Swedish Smorgasbord

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Apparently, the experienced travelers have already got familiar with the Swedish smorgasbord tradition, which is used in all decent and most visited hotels nowadays. Of course, some of them keep it only for certain meals (breakfast or dinner solely), but still its popularity goes without saying. Sometimes it merely becomes a point of consideration while picking up the hotel to stay in during a trip. It is also interesting to know how this trend emerged and gained such a huge appreciation.

Indeed, this peculiar style of meal has a Swedish origin. Many ages ago cold table was served to welcome a big number of guests, and, therefore, cooks had to prepare lots of courses. In addition, lasting foods were of bigger importance, as far as the guests usually did not come all together, but randomly, the food was to be on the table. In this way, smorgasbord gained its appreciation and received the title of “the most democratic form of meal”: guests have a big choice of courses and can take food as much as they want. Self-serving is an advantage too. It is estimated highly to date, but something has significantly changed. In particular, it is associated with the variety of food served. As it was mentioned, lasting foods were of top priority; nowadays, on the contrary, cooks are to serve the freshest products and dishes, which will testify on hotel’s quality and reputation. In addition, modern cooking technologies have changed a lot. Nowadays, you may simply order a good and fresh ready food from such a restaurant as Smörgåsbord Ab in Stockholm and can be sure of its quality.

The popularity of cold tables among hotels is also caused by a financial economy. Of course, the hotel authority benefits a lot in buying more products, which might be used in several dishes. In this way, the smorgasbord has a large range of courses to choose. Besides, the variety and the abundance of the cold table is determined by the national cooking traditions, the natural conditions and, certainly, the season (there are peak and low season in visiting tourist resorts). Most of the hotels serve a standard local menu, but there are cases when the European dishes are included in order to show the adherence to the old traditions of the Swedish smorgasbord. It is also a pleasure, when the evenings of the national cuisine are organized as a cold table. Speaking of the religious aspects, Islamic countries are a great example: pork is severely prohibited by national religion; so, one will definitely notice the lack of this meat on the table while travelling to these lands.

Despite the common features of the Swedish smorgasbord in all the countries – self-serving, big variety and large amounts of food – there are some differences between breakfast and dinners performed in the cold table style. In particular, the breakfast usually consists of both cold (meat table, salads, cheeses) and hot (omelets, sausages, sometimes – meat or fish) meals.

The obligatory part of the cold table breakfast is fruits and juices, bakery is possible as well. Swedish smorgasbord for dinner is made of hot dishes (fowl, meat, fish) predominantly, accompanied by several salads. The special place is devoted to fruits and desserts.