine still remain a virtual mystery beyond raw pickled herrings. Actally you'd love it then knowing your predilictio for pickles. These are known as rollmop herrings and are available in jars.

There IS one dish that is SOO pungent that I personally cannot eat it. Have done once and now more ever. I just need to smell it and everything comes back to me... Syrströmming!!
Herring that is fermented for a few months and then canned. The gases build up and the smell is unbelievable These unusual containers of syrströmming can be found in supermarkets all over Sweden.
Species of Haloanaerobium bacteria are responsible for the in-can ripening. These bacteria produce carbon dioxide and a number of compounds that account for the unique odor: pungent (propionic acid), rotten-egg (hydrogen sulfide), rancid-butter (butyric acid), and vinegary (acetic acid).( THANKS WIKIPEDIA FOR THOSE DETAILS!!

I kid you not!!

watch this, as some German lads come to northern Sweden to try out this product.. they are speaking German, not Swedish, in case you are wondering.,, but ACTIONS speak louder than words!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iebNdCSqWmc

DARE TO TRY IT??

Ask Dawn - she will know!

Hi cynthiann, I don't need to ask Dawn, I already know, as did half of page one. You were way off the mark I'm afraid. Maybe IKEA would be a clue to keep you going

Nope, I did not know. I didn't realize that Sweden was neutral...

thea= now if you had said the word Ikea then I would have known. Never have guessed it was neutral though. But is it really as isn't it part of the EU?

It's always been neutral when it comes to wars in the last 200 years.

I plead ignorance as I never knew this.

aren't you glad you were able to be with this fascinating history and geography lesson, though, cynthia?? I mean, look what we know now.. that ABBA, the group who was the reason for the musical 'mamma mia', is Swedish! AND Swedish furniture is sold the world over in a store called IKEA.. AND we have great cuisine AND fabulous chocalate!!
Then there is that neutrality thing that came up in this discussion.. yup. Sweden was behaving itself a very long time.

AND Sweden is also a member of the EU, as you mentioned. Thanks for bringing THAT point to us!!

I thought it was ABBA! But way off on the chocolate.

Hi lina, so you know already that you were right I see. Yes no one got the DAIM bars, maybe it is only me who has to put up with being tormented about them daily by the Swede here. I've just pointed out somewhere else that Greece invented meatballs (keftethes). Anyway Loucs put a menu up now in box 2 and I've got a nice pork, potato and apple casserole simmering in the oven, prepared with fresh sage leaves, It sounds more inviting than either Greek or Swedish food.

Thea, we call the meatballs "chiftele" here in Romania, which sounds so much like keftethes that I hold the Greek responsible for bringing them to Romania. Not that it would be a bad thing! Love meatballs! As long as they are not crammed with herbs and spices.

I think you are correct to blame us for the meatballs stvasile, I'm pretty certain we invented them, along with pizza.

I love rye bread from Sweden, and hubby and I will have to shop the shops in Linsborg and I am sure we will find some Daim bars if they are available anywhere in the US.

They sell them at IKEA Gerty.

But the bread IS fantastic.. some of it tastes a little French, but then we had a french KING one time..,, yes we have a King here still.

Guess what fjaril, I'm anti-royal. Is there much of an anti-royal movement is Sweden to remove the hereditary head?

Are you really? Probably for very good reason.. but,although I comment on occasion, I cannot be bothered enough to make any fuss. I have more problems with politicians who pretend they are royalty and expect some level of respect that really should be earned.. shall I leave it at that,for now, my friend? sounds like a topic in the making..hint!!

I did put a couple of anti royal ones up in pe but you must have missed them fjaril, I know one was something like about philip and the palace.

yes I DID!! I will check them out then,.. never a dull moment with YOU around discussing, is there!

Hi fjaril, thea does have some of the best discussion and truly never dull!

aaah, aren't YOU sweet to stick up for and support thea. you sweet linama!! Nice to meet you!

