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Lagom: The Swedish Art of Eating Harmoniously
n. just the right amount, balanced, harmonious.
This beautiful, fresh cookbook offers genuine insight into how Swedes eat and cook – with recipes that fit around the seasons, occasions, times of day, and appetite. Eating and cooking in tune with "lagom" means embracing food that is good for body and soul, unfussy, delicious and sustaining, and all in harmony. The Swedes understand that balance is everything – that you crave comforting food when a bitter wind is howling outside, that refreshing, lighter meals suit hot, hazy days, that a mid-morning bun is good for morale, and that a long, sociable lunch with friends and family on a Sunday is the most rewarding way to end the weekend. There is a time and place for every kind of food, and when everything is in equilibrium, you will be content and satisfied.
This beautiful, fresh cookbook offers genuine insight into how Swedes eat and cook – with recipes that fit around the seasons, occasions, times of day, and appetite. Eating and cooking in tune with "lagom" means embracing food that is good for body and soul, unfussy, delicious and sustaining, and all in harmony. The Swedes understand that balance is everything – that you crave comforting food when a bitter wind is howling outside, that refreshing, lighter meals suit hot, hazy days, that a mid-morning bun is good for morale, and that a long, sociable lunch with friends and family on a Sunday is the most rewarding way to end the weekend. There is a time and place for every kind of food, and when everything is in equilibrium, you will be content and satisfied.
192 pages, Hardcover
Published February 6, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 16, 2018
The desserts look amazing. The rest of the book is filled with flavor combinations that I didn't find appealing to even try. Almost every recipe outside of the deserts has some weird curveball ingredient. Have we run out of road with innovation? This is not the first time I've felt this way about a cook book. I couldn't see myself eating any of it.
March 6, 2018
Every so often I get a cookbook that really surprises me or one that I learn a great deal from. When Lagom: The Swedish Art of Eating Harmoniously by Steffi Knowles-Dellner arrived in my mailbox I couldn't tell you much about what I knew about Swedish cuisine (and if I am being honest here what I do know mainly comes from what I've picked up at the IKEA Swedish Food Market). If I were to say the words "Swedish" or "Scandinavian" to you what would come to mind? In my mind I think "natural", "minimalist", "out-doorsy", and "healthy" (with a good dose of IKEA). Reading through Lagom, I don't think I'm incorrect in thinking these things but their culinary breadth is so much deeper than that. One that is influenced by a particular idea -- lagom.
Maybe as some of you read this you're thinking about the Danish notion of hygge, however trendy this has become, lagom is a different word for another country. Knowles-Dellner feels that, for her, lagom is "the word that encapsulates the way [they] eat in Sweden" and it's a word that can mean or refer to many things -- adequate, in moderation, balanced, just right, sufficient, enough -- are just a few ways given at the beginning of the cookbook of how lagom can be defined. In her introduction she goes on to explain that "Swedes take great pride in eating healthily, drawing on their own cooking traditions and the seasons' offerings" and their "eating has never been about extremes -- swinging from one day to the next between excess and denial -- but about harmony and enjoyment." This is where the fine lagom line is drawn, not as a boarder between ideals but as a point upon which different ideas balance.
My usual method of reviewing a cookbook begins with trying recipes from that cookbook (usually around ten or so) and as I carefully flipped through Lagom, I realized that Swedish people eat a lot of fish-based dishes (almost equal to the amount of meat dishes) and there would be enough vegetarian recipes to make me happy. That being said, the vegetarian dishes do have good amounts of dairy and/or eggs so that vegans reading this review please know that you'd be substituting or modifying dishes to suit your needs. While my writing approaches cookbooks from a plant-based angle I enjoy picking up cookbooks, like this one, that focus not on diet (dietary concerns per se) but rather on the culinary practices of other places. This is where I can sometimes learn the most and become inspired in my own daily cooking practices.
