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Smorgasbord or Smörgåsbord (, ) is a
buffet A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve themselves. A form of '' service à la française'', buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, and many social eve ...
-style meal of Swedish origin. It is served with various hot and mainly cold dishes. It assumed its present form in the 19th century, following old traditions. Smörgåsbord became known in the US at the
1939 New York World's Fair The 1939 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York, United States. The fair included exhibitio ...
when it was offered at the Swedish Pavilion's Three Crowns Restaurant. It is typically a celebratory meal, and guests can help themselves from a range of dishes laid out for their choice. In a
restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...
the term refers to a buffet-style table laid out with many small dishes from which, for a fixed amount of money, one is allowed to choose as many as one wishes. A traditional Swedish ''smörgåsbord'' consists of both hot and cold dishes. Bread, butter, and cheese are always part of the ''smörgåsbord''. It is customary to begin with cold fish dishes, which are generally various forms of
herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...
,
salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
, and eel. After eating the first portion, people usually continue with the second course (other cold dishes), and round off with hot dishes.
Dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...
may or may not be included in a smörgåsbord.


Etymology

In Northern Europe, the term varies between "cold table" and "
buffet A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve themselves. A form of '' service à la française'', buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, and many social eve ...
": In Norway it is called or ''kaldtbord'', in Denmark (literally "the cold table"), in the
Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
, (cold table); in Germany and in
the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
(literally "cold buffet"); in Iceland it is called ("loaded/covered table"), in
Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
it is called ("Swedish table") or ''puhvetlaud'' ("buffet table"), in
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
("the cold table"), in
Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
("Swedish table"), in Finland ("butter-bread/sandwich table") or ''ruotsalainen seisova pöytä'' ("Swedish standing table/buffet"). In Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and the Balkans, it is a called "shvedskyj stol" or "shvedskyi stil" ("Swedish table") (
Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...
: шведский стол / шведський стiл) or "zakusochnyj stol" ("snack table") (
Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...
: закусочный стол) or "kholodnyj stol"("cold table") (
Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...
: холодный стол). In Central and Eastern Europe each language has a term meaning "Swedish table". In Japan it is referred to as / (''baikingu'' / ''vaikingu'', i.e. "
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
"). The Swedish word consists of the words ''smörgås'' ("sandwich", usually open-faced) and ''bord'' ("table"). ''Smörgås'' in turn consists of the words ''smör'' ("butter", cognate with English ''smear'') and ''gås'' (literally "goose", but later referred to the small pieces of
butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
that formed and floated to the surface of cream while it was churned). The small butter pieces were just the right size to be placed and flattened out on bread, so ''smörgås'' came to mean "buttered bread". In Sweden, the term ''att bre(da) smörgåsar'' ("to spread butter on open-faced sandwiches") has been used since at least the 16th century. In English the word ''smorgasbord'' refers loosely to any buffet with a variety of dishes (as well as a metaphor for a variety or collection of anything, particularly an extensive or disorganized one), and is not necessarily used to reference traditional
Swedish cuisine Swedish cuisine () is the traditional food of Sweden. Due to Sweden's large north-to-south expanse, there are regional differences between the cuisine of Norrland, North and South Sweden. Historically, in the far north, meats such as reindeer, ...
. In Sweden, ''smörgåsbord'' instead refers to a buffet consisting mainly of traditional dishes. The buffet concept remains popular in Sweden even outside of its traditional presentation. Buffets are for example commonly served at larger private gatherings consisting of any type of food, or at fika with a variety of pastries. For restaurants in Sweden of various types of
Asian cuisine Asian cuisine encompasses several significant regional cooking styles of Asia: Central Asian, East Asian, North Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and West Asian. Cuisine is a distinctive way of cooking practices and customs, usually associat ...
it is common to offer an all-you-can-eat buffet (in particular for lunch customers), which is referred to with the more generic term ''buffé'' ("buffet"). In an extended sense, the word is used to refer to any situation which invites patrons to select whatever they wish from an abundant selection, such as the smorgasbord of university courses, books in a bookstore, etc.


''Julbord''