Hi rameshkumaar, stop taunting me with Indian food, after Chinese dim sum it is my favourite and I adore spice which we don't get at all in Greek cooking. My stomach manages perfectly well with Indian food, no need for concern there, the only thing I wouldn't fancy is the savoury aspect of breakfasts. I also know the difference between real food and made for the British public versions.
There were actually a lot of Indian restaurants in the area I lived in the UK as there was a large immigrant population there though many were from Bangladesh. I can never recall the name of my favourite dish as they only ever did it in one place and I haven't seen it recreated anywhere in years, it was a sauce which was both sour and hot having plenty of spice with lemon. Now the only time I get to eat Indian food is when I prepare it myself and it is nowhere near to the standard I would like. I do a good bindi bhaji but I would much prefer to taste a real Indian version. So what times dinner?

'Bindi bhaji', wow, I never knew that Indian foods are so popular.Well of course I have not tasted bindi bhaji, the reason being that I do not like bindis heh, heh.
We also have our own version of momos, the fried ones which are called samosas. This is basically a north Indian dish, which is taken with sweet and sour sauce. In south we have both the fried and boiled version of momos, which comes both in sweet and sour varieties.
For breakfast you must try our best food export which is the South Indian, Idly, vada, sambar and chutney. This is a little bit spicy, but once you taste this, I can assure you that you will become addicted to it.There is also the Masala Dosa. Both these items are made from rice and lentils.

Hi Rames...you've never heard of texas chili? hotsauce? louisiana gumbo?

they give one a hot mouth AND a stomach ache lol.

Of course Indian food is popular outside India as it is excellent food. The Greeks don't eat it of course as it is not Greek, but don't be offended, they don't eat any food that is not Greek. I did once make 2 Indian dishes for some Greek friends and of course they were obliged to eat it, the men managed it without compaint, one of them loved it because he'd been in the navy and had eaten it on his travels and thus returned to Greece having been introduced to non Greek foods, and the woman smelt it in disdain, looked at it congealing on her plate, and finally ate it when it had gone cold, a habit of many Greek people to let their hot food go cold. Needless to say the woman now will happily avoid my cooking for life as she hated it.
However you have not persuaded me to eat chutney for breakfast.

I do not blame your friends thea. Naturally if some body asks me to eat cold food, even I will not be able to do it, since I have been used to hot and spicy food.So it is no wonder your Greek friends did not like the hot Indian foods.
I have seen people enjoying sushi, the Japanese food, so I thought I will try it, and I nearly gaged when I tasted the raw fish. You see we like our food well cooked, no semi cooked food for us.
Next time you visit India, you let me know, I shall feed you the authentic south Indian break fast, then you will love chutneys, and not only chutneys but also Sambar(Some thing like a thick lentil soup).

Oh but I love Indian chutneys, just please not for breakfast. Some habits are hard to break and the traditional Greek breakfast is strong black Greek coffee with cigarettes. Usually around about noon we eat Greek yogurt with Greek honey, I would simply have no appetite for a meal as such in the mornings so will have to ask you to hold the chutney for the evening.

This has been most interesting and educational, my friends!

The shocker was the coffee and cigarettes. You ARE kidding,, right?

Of course not. As I've said before coffee and cigarettes are compulsory in Greece.

Cigarettes in the morning? How gross. Of course I need the strong coffee,my day will not start without the coffee, but cigarettes. Well I do not smoke, so I do not know the pleasures of smoking ( I tried to smoke, to impress the girls, well, I never liked the after taste of it.).Do you people eat so light. Only honey and yogurt for lunch. Now I understand the saying Greek godeess, it is no wonder you people have such a beautiful figure.

and why they are so sweet!

Hi Holly, I expected fjaril to list the foods found on a smorgasbord but he didn't, instead he was wandering somewhere else with his thoughts as per usual. Instead Louc has now provided a sample menu courtesy of a Swedish place in the UK but the addition of all that dill is a bit off putting.

