The Cooking of Scandinavia

Uit eten in de wereld

by Dale Brown

Content Chapters A Taste of Nature * The Danes' National Pastime * Norway's Elemental Foods * Sweden's Groaning Board * A Return to Native Cookery * The Water of Life * The Vigorous Diet of Finland * Baking Refined to a Fine Art * Antidote to Darkness.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Food and Drink, Reference, Scandinavian Literature, Cooking

206 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1968

About the author

Dale^^Brown Time-Life editor/author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Ericka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the 4 stars are more because this is currently a book for those interested in Scandinavian foods and traditions 50 years ago. Some have changed, although 30 years ago coffee was still important to the Swedes. I was looking for more recipes that work with a modern diet and while I did get some ideas, I don't think I'll be trying any of these.

[Rebecca Wilkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have owned this book since 1969. I have looked at it and read parts over the years but since I just returned from Scandinavia, I decided I would actually read it. Travel is heavily about The Food and we had some delicious food in Scandinavia, what my daughter calls The New Nordic. I had gone to the website for Noma (reportedly the best restaurant in the world) on the day and time they opened up reservations for the dates we would be in Copenhagen but even though I was there when it opened, I didn't get a reservation. So I signed up for the wait list. This was in January and we traveled in May. I didn't check my emails for the first couple days of travel and when I did, I saw that an opening had come up but it was now past the date. So we missed a $1000 dinner at the best restaurant in the world. But we had some fabulous meals at other places. This book is written in the late 1960's so is obviously dated in some respects. However I think it is valuable in that it tells History, not only the historical roots of Scandinavian food but what people were eating and how they were entertaining in the late 60's. There is some good photography (food porn) and recipes. I didn't have Swedish meatballs or Danish Frikadeller while there but I might try to make them. We didn't have Swedish smorgasbord, although we had the small sandwiches in Copenhagen. I remember having smorgasbord in the US Midwest in the late 60's but I haven't seen a smorgasbord restaurant in years and never in California. The bread and fish with fresh vegetables and fruits were the standouts in our dining experience.

I also had the best pork chop I have had in 50 years. I find pork to be tough and tasteless in the US but this chop was tender and tasted like pork used to taste. In the book Dale Brown says, "Pork comes from pink pigs that spend all of their short, happy lives lolling around in heated, well-lighted barns, with the best of everything on hand, including their mamas, the prolific sows that grow as large as couches." I wonder if this is still true and that is why the pork was so good or if in our current age when industrial farming is shunned and animals are supposed to get fresh air and natural grazing, the pigs of Denmark are now roaming about outside (probably not in the winter).

Dale Brown says of the Danes, "They like less to eat than to dine. First flowers on the table and then food." I dined well in Denmark so denying the legend of the barbarians from the north.

[Dylan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Dylan was in love with this book. This and the French one were my favorites. Gorgeous lush photos and lots of fascinating captions; what's not to like?

[Elizabeth Licata · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't use these for recipes, although I have many of the spiral recipe books that were published with them. Rather, I love these as a collection, and as a sort of time capsule. They were a very ambitious project from the sixties gourmet era; Julia Child and Michael field served as consultants for the series, and many famous foodies of the time wrote and tested recipes. The writing is often very good (featuring such contributors as M.F.K Fisher and Joseph Wechsberg) and the photography is excellent, really more travel photography than food.

You can often find these on ebay for a decent price. They're just fun to have.

[Janet Whalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Time Life foods of the World Series are a now of historical value. Published in the 1960s, they capture culinary traditions just before globalisation swept the planet. They have some recipes but more narrative about food culture. Our compleat set is one of our prize possessions. Long before the food network and the era of the celebrity chef, time life books created this series for the aspiring middle class. Some of the recipes seem a bit quaint, with instructions about asking your butcher or fishmonger to prepare something in a particular way, and in their profligate use of veal. But they do try to provide authentic versions of then exotic foods. Enjoyable and informative.

[James Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Time/Life Books series on Foods of the World puts most contemporary food writing to shame - the writing is clean, light, and lively, well-researched, and tremendously inquisitive and authoritative. Photos are alternately in-the-field documentary or delightfully and artfully staged, and the recipes work. This book (and the others in its series) is a gem.