Let's not forget that 100 years ago Scandinavia was a very poor, isolated place with uneducated people who starved and drank. This means there is not a lot of culture there. One of the reasons for their current wealth is that they chickened out of WW2...
Why isn't Finland dirt poor? They fought the Soviets (twice) and Nazis
7732 is full of it. The Finns fought the Soviets, and both the Norwegians opposed Germany and were conquered for it. Only Sweden was neutral.
Variety of herring dishes, especially in Denmark, very good. Indeed, gravlax invented in Scandinavia and excellent there. They also have cloudberries and reindeer meat.
Their lox is world's best. So is the herring. And cloudberries, well... You people do not know what you are talking about.
Gravad lax is the best in its class, but its class is still very mediocre. The best you can say about Swedish food, at least, is a good plate of köttbullar med lingonsås, or fläskschnitzel med pommes och bearnaisesås. And there is something to be said for opening a bottle of glögg and eating a semla, after a plate of köttbullar on a cold Swedish winters night.
Unfortunately this does not stand up whatsoever to better-quality continental cuisine, however.
As for the question of why Scandinavian food is so bad, the access to ingredients / growing season seems a reasonable-enough story. I am more disconcerted by their lack of good beer, although a Carlsberg or Tuborg is still better than a Miller or Budweiser, or even Heineken.
Both the Norwegians and Danes opposed the Germans.
Not only that, but they both were *occupied* by the Germans. The Finns had their brutal war with the Soviets and then later allied with the Germans (not their proudest moment, though from the perspective of their own national interest in recovering lost territory it made some sense). Only the Swedes were not involved in any conflict.
(Technically Finland is not Scandinavia, but for this purpose it can be grouped together with them as one of the Nordics.)
The Scandinavian idea of big gourmet feast is an open sandwich on rock hard and dry brown bread ! The food is bland and very simple.They put some pickled herring, a brown cheese from Norway that looks like bar of soap-and tastes worse ,local caviar (usually salmon roe),some fatty and grey salami slices, smoked salmon-slices(lox), baby pickles, some sliced red onions and a hideous white sauce made of sour cream and horseradish smeared on the whole mess....YULUK ! The best food of the Scandinavian countries is probably Danish, because Denmark is attached to mainland Europe and had access to Belgian and Dutch influences and ingredients. The worst is Finland to the East, but Finland is not technically part of Scandinavia. Norway and Sweden are about equal and both are pretty bad food wise. They need to get some chefs from Italy and France to teach them how to cook....and I heard they are doing just that !
I'm a Southern European so I am spoiled by the greatest cuisines on Earth. I find Scandinavian food very bland on average, but definitely underrated. Their pickled and smoked fish dishes can be quite delicious. Gravlax, for example, is really good and insanely easy to make at home.
As a rule, there is high correlation between quality of cuisine and historical access to good ingredients. High latitude countries in particular have a short growing season with a resulting narrow range of vegetables and fruits compared to countries in the goldilocks zone of good 30-50 degrees from the equator.
This is a better-considered variant of my "northern nations' cuisine" hypothesis. The hypothesis posits that the further north one travels from the equator, the cuisines generally get lousier, until you reach the northernmost cuisines: Yupik, Inuit, Canadian, Scottish, English, Irish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Mongolian, Russian, and of course, North Korean.
The Scandinavian idea of big gourmet feast is an open sandwich on rock hard and dry brown bread ! The food is bland and very simple.They put some pickled herring, a brown cheese from Norway that looks like bar of soap-and tastes worse ,local caviar (usually salmon roe),some fatty and grey salami slices, smoked salmon-slices(lox), baby pickles, some sliced red onions and a hideous white sauce made of sour cream and horseradish smeared on the whole mess....YULUK ! The best food of the Scandinavian countries is probably Danish, because Denmark is attached to mainland Europe and had access to Belgian and Dutch influences and ingredients. The worst is Finland to the East, but Finland is not technically part of Scandinavia. Norway and Sweden are about equal and both are pretty bad food wise. They need to get some chefs from Italy and France to teach them how to cook....and I heard they are doing just that !
Tbh, that sounds delicious, anyone know the name of the sauce?
As a rule, there is high correlation between quality of cuisine and historical access to good ingredients. High latitude countries in particular have a short growing season with a resulting narrow range of vegetables and fruits compared to countries in the goldilocks zone of good 30-50 degrees from the equator.This is a better-considered variant of my "northern nations' cuisine" hypothesis. The hypothesis posits that the further north one travels from the equator, the cuisines generally get lousier, until you reach the northernmost cuisines: Yupik, Inuit, Canadian, Scottish, English, Irish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Mongolian, Russian, and of course, North Korean.
all of which are lousy.