The book contains six chapters -- Breakfast, Lunches, Sides, & Light Bites, Main Meals, Desserts, Baking, and lastly, Bits & Bobs. Even through the small handful of recipes I've tried I feel like I'm beginning to understand what Swedish cooking is about. Take the Buttermilk Breakfast Bowl w/ Crispbread) with only a few ingredients: the dish is lagom. A balance of flavours and textures using the right amount of ingredients. While one might say that it represents economy (especially in an Instagram world where anything perceived as "plain" -- like a humble cereal -- needs to be dolled-up with brightly-coloured fruits, syrups, or some such) when I tasted it I knew that it just enough -- no more, no less. The more time I've spent with this book the more I've begun to view food differently (or at the very least, how food can look and be photographed).
If this cookbook is about balance where you'll find healthy recipes you'll also find indulgent recipes that embrace the enjoyment one gets from having a treat. Throughout the Dessert and Baking chapters she offers uncomplicated recipes that showcase desserts or treats that should be consumed guilt-free because, after all, if the rest of the meal was healthy then why not enjoy yourself? She discusses the Swedish practice of Fika -- sitting down to enjoy a coffee with something sweet -- and she offers seven different kinds of cookie recipes for just that occasion. I baked her Jam Thumb Cookies (using Lingonberry jam from IKEA of course!) and her Chocolate and Rye Cookies w/ cardamom (which didn't turn out exactly as her photo but this is because I didn't follow the directions and chill the dough long enough but they turned out to be very delicious and fudge-y anyways). Even breakfast found a little indulgence with her recipe for Indulgent Oat Porridge with brown butter and cream.
What really spoke to me was her thoughtful use of whole-food ingredients. From what I tried there weren't any ingredients that I found difficult to source (but keep in mind that I didn't buy any of the fish or meats) or expensive to buy. I also really enjoyed learning about making fresh cheese (ricotta) for the spelt pizzas -- something I had never done before but found quite simple to do. One of the recipes that my family really enjoyed was the Beetroot Tarte Tatin with salsa verde. While I loved the tarte tatin, the salsa verde recipe is one that I'll be making to have on hand to use as a spread or dip (the mixture of fresh herbs, green olives with a splash of EVOO and lemon was quite lovely).
Full of simple and elegant recipes accompanied by some really gorgeous photography, Lagom is one cookbook that offers uniquely Swedish recipes that follow their idea of balance. Drawing upon their culinary traditions as well as the seasons these healthy recipes can be enjoyed as much as the sweet ones -- “lagom is best”.
Please note that this is an excerpt of a review posted to www.shipshapeeatworthy.wordpress.com
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Raincoast Books and Quadrille for providing me with a free, review copy of this book. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own
Maybe as some of you read this you're thinking about the Danish notion of hygge, however trendy this has become, lagom is a different word for another country. Knowles-Dellner feels that, for her, lagom is "the word that encapsulates the way [they] eat in Sweden" and it's a word that can mean or refer to many things -- adequate, in moderation, balanced, just right, sufficient, enough -- are just a few ways given at the beginning of the cookbook of how lagom can be defined. In her introduction she goes on to explain that "Swedes take great pride in eating healthily, drawing on their own cooking traditions and the seasons' offerings" and their "eating has never been about extremes -- swinging from one day to the next between excess and denial -- but about harmony and enjoyment." This is where the fine lagom line is drawn, not as a boarder between ideals but as a point upon which different ideas balance.
My usual method of reviewing a cookbook begins with trying recipes from that cookbook (usually around ten or so) and as I carefully flipped through Lagom, I realized that Swedish people eat a lot of fish-based dishes (almost equal to the amount of meat dishes) and there would be enough vegetarian recipes to make me happy. That being said, the vegetarian dishes do have good amounts of dairy and/or eggs so that vegans reading this review please know that you'd be substituting or modifying dishes to suit your needs. While my writing approaches cookbooks from a plant-based angle I enjoy picking up cookbooks, like this one, that focus not on diet (dietary concerns per se) but rather on the culinary practices of other places. This is where I can sometimes learn the most and become inspired in my own daily cooking practices.