Like you, what a suprise, I prefer a selection of foods rather than one plateful and my favourite of all is dim sum. I love Spanish tapas, and Greek food is much more to my taste when there's a lot of us and a selection of mezzes and salads sit in the middle of the table.

I also know some Swedes and as you say they are very nice people, but they do have the strange habit of not needing many clothes in winter. As they are imports maybe they think it's warm here.

We are alike in some ways, including the feeling about dill! I can't say I hate it, but it's certainly not my favorite either. About the only thing I eat that has dill on a fairly regular basis are dill pickles, but still --I prefer sweet pickles more.

I love Spanish tapas too. I love a lot of Spanish food anyway, so what better way to have it? Lots of little tastes instead of one huge meal of the same. I didn't know the Greeks did multi-dish meals. Most of the tavernas I've been to are like family cooking, where there is one main dish and side dishes--maybe a dessert. I'd love to try a buffet of different Greek dishes.

A few years back we went out every Friday and Saturday night to eat, when there was no school the next day, with the Ex. Always on the Saturday it was a huge gathering of Greeks and lots of dishes were ordered which meant no need for a main as it is almost always grilled meat in the winter. The table would be filled with squid, baked feta with tomatoes and green peppers, cheese in oil, beetroots with the green leafy bits attached, dips, bread and oil, local sausage with orange in, different salads, and saganaki of course. Then there's the traditional mezzes of course as well. Actually when I've eaten in other parts of Greece the food has had much more variety. I forgot the anchovies. I'd much rather pick at a bit of everything that way, so the more who are there the better the food.

so now I am blessed with the secrets:" revelations of the past" and "menus of the present".. Very nice of you to share.. You are so obliging considering I had not yet mustered the courage to ask you!
Thankyou myLady Thea of the Olive Grove!!

nyhollyjean.. you sure sound so very nice and friendly and even kind to Swedish folk. Thankyou for that!
I guess we ARE a little reserved.. yes, I remember visits to the US and also when I was in Canada.. the people are ever so open and friendly.. a very nice feeling, in fact, but, yes, we are more reserved when you tell it like you did.. Interesting.

Nice to meet you here! Thanx for that also!

You're still being nice to me fjaril, I thought you were beginning to get cross, but see you're meeting all my nice friends on here, grab them while you can. Holly is a find.

well I certainly can say the same about you!!

Ah ha,I see you already know that you got it wrong.

Actually I just asked my son this and after a few attempt he gave up in it and when the answer was revealed he said he wouldn't have got it. I suppose most countries are famed by the wars they are involved in rather than not.

I couldn't think of a Swiss group but then I couldn't think of a Swedish chocolate either. Clearly I need to come back on over to Europe and discover some new things.

I'm gonna wait until it warms up again though!

oh yeah PS we do have Swedish smorgasbords over here, does that count as cuisine?

Fjaril would say so.

How come you missed ABBA dawnald. This group was quite popular, and since you are also in my age group, you must have certainly heard this popular music group.

yes dawn.. it is sheer cuisine, but then not all French as that word suggests.. Many delectable well planned eye pleasing and palate tantalizing dishes.. so well presented it seems a shame to disturb them, but once the utensil ( or hand) goes to your lips and you get a taste, it is but a heavenly ecstasy to the brain and stomach... one cannot but comment and keep eating.. so it is..
we are also great coffee drinkers with a little something pastry-wise to accompany it.. we eat well and appreciate that we can.

O yes,, we also have quite a variey of cheeses!! to die for...

Finlander60 would say so, too.

Dang, Sweden was my second guess... oh well. No gold star for me today.

Hi misskatpegasus, you must have peeked, you weren't supposed to. I'm not sure what Switzerland is famous for beyond chocolate and banks, unless perhaps the Heidi books were set there.

Ah yes Heidi.. a wonderful story,, quaint and old, but still it put Switzerland on the map for alot of the western world I bet!

