American Cook, Swedish Kitchen
For someone who loves to travel and cook, the prospect of helping my friend Christina, fellow alum of Columbia University’s graduate journalism school and resident of Stockholm, prepare for her 40th birthday party could not have been more tantalizing. So, while my husband Sean bounced around Europe, attending business meetings, I recently hung out in Stockholm for 9 days, shopping, cooking, and sampling the fruits of our kitchen labors.
Because I am accustomed to cheap American food prices, I found grocery shopping in Stockholm shocking. A quart of milk ran about $4. A pint of raspberries went for anywhere from $7 to $15. A single bottle of 3.5% ABV beer, the only kind sold at markets, cost at least $3. Wine? I paid twice the amount that I do in NY for a bottle of Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz-Cabernet. No wonder everyone asks out-of-country guests to pack a healthy stash of alcohol in their suitcases. Forget that extra sweater. Bring more rum!
Vibrant outdoor markets, such as the one held behind the Hotorgshallen food hall, did offer bargains. There I stocked up on bundles of fragrant fresh mint for Friday night’s mojitos. At less than $1 apiece they were a deal that couldn’t be beat. Hmmm…. Maybe I should have eaten mint for the duration of the trip.
Inside Hotorgshallen, as well as at the upscale Saluhall on Ostermalmstorg, I browsed through more exotic fare. Hankering reindeer hearts, fermented Baltic herring, lingonberries or imported mangosteens? I could snap them up at either food hall.
Back in the kitchen Christina and I prepared dishes that reflected both Swedish heritage and modern cuisine. No, no reindeer or herring. Instead smoked salmon served on baguettes and brown Danish bread, salads of orzo, spinach and pine nuts, lentils and red onions and tomatoes and cucumbers starred in the main course. For dessert cheesecakes came au naturel or dressed in blueberries.
As usual, all this searching for and preparing food left me ravenous. Most days I just ate a cheese sandwich that I had slapped together at Christina’s and then consumed on the go. A few times, though, I splashed out for lunch. At the Moderna Museet on Skeppsholmen I sprung for a bowl of spring vegetable soup, a kanelbullar and glass of red wine. The pleasure of good, traditional food, along with the gorgeous views of Lake Malaren and the Nordiska Museet and Vasamuseet, made the $27 pricetag worthwhile.
Some of the least expensive meals came from a food kiosk in Mariatorget Square on Sodermalm or at – gasp! – McDonald’s. The grand total of a shared lunch of a McChicken sandwich, McFish sandwich, medium French fry and small Coke was $20. All things considered, a great deal.
Rimmed by sandy beaches as well as rocky shorelines, Grinda provides a range of pursuits. Hike the rolling hills, kayak on the sea, camp out or just sit at the sole waterfront cafe and drink beer, read a book, or catch up with old friends. A sucker for animals, I get a kick out of watching the local wildlife — fat, free-range, red-feathered chickens bobbing and pecking at the ground, sheep dozing in the grassy fields, drunk daytrippers urinating off the docks.