A special Swedish type of is the (literally "
Yule Yule is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples that was incorporated into Christmas during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples. In present times adherents of some new religious movements (such as Modern ...
/Christmas table"). The classic Swedish julbord is central to traditional
Swedish cuisine Swedish cuisine () is the traditional food of Sweden. Due to Sweden's large north-to-south expanse, there are regional differences between the cuisine of Norrland, North and South Sweden. Historically, in the far north, meats such as reindeer, ...
. A traditional ''julbord'' is typically eaten buffet-style in five to seven courses (depending on local and family traditions). The first three courses are usually fish courses. The first plate is an assortment of different pickled herrings served with sour cream and chives. The second is a variety of cold fish, particularly several kinds of lox (e.g.
gravlax Gravlax (), gravlaks or graved salmon is a Nordic dish consisting of salmon that is cured using a mix of salt, sugar and dill. It is garnished with fresh dill or sprucetwigs and may occasionally be cold- smoked afterwards. Gravlax is usuall ...
); the third plate is hot fish dishes, particularly lutfisk. Other traditional dishes are (smoked) eel, rollmops, herring salad, baked herring, smoked salmon, smoked char and shellfish canapés, accompanied by sauces and dips. The fourth course is often a selection of cold sliced meats, the most important cold cut being Christmas ham (''julskinka'') with mustard. Other traditional cuts include smoked sausages, leverpastej, wild game cuts, smoked leg of lamb (''fårfiol''), pâtés and several types of brawn (''sylta''). It is also common to serve the cold meats with sliced
cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...
, pickled
cucumbers The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.crispbreads. The fifth course consists of warm dishes (''småvarmt''). Traditionally, the fifth course begins with soaking bread in the
stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
from the Christmas ham, which is called ''dopp i grytan''. Warm dishes include Swedish meatballs (''köttbullar''), small fried hot-dog-type sausages ('' prinskorv''), roasted pork ribs ('' revbensspjäll''), pork sausages ('' fläskkorv''), potato sausages ('' potatiskorv''), and '' Janssons frestelse'' (literally "Jansson's Temptation"; a warm potato casserole), matchstick potatoes layered with cream, onion and sprats. Side dishes include
beetroot The beetroot (British English) or beet (North American English) is the taproot portion of a ''Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'' plant in the Conditiva Group. The plant is a root vegetable also known as the table beet, garden beet, dinner bee ...
salad in mayonnaise and warm stewed red, green or brown
cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...
and boiled potatoes. The sixth and seventh courses are a cheese plate and a dessert plate. Julbord cheeses include Stilton, Cheddar, ''västerbottenost'' and Christmas Edam cheese (''edammer''). Desserts include rosettes (''struvor''), klenäts (''klenäter''), polkagrisar, knäck, dates,
figs The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...
, ischoklad, saffron buns, ''mandelmusslor'', gingerbread cookies, marzipan figures, different kinds of nuts, risalamande, and, most importantly,
rice pudding Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and commonly other ingredients such as sweeteners, spices, flavourings and sometimes eggs. Variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly c ...
(''risgrynsgröt'') sprinkled with
cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...
powder. Traditionally, an
almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...
is hidden in the bowl of rice pudding and whoever finds it receives a small prize or is recognised for having good luck. A ''julbord'' often also include local and family specialties. Among them are '' isterband,''
baked beans Baked beans is a Dish (food), dish traditionally containing white Phaseolus vulgaris, common beans that are parboiling, parboiled and then baking, baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. Canned baked beans are not baked, but ar ...
, omelette with shrimps or mushrooms covered with béchamel sauce, ''äggost, saffranspannkaka, långkål, rörost, ostkaka, kroppkakor and julgädda.''
Beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
and the occasional
snaps In the Nordic countries, especially Denmark and Sweden, but not in Iceland, snaps ( , ), among many nicknames, is a small shot of a strong alcoholic beverage taken during the course of a meal. In Denmark, a snaps will always be akvavit, althou ...
,
brännvin Brännvin (Swedish language, Swedish spelling; see ) is an old Nordic countries, Nordic term for distilled beverage, distilled liquor, generally from potatoes, grain, or (formerly) sawdust brandy, wood cellulose etc, and is today primarily used a ...
or akvavit are common beverages served with this Christmas meal. The seasonal soft drink '' julmust'' is also served at the ''julbord'', as well as during the whole Christmas holiday. The Christmas ham is either boiled or broiled and then painted and glazed with a mixture of egg, breadcrumbs and mustard. Lutfisk, lyed fish made of stockfish (dried ling or
cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...
), is served with boiled potato, thick
white sauce White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavelen ...
or mustard sauce, green peas and sometimes cubed bacon. More and more families opt to eat ''lutfisk'' as dinner the day before or after Christmas Eve rather than as a dish among other at the ''julbord''. ''Julbord'' is served from early December until just before Christmas at restaurants and until Epiphany in some homes. It is traditional for most Swedish and Norwegian workplaces to hold an annual ''julbord'' between November and January.


History

The members of the Swedish merchant and upper class in sixteenth-century Sweden and Finland served a small buffet on a
snaps In the Nordic countries, especially Denmark and Sweden, but not in Iceland, snaps ( , ), among many nicknames, is a small shot of a strong alcoholic beverage taken during the course of a meal. In Denmark, a snaps will always be akvavit, althou ...
table (''brännvinsbord''), offering a variety of hors d'oeuvres served prior to a meal before sitting at the dinner table. The most simple ''brännvinsbord'' was bread, butter, cheese, herring and several types of liqueurs; but smoked salmon, sausages and cold cuts were also served. The ''brännvinsbord'' was served as an appetizer for a gathering of people and eaten while standing before a dinner or supper, often two to five hours before dinner, sometimes with the men and women in separate rooms.Nordiska Museet
, in Swedish
The ''smörgåsbord'' became popular in the mid-seventeenth century, when the food moved from the side table to the main table and service began containing both warm and cold dishes. ''Smörgåsbord'' was also served as an appetizer in hotels and later at
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
s, before the
dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a passenger railroad car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. These cars provide the highest level of service of any rai ...
s time for the guests. During the 1912 Olympic Games, restaurants in Stockholm stopped serving ''smörgåsbord'' as an appetizer and started serving them instead as a main course.


See also

* * * * * * * Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine *
Tapas Tapas () are appetisers or snacks in Spanish cuisine. They can be combined to make a full meal and are served cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as , which are battered, fried baby squid; or , spicy potatoes). In some bars ...
/
Pincho A pincho (; literally "thorn" or "spike"), pintxo () or pinchu () is a small snack, typically eaten in bars, traditional in northern Spain and especially popular in the Basque country, Navarre, La Rioja, Cantabria, and Asturias. They are usuall ...
- Spanish variations of appetizers


References


Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smorgasbord Eating parties Serving and dining Swedish cuisine Christmas food Christmas meals and feasts Swedish words and phrases