The book contains six chapters -- Breakfast, Lunches, Sides, & Light Bites, Main Meals, Desserts, Baking, and lastly, Bits & Bobs. Even through the small handful of recipes I've tried I feel like I'm beginning to understand what Swedish cooking is about. Take the Buttermilk Breakfast Bowl w/ Crispbread) with only a few ingredients: the dish is lagom. A balance of flavours and textures using the right amount of ingredients. While one might say that it represents economy (especially in an Instagram world where anything perceived as "plain" -- like a humble cereal -- needs to be dolled-up with brightly-coloured fruits, syrups, or some such) when I tasted it I knew that it just enough -- no more, no less. The more time I've spent with this book the more I've begun to view food differently (or at the very least, how food can look and be photographed).
If this cookbook is about balance where you'll find healthy recipes you'll also find indulgent recipes that embrace the enjoyment one gets from having a treat. Throughout the Dessert and Baking chapters she offers uncomplicated recipes that showcase desserts or treats that should be consumed guilt-free because, after all, if the rest of the meal was healthy then why not enjoy yourself? She discusses the Swedish practice of Fika -- sitting down to enjoy a coffee with something sweet -- and she offers seven different kinds of cookie recipes for just that occasion. I baked her Jam Thumb Cookies (using Lingonberry jam from IKEA of course!) and her Chocolate and Rye Cookies w/ cardamom (which didn't turn out exactly as her photo but this is because I didn't follow the directions and chill the dough long enough but they turned out to be very delicious and fudge-y anyways). Even breakfast found a little indulgence with her recipe for Indulgent Oat Porridge with brown butter and cream.
What really spoke to me was her thoughtful use of whole-food ingredients. From what I tried there weren't any ingredients that I found difficult to source (but keep in mind that I didn't buy any of the fish or meats) or expensive to buy. I also really enjoyed learning about making fresh cheese (ricotta) for the spelt pizzas -- something I had never done before but found quite simple to do. One of the recipes that my family really enjoyed was the Beetroot Tarte Tatin with salsa verde. While I loved the tarte tatin, the salsa verde recipe is one that I'll be making to have on hand to use as a spread or dip (the mixture of fresh herbs, green olives with a splash of EVOO and lemon was quite lovely).
Full of simple and elegant recipes accompanied by some really gorgeous photography, Lagom is one cookbook that offers uniquely Swedish recipes that follow their idea of balance. Drawing upon their culinary traditions as well as the seasons these healthy recipes can be enjoyed as much as the sweet ones -- “lagom is best”.
Please note that this is an excerpt of a review posted to www.shipshapeeatworthy.wordpress.com
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Raincoast Books and Quadrille for providing me with a free, review copy of this book. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own
June 2, 2023
I enjoyed the beauty of the book and the recipes that seem so clean and pure. They seem healthy, but delicious and without extra and polluted (for lack of a better word) ingredients. Not all are my speed but you can feel how they reflect on the Swedish way of life.
August 28, 2020
I have been searching for good Scandinavian cookbooks, and this is definitely gorgeous. The recipes aren’t super accessible, however.
February 15, 2022
Worth a read for the baked goods alone!
December 21, 2025
I am totally going to try the three pickled herring recipes (that use pre-pickled herring) for Christmas!
Read
January 13, 2020I was hoping for a more traditional picture of Swedish foods.
It does have beautiful photographs and great descriptions of Sweden and life there in the side notes.
She uses a lot of curry and cardamom.
Also, tex-mex tacos on Friday nights!
So anyway, I'm glad I only paid half at the used book store.
Will try several of her BEETROOT recipes and of course, the sweet rolls. And that's probably it.
It does have beautiful photographs and great descriptions of Sweden and life there in the side notes.
She uses a lot of curry and cardamom.
Also, tex-mex tacos on Friday nights!
So anyway, I'm glad I only paid half at the used book store.
Will try several of her BEETROOT recipes and of course, the sweet rolls. And that's probably it.
February 9, 2020
I picked this as my book for Task 13 of the Read Harder challenge; and I’m so glad I did. Lovely descriptions of why each recipe has been chosen, great photography and I have marked more recipes to try than I thought I might.
December 17, 2018
Very pretty, and a few intriguing recipes.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews