7/28/13

Swedish food at its best


Taste of Sweden is a great concept that shows of many of the great food produced in this beautiful country all of it perfectly package by the TV4 mobile road show around Sweden.

The chefs for this amazing show off is the four guys from the national culinary junior team all manage by the team captain Pi Le with assistance from Robert Sandberg, Johan Laiti and Erik Seger all of them a great future in Swedish gastronomy.

I tasted some of the food presented there and I love every bit of it, all of it was very creative with bold and gutsy flavours well presented in half portions so we could try many of the dishes.

Everything that was served is farmed and raised in Sweden and so was all the beverages presented here with beer, spirit and even the wines was made in Sweden (we do produce wine here)

And we have to finish off with some Swedish fika and all the cookies that you can eat J ( fika is a coffee or tea with cookies or cakes for hours)

Thanks guys for a great job showing of the best Sweden have to offer. Enjoy the pictures.

 

                                              This picture with the guys is curtesy of TV4















7/16/13

Respect the Sommelier


There are some debates here in Sweden regarding the definition of a sommelier, What is that and what does the title mean? How can we define the role?

Is it someone who works in a restaurant handling the wine list? Work as an importer of wines & spirits? Graduate from a recognized program or someone who has taken some courses in wine?

I think that this discussion matters due to that the name as Sommelier must be kept trustworthy for all the customers and off trade people who rely on the expertise of the sommelier.

But how is it with all the wine critics and their so called expertise? This is in general what people listen to and follows the advice in the magazines and daily columns in the papers; can we trust them as consumers?

The clear and honest answer to this is absolutely No! Due to that many of them do not know what the heck they are talking or writing about.(this is another case)

There are many schools in Sweden with certified sommelier programs where anybody with money and some interest can attend and call them self a sommelier after graduation and this drive me insane!

I meet people on daily basis who have a friend who was/is a sommelier on the spare time and retired lawyer full time, and then I have to explain my thoughts about it. Fascinating in deed

My admire for the profession is humble and full of respect for everybody who day in and day out is trying their best to share the knowledge with you out there so respect to the sommeliers.

 

One program can never deliver everything you need to know but will be a great catapult in to the wine world.

7/4/13

Vin journalister i Sverige hur tänker ni nu?


Nu har jag följt ett antal så kallade vin journalister i olika media med förbluffande resultat som jag inte alls var beredd eller trodde att jag skulle finna på detta sätt.

Många av dom har absolut ingen som helst språklig utbildning ( jag har absolut inte det, men jobbar inte heller med det) och många gånger används tydligen inte ens rättstavningen i datorn när man skriver vilket är förvånande och högs beklagligt.

Vad som är ännu värre är faktiskt hur dåligt insatta vissa av dom är när det gäller det som dom skriver om själva och än värre förmedlar till Svenska folket, högst besynnerligt då många människor ser dessa vin journalister som proffs i sitt ämne.

Exempel ” Torrontes är den mest odlade druvan i Chile sen när då? Eller denna ”Valpolicella görs alltid på torkade druvor” hur tänkte man nu? Att förse folk med felaktig info är inte ok tycker jag men det verkar som att bara för att man har arbetat i en systembutik eller går en sommelier kurs så kan man skriva vad som helst och få jobb inom media, mycket besynnerligt när det finns massor av kompetens ute i landet.

Hur mycket goodie bags och mutor det förekommer låter jag vara osagt, jag hoppas bara att det kommer fram så småningom.