At first it was something to keep the first comers busy until all the dinner guests arrived. It grew into a hors d’oeuvre table, before eventually becoming a full-fledged lunch or dinner table. It then achieved renown abroad where, however, it can take on purist forms. So if you want to try a real Swedish smörgåsbord, there are certain things you need to know.

History

Its origins go back about five hundred years. At first it was a table of brännvin (aquavit), although there was some food apart from alcohol. After becoming a popular snack among the middle classes, new dishes were added in the 19th century. In the early railway age, it was common for station restaurants to provide it, until trains had their own dining cars.

However, it remained an hors d’oeuvre until much later, although during the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, some restaurants offered it as a stand-alone meal and there were ‘smorgasbord’ restaurants (now without the Swedish letters ö and å ). in New York in the 1920s. But it did not become known internationally on a wider scale until the 1932 World’s Fair, also in New York, when the restaurant in the Swedish pavilion had a well-appointed “Carousel” turntable.

Its status as a main meal entree finally disappeared for good in the early 1960s, ever since, with the addition of more dishes, it has been complete in itself.

how to eat it

Swedes are often amused to see foreign visitors piling a large mix of dishes on their plate, something the experienced would never do. Standard practice is to follow recommendations made by a leading Swedish chef and restaurateur over fifty years ago. You must go to the table five times, taking a new plate and new cutlery each time. The first visit is for the various types of pickled North Sea herring, perhaps also its smaller cousin, the Baltic herring, plus a boiled potato and a slice of crusty bread and cheese, consumed with a glass of aquavit.

Visit number two is for other fish dishes, especially salmon, boiled and/or cured and boiled eel. Number three is for cold cuts and salads, number four for hot dishes, which will surely include Jansons Temptation (anchovies cooked in cream) and meatballs, and finally there are desserts, which were the latest addition to the table.

What does it mean?

Literally, smörgåsbord means ‘buttered goose table’, which may seem like a strange name, especially since it has never contained goose cooked in butter or anything else. But it stems from the time when people churned their own butter. During the process, small droplets would rise to the surface, somewhat resembling the shape of a goose. Such a drop was thought to be ideal for spreading on a slice of bread and the result is still called smörgås, although it normally has some other toppings or toppings besides butter, i.e. it is an open sandwich. And in its early days, the smörgåsbord had that kind of character.