A GARGANTUAN MEAL

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1930, Page 4 (Supplement)

A GARGANTUAN MEAL

Last year-1 spent- Christmas with friends, in Gothenburg - and was very surprised to discover that the'Swedes are even greater the Germans. We imagine that wb'feast at Christmas, but judged by Swedish standards we fast. For . weeks before ' Christmas ' the hunters, are < busy in the foresta?arid ..the-, edbk®'are busy in the kitchens There is no fear thatZtJiq. food prepared so early will not keep, lor the ' temperature is often thirty decrees below zero, 'which, means sixty-two degrees of frost. . Each family prepares enormous quantities of Hood of aljfidst .endless-variety. fh f re <. are in fact, sb’- many- different (dishes that .the. Swedes find it too'' much'. to'.?rcmember. all - their;special names and so they., grquplhem undergeneral'., names according' to .life' main .ingredient. ■ At the time’l knew nothing of-all.-this, culinary' ractivity, and after . a very ? eold' walk ..'back from... church I sat down to the Christmas dinner conndent, that I could do full? justice the; mbal. The first. ' course was “smorgasbord,” which, is regarded -as a hors .d’oeuvre. Everybody received a -large ?. soup -' plate full. This dish is a meal .iri : itself,’ ; ;-for it con- ,- tains no less than -thirty ingredients,’ ■''.lt was so-, good that I followed dhe example;of-my- S.wedish ■; friends, and accepted a second - helping. • . ' ■ The next course was' ‘‘doppai grytan”’' or ' pork dish,” but the.pork was so .well disguised .that. I could not identify it. Broiled reindeer'meat, very delicious, with ample vegetables; followed. Next , came “julripa,” which means any partridge dish.. On this occasion every diner was served with a whole roast partridge. Long ago I had regretted my second helping of “smorgasbord.” The last course was “julhogan,” which I understood to mean “seven times seven.” It consisted of seven desserts, each one in seven varieties. The guest was not expected to sample every variety. The hostess was satisfied-if he tried one variety of each dessert.'