Swedes strive to balance indulgence, moderation
Balance is at the heart of Swedish cuisine, Steffi Knowles-Dellner says. In contrast to the eating extremes depicted daily on Instagram, she describes the approach as neither strict nor punishing.
“(It’s) a meeting in the middle of healthy eating on the one hand and enjoying life on the other,” the Swedish cookery writer and food stylist says.
For her, one word encapsulates this tradition of eating harmoniously: lagom (pronounced lahgom). The Swedish expression lacks a direct English translation but is “simply a manifestation of equilibrium,” meaning just the right amount.
“The whole idea behind lagom is to approach food with a healthy attitude but then at the same time, (recognize) that life is too short not to eat cake,” Knowles-Dellner says.
In her debut cookbook, Lagom: The Swedish Art of Eating Harmoniously, she illustrates the “varied, flavoursome and light” side of her native cuisine. Rather than setting out to “ride the wave of the new hygge,” she says her goal was to share insight into “real Swedish cooking and family foods.”
Often, knowledge of Swedish cooking doesn’t extend past Ikea canteen classics — meatballs, lingonberry jam and cream sauce — or the “outlandish” fare served at high-end restaurants specializing in New Nordic cuisine. Neither of which represents what she knows as Swedish food, Knowles-Dellner says. “I was really keen to show how many different influences there are on Swedish food,” she adds. “Swedes are really welltravelled and have been for a long time. And we’ve had an enormous influx of immigrants.”
African, Asian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North American newcomers have made an impact on the cuisine, KnowlesDellner says. Her Thai-inspired fiskbullar (fish balls) and cuminscented lamb meatballs served atop couscous are examples of how faraway flavours are incorporated into everyday Swedish dishes.
Spices such as cinnamon and cardamom, now entrenched in the cuisine, first came to Sweden during the Viking age.
Knowles-Dellner highlights them in four recipes in the book for lightly sweetened fikabröd (fika bread); blueberry buns topped with lemon and marzipan; sticky buns topped with salted caramel; and cranberry and clementine buns with maple and pecans.
“Cardamom, cinnamon, saffron and vanilla are all spices that we think of as classically Swedish. I think it surprises people when they visit.”
Recipes excerpted from Lagom: The Swedish Art of Eating Harmoniously by Steffi KnowlesDellner, published by Quadrille Publishing c/o Chronicle Books.