Melvyn D. Magree on the custom of smörgåsbord –

A smörgåsbord is a buffet but one you approach with a plan for a long meal of complementary dishes. You take what you want of certain foods, eat them with bread, cheese, beer, and snaps, go get a clean plate to serve yourself the same or different foods, and repeat until you are satisfied.

What’s snaps? It rhymes with schnapps and is alcoholic but not sweet. Snaps include aquavit and vodka. My favorite liquor store used to have five kinds of aquavit, but now only has three. I prefer the Norwegian and Swedish aquavits to the Danish.

According to Tore Wretman (1) one makes five visits to the smörgåsbord, taking from a different group of foods each time. These are:

  • First, “Hans Majestät Sillen”, His Majesty the Herring
  • Second, fish
  • Third, cold meats
  • Fourth, warm dishes
  • Fifth, dessert

Så, till bords, skål, god aptit, God Jul och Gott Nytt År
(so, to the table, skål, good appetite, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year).

(1) Svensk Husmanskost, Tore Wretman, Forum, Stockholm, 1967. Originally husmanskost meant plain food for the servants, but I won’t try to translate its modern meanings. Wretman took seven pages to do so.

[Melvyn D. Magree]

King HerringI particularly enjoyed learning about “His Majesty the Herring”.

Image: the catch in progress.

See also Herring @ Wikipedia.

Memo to self: next year, have a smörgåsbord party.