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Midsummer Feasting--the Scandinavian Way
| Article
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19327 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1991 |
832 Words |
| Author
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Eloise Paananen
Eloise Paananen is a food and travel writer based in
Washington, D.C. |
Of all the ethnic cooking styles in America today, perhaps the most friendly, healthful, and versatile come from the Scandinavian countries. There is a certain heartwarming conviviality associated with foods prepared in traditional ways and arranged on the popular smorgasbord table. In Minnesota and Florida, New England and the Northwest, from California to the Midwest, thousands of American Scandinavians carry on their traditional mid-June celebrations with costumed dancers, choruses, fiddlers and accordionists, tall tales, prayers, and delicious dining.
As with other ethnic groups who braved the Atlantic crossing in steerage, early immigrants brought precious little in worldly goods, but they had a wealth of ambition, an eagerness for farmland, a passion for freedom, and treasure troves of cooking and food preparation skills. Nowadays, prosperous American Scandinavians can dine any which way they want, but traditions have a way of clinging, particularly at special times of the year.
Topping the list of seasonal moments of merriment is Midsummer--a time when wintertime's three-hour daylight is replaced by the summer sunlight. And although "Scan-Americans" are no longer near the Arctic Circle, their bones seem to remember all that darkness.
After a midsummer's day of singing and dancing by the young and old, everybody sits down to eat. The table is laden with the finest vegetables and seafood that summer has to offer. These usually consist of fresh and cured herring, cold poached fish and vegetables, crisp salads, and a few warm dishes. Afterward there are arrays of assorted cookies and cakes, and fresh fruit. Aquavit, a vodka made from grain or potatoes and flavored with caraway, anise, or fennel seeds, is served well chilled and straight up in small glasses.
Once everyone has helped himself from the buffet table, the host lifts his glass of aquavit and proposes a toast, skal.
The meal itself begins with salmon, which is prepared in either of two ways--cured or poached. In Sweden, the cured salmon, known as gravlax, is sold in almost every deli, but for Midsummer and special occasions, people prepare it at home. The term gravlax comes from the days before refrigeration technology. Salmon was cured and buried in the ground to keep through the long winters, hence the name, which means "salmon from the grave."
The whole poached salmon,
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