Welcome to Taipei International Club’s International Cooking Demonstration Group organised the Swedish cooking demonstration hosted by Mrs. Jayoun Kim Persson, spouse of the representative of Business Sweden in Taipei at TWTC Club on September 30, 2014. 115 guests from diplomatic corps and international community joined this delightful luncheon.
Co-chair of the group, Louise Bystrom welcomed guests and introduced Swedish Chef Ola. He and his Taiwanese wife Stephanie Wang offer fine Swedish cuisine in Taipei in their Swedish Restaurant Flavors. It was selected as one of a few restaurants to visit in Taipei both by CNN and the Michelin’s Green Guide.
Mrs. Persson started her presentation by asking guests to imagine how would they feel to be in Stockholm, one of the most beautiful capitals in the world, built on 14 islands connected by 57 bridges. The city’s distinctive traits are interesting buildings, the greenery, the fresh air and proximity to water. She introduced various ways to discover Sweden, and how its nature influenced its cuisine through gorgeous images of Sweden.
As the third biggest country in the EU, Sweden stretches 1,574 km from north to south which leads to extreme weather variation, from the lowest temperature of - 53 C to the highest of 38 C. Sweden’s nature is characterised by its long coastline, extensive forests, and over 100,000 of lakes. Swedish flavours and variety come from this unique landscape and climate. Sweden’s severe winter climate and intensive summer light has formed its tradition to make a full use of what nature offers. Swedish people found creative ways to make food last longer by preserving fruit and vegetables, pickling fish, curing meat and making jam out of berries.
Swedish values based on its close contact to nature and its history of scarce resources have been shaping Swedish society to be more equal, open and to keep on progressing. A century ago, Sweden was among the poorest nations in Europe. It is home to just 0.13 percent of the global population. Yet today, Sweden has become a world leader both in innovation index and quality of life index. It comes as no surprise that Swedish openness and curiosity to new influence have made new restaurants and products see the day lately.
Chef Ola has given a witty introduction to culinary history of Sweden including the origin and recreation of famous smorgasbord and snapas. After sharing a story behind its creation, he showcased crepe Prins Bertil and smoked salmon snapas with assistance from Co-chair Bystrom. After introducing snaps songs (a traditional Swedish drinking song which is often sung before drinking a small shot of snaps), they invited everyone to join them in a toast by singing a quintessential snaps song, Helan går.
The atmosphere was great and attendees enjoyed a delicious Swedish buffet. It featured smoked salmon with headwaiter sauce, snapas, royal pancake, wild mushroom pyttipanna, rootfruit gratin, meatballs with mashed potato, sailor stew, seafood stew, kladd kaka and apple cake. Congratulations to three lucky draw winners who brought home a Swedish cookbook and products!
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