Richard_UK

Hello Guys and Girls!

Please, could you give any kind of opinion if you compare Scandinavian and British food and say what foods you rather miss?

Thank you

mikelincs

And you have no personal interest in British food, or the selling thereof? you seem to have posted this type of question on almost every countries forums.

Richard_UK

Why would I ask a question that is not interesting to me? And I asked the same question only in one more county - Germany. And I am allowed by the forum rules to advertise my business in my signature as soon as I do not do so in my posts. I dunno I am confused by your reply...

Please, could everyone talk about what we were attracted to talk about by the Topic's Title

dmu

I seem to recollect seeing you post on the France forum recently, too....

Blackladder

me, I love a good old English glass of Ricard as an apero, followed by a lovely English plate of snails in garlic butter, then as a main course a scintillating English coq au vin, and an exquisite English tarte tatin to finish off.
Blackie

Richard_UK

Oh, no I was just participating in someone else's thread

Richard_UK

In other words you don't particularly miss British food then?

Catchafire

My wife is Finnish and she grew up in Sweden.

Needless to say, I do all the cooking.

If she read this, I would be toast, burnt toast, but still toast.

Nekkid

Well Richard, I don't know if you're still around, but I couldn't resist replying to this. If nothing else it might serve as a heads up to any foodie thinking of moving here!
The answer to your question is, in short, good food! We have lived here now for 8 years, and have had only one really good meal out in all that time, which was in Stockholm. We have tried many restaurants between örebro and Mariestad and each time has been a crashing dissapointment. Now we've given up and are planning to move back to the uk!
And its not just the restaurants, the quality of so called fresh produce in the supermarkets is just awful. Try and find garlic that isnt growing or potatoes that arent making eyes at you- no chance! I have a theory that the veg producer sayes 'chuck that lot on the compost, we'll never be able sell it.....no, wait! Box it up, we'll send it to Sweden!'. Meat is just as bad, 'fresh' meat is either swimming in unidentified liquid (pork and beef) or smells of farts when you open the packet. The only whole chicken you can get are scrawny little things that have been so badly misshandled that they have bruises and sometimes broken bones. Oh, and try to find any prepared foodstuff that doesnt have e numbers!
Now, all that I could forgive, but the galing thing is that most Swedes think that a.)They Know Good Food and that b.) Sweden has some of the best. They don't, and it doesn't. To most Swedes, good food means food that contains lots of fat and/or salt. A lady once said to my wife that Sweden has the best chocolate in the world - Marabou. That's hardly even chocolate!! The pizzas are baked by Turks who've never been to italy and the Thai, despite being made by real Thais, tastes nothing like the real thing. Sandwiches are usually made with what appears to be day old bread rolls that weren't even good on the day they were baked, the cheese will be the cheapest of the cheap and utterly tasteless while the ham will be slimy and taste mostly of salt. Even Subway, which is usually a safe bet in the rest of europe, is dissapointing.
Husmanskost (traditional Swedish fayre) is at best sustenance, and at worst quite inedible.
And as for Swedish tv cooks, the most popular is a floppy haired actor turned celebrity chef who thinks tht if you spend enough money on ingredients you'll produce good food. I once saw him put lobster, crab, prawns and crayfish in the same dish. I don't remember but it's probably safe to assume there was cream and dill in there as well. And when i say cream, i mean slightly thick milk, as that's what passes for cream. But hey, at least it smells of farts when you open the pot!
I could go on, but you get the point. Just. Awful.

Blackladder

Nekkid, it seems you have managed 8 years in the hellthatisswedenanditsfood, Now that I don't live there, I'm just wondering how I managed over 40 years! You put it exactly how it is, when you are on holiday in France, IOU one big meal!
Blackie

edp

Like Bill Bryson said on Stockholm 'every meal is another heartbreak'. Swedish food is not great, I agree. Its often a weird combination of things, not that im against originality. Its like there is a problem with subtlety in tastes. Very bland food polished up with a load of gloop. I can't think of one vaguely 'fine' dish. Having said that my sambo is a vegetarian and a cracking cook. There are some half decent cakes, it has to be said but nothing like Italy, Belgium, France....

Swedes tend to big themselves up on most things but it would take a particularly deluded one to big up Swedish food. I think British food was probably pretty dire up until the 1970s when Spaghetti Bolognaise was exotic, maybe Sweden will start to pick things up. Surely there is some scope for some elk meat and cantarelle petit fours?...covered in gloop.

Catchafire

Kebab pizzas are pretty good after a few beers. Again my Swedish brother in law proclaimed that Sweden makes the best pizza's in the world.

MrsEgeland

I live in Norway, and the food quality is better but it would be since you are paying through the nose to get it. I miss pasties, decent chips, a good variety in the supermarket without cutting an arm off and getting a mortgage, being able to buy a decent quality wine without having to hike to the local Vinmonopolet or spend a fortune, penguin chocolate biscuits and mayonnaise in a jar. Having said that when I eventually get home to britain I will miss Flotmysost, kaviar in a tube and wasa crispbreads.

I've noticed that Swedes and Norwegians think that their country is the best at everything even when they clearly are not.

Although saying that, I might be wrong as I think Britain has pretty much the best of everything, bar a few things.