Hi stvasile,now I was hoping you'd come along as I wanted to ask your opinion about dill. Apparently Swedish food is packed with the stuff and knowing your herb aversion I wondered how it rated. I stated I hated dill but now think I actally may be confusing it with another herb, but most definitely not oregano which I know for sure I loathe.
Box 2 came up with a menu of Swedish foods for those of us kept in the dark by our Swedish friend. Rollmop herrings are a favourite of theirs. The chocolate bar is the DAIM bar which we sadly lack over here.

Never heard of DAIM chocolate bars, but I'm good with the dill!
I fight alongside the dill forests in our garden in the war we wage against my mother and her forests of parsley .
From my experience dill is more prolific than parsley - it grows all over the place doing a wonderful job in spreading its seeds by itself.
My mother uses dill especially when cooking cabbage, but also in meatballs sometimes.
I've seen the menu, and the rollmop herrings confirm my suspicion of fish importance in Swedish cuisine.

Well I'm pretty sure now that I confused dill with something else which luckily we don't have over here, unless dill is an extremely thin grass stalk like thing, in which case they cut it up very small here and ruin salads with it. But no one ever knows what it is actually named here.
When IKEA comes to Romania you too will be able to taste DAIM bars, they are completely wonderful but as I say, we don't get them here either, but most other countries do.

I think you got the dill right. It has some short needle-like leaves that branch out. I don't like it in salads either. It's like you're only eating dill - that's the only taste you can feel.
We have IKEA stores in Romania, and maybe the DAIM bars too, it's just that I don't interest much in furniture and never seen these chocolate bars so far...

Dill is lovely and ferny looking and certain caterpillars will only choose dill to become butterflies on. I wonder if you are confusing it with fennel, which is kind of anise like.

How can I confuse dill with fennel when I love fennel.

stvasile.. aren't you sharp guessing Sweden! YES, we ARE known for the meatballs and the smörgåsbord and fish is a big staple.. BUT there is alot of delicious food since the viking days and we eat much what others in the north eat,and the cuisine from sooo many other countries because of migration and immigration... but the WAY we prepare it ends up with such a delicious taste that it is indeed almost sinfully good.
We really do not use so much dill is it but a garnish which adds to the flavour of the food just so lightly. If you have had alot, it is NOT good. I love parsley also, but if you put in too much, I suddenly don’t!

Everything should be prepared with love not overkill. Have a look at the foto of dill, Thea, so you know exactly what it looks like. Thanks!

That looks suspiciously like the stuff that Takis puts in his lettuce salads, cut so tiny it is impossible to pick out and most offending in detracting from the taste of the lettuce.

Am I the only person in Greece who likes fresh basil in my salads?

dill is only to be used in certain dishes and then SPARINGLY.. otherwise this pungent taste messes with the flavours.. it must be just so and it is a garnish so need NOT be left,, just pick it out! The right amount has already found its place and the herb itself need not be eaten as well. It LOOKS nice on the dishes.. no doubt some left over French touches, but it doesn't mean you need to eat it..sweep it gently away and enjoy the fish or the eggs or whatever you find it on.. and it should not be in a salad!
-Always completely visible so you have choices!!honest

fjaril, if I may cut in for a moment...
Thea knows I have a big problem with herbs... It so happens dill is among the very few herbs I tolerate, but you do have an excellent point is saying that dill (and I think we can extend that to all herbs) must not be used in excess. You just add it for a flavor, not to make absolutely everything in the pot taste like chlorophyll.
I must disagree about picking the ornamental herbs... You can put it aside if it's placed on the plate as a small branch with leaves o as whole leaves, but not when they cut it into small pieces and sprinkle it all over the food... It would mean that you spend more time picking out the devious green pieces than actually eating..

