Food History of Scandinavia

The practical, climate- and topography-driven inaccessibility of Scandinavia appears to have driven the shape that food production and consumption have taken in the region over the long haul. That is, the history of food in Scandinavia is in a very real sense a history of food production. Two overarching food-related concepts emerge with implications for the use and development of food in Scandinavia. The first is an impulse toward agricultural self-sufficiency, achieved to varying degrees by specific regions or countries according as the climate and the ability of affected populations to obtain and store or preserve food vary. The second is a tendency toward maximizing in various ways the benefit of such seasonal food resources as are available in a topographically rugged and barren region. Now this may seem an obvious imperative for any culture; however, in

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Scandinavian coffee-table parties, distinguished by a variety of pastries; many open-air luncheon-picnic restaurants (Favish 92-3). The dynamic survives in the kinds of foods associated with interest, focus, and praxis of Scandinavian cuisine and agriculture; indeed, in the peculiar physical environment of Scandinavia cuisine and agriculture are uncommonly connected to each other. Consider the obvious fact that in temperate regions of Europe and America vegetables and fruits, which have digestive benefits, are seasonally but (at least in the modern period) routinely available. In Scandinavia, where such foods are seasonally available (and in the modern period certainly available as far as ready markets are concerned), alternative food resources have been employed to achieve the same physical benefits as fresh fruit while also sustaining life and contributing to the culture. Familiar words associated with food in Scandinavia have passed into the language of popular culture. Some cognate variant of the Swedish word smorgasbord is synonymous with food presentation in each country in the area. In Sweden, it is a name given to ôthe first course of a festive meal, or a complete meal, and consists of varied fish dishes, cold cuts, meatb
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Approximate Word count = 2024
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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