I've given up on sending meat back to the kitchen when I've ordered it without oregano as they just think I must be deranged and how can I not want it, so they put it on anyway. When I used to send it back I think they just washed it off under the tap and sent it back. But you are so right Stvasile, you cannot pick tiny bits of oregano or dill out of a salad.

stvasile.. sorry if I misled you there. I never chop finely this dill, never, because this pungent taste leaks over and in everything, no, I

It is as you describe it, small branches, very..no longer than a thumb and certainly not less that the first joint of said thumb. You are, of course, right that one shouldn’t need to waste time picking it out of food, and in this case it doesn’t waste time. a little flick of the fork to the unwanted branch and it is aside. Very right you are. Thankyou for adding this!!

Hi Hatley, I must direct fjaril to your post as it will amuse him immensley as our resident Swede here. I don't follow pop either but I think the whole world must have heard of ABBA, the pop group. I know that logonberries are Swedish but don't believe I've ever come across one though you appear to be against them. The fish dish I am familiar with from Sweden is the rollmop herrings but haven't had one in years and wouldn't fancy one now thinking back on them. I'm sure fjaril will pop along for a chat and let you know about the lutefisch.

Hi Hatley! Aaah, so you were exposed to some Swedish cuisine! aHA! Lutfisk is a very special Christmas dish and I myself am not partial to it AT ALL, but it takes loving preparation..haha.. as you already know and described.. and so we don’t bother in this house.

There is too much else to eat.. that is really good both in taste and in texture.
Sorry to hear you don’t like lingonsylt/ lingonsauce.. it is like cranberry sauce actaully and I love it, but that too may well be an acquired taste.
Thanks for sharing with us!!

I found this on the web: http://en.wikipedia.org/w... cuisine could be described as centered around cultured dairy products, crisp and soft breads, berries and stone fruits, meats like beef and pork, seafood, shellfish, fish, pickled fish (and pickled vegetables), with vegetable staples including potato and the kale and cabbage families. Potatoes are often served as a side dish, most often boiled with a sauce. Swedish cuisine has a huge variety of breads of different shapes and sizes, made of rye, wheat, oat, white, dark, sour-dough, whole grain; soft flatbreads and crispbreads. There are many sweetened bread types and some use spices. Many meat dishes, steaks, game and meatballs are served with lingonberry jam. Fruit soups with high viscosity, like rose hip soup and blueberry soup (blåbärssoppa) served cold and warm, are typical for Swedish cuisine. Butter and margarine are the primary fat source, although olive oil is becoming more popular, as are other Italian imports, especially pasta, pizza and wine. Sweden's pastry tradition features a variety of yeast buns, cookies, biscuits and cakes, many of them being less sugary than those in the U.S. Coffeebreaks with a pastry (fika) is enormously popular in Sweden."

Karen, you can't just go and google the cuisine, we are trying to make Fjaril reveal all as he's been denying to do so for days.

I did notice though that he hasn't mentioned fruit soup, and google have got it completely wrong about the olive oil. Fjaril swears by nothing but a rather hideous concoction of liquid margarine which goes under the unfortunate name of 'gloop'. Indeed he is so mad about the stuff that in his photos he has a picture of himself actully serenading a bottle of said 'gloop'.

Peaceful!! Ever nice to see you took the interest to do a little search here and share the results!! Very fine! Yes the fruit soups are good too but nothing that stands out for me as mouth watering, so Thea, you need not be concerned about my negligence! Of course the olive oil IS very popular and our cupboard Always has a bottle.. the becel is for many other dishes.

and for shame! Liar Liar Pants on Fire! I do not nor have I ever had a suggestive foto taken with a bottle of anything! the very thought! Shear Greek fantasy from too much o-o!

I never once said it was suggestive, but you do have a photo of a bottle of gloop and I pictured you on one knee with camera singing to it whilst you snapped.

alright my friend,, THAT image I accept! hahahahah.. I should know by now that your imagination is in full bloom whilst the olives are ripe for the picking! Tell me.. do YOU have any involvement there?

With the olives - ah yes, I must put a discussion up about the olive picking, it officially starts tomorrow.

Okej thea! Awaiting with baited breath, my friend!