01 00 28 07
Early summer in the Baltic Region. Something’s not right besides the large flocks of cormorants.

01 00 43 04
Certain things best describe a regional culture:

01 00 46 24
…where it is on the planet, what its landscape and weather are like; and in particular its music and food…

01 00 54 06
…and how people nurture, gather, process and consume those foods.

O0 01 00 06
What we eat in childhood gives us a sense of who we are and where we come from.

O0 01 05 16
When these traditions are destroyed, part of our identity is lost.

O0 01 14 08
In this episode we go to the southeast of Sweden. Södermanland is a region of lush rolling plains, thick forests and hundreds of lakes bordering the Baltic coast.

O0 01 25 00
Jan Erik has the sole license to fish on Lake Öljaren ( pronunciation ölyaren).

O0 01 29 02
His children don’t want to carry on the tradition. Jan is training a young man- an outsider.

O0 01 38 00
Jan Erik loves fishing in the mosquito heat of summer, in the autumn rain, in the glassy winter wind as it razors over the frozen lake.

O0 01 46 05
They net pike, perch, pike-perch and zander.

O0 01 51 02
If uncertain, they measure to see if a fish is a minimum length. If not they throw it back or…(fish is hit on the head)

01 02 13 07
Jan Erik lives on the land settled by his grandfather. He farms and fishes.

01 02 19 02
He said: ‘Can’t live on the herd anymore unless you’re big, need a 100 at least.’
His fishing, which is a tough life itself, supplements his farming.

01 02 29 17
As they prepared the fish fillets for market Jan Erik said: “Years ago, before industrial and housing developments, the lakes were connected by waterways to the Baltic .
‘Then, eels slithered up from the sea, across grassy banks and down into the next lake but farmers and builders filled in the land.’

01 02 51 01
Now Jan Erik imports young eels to the lake, lets them thrive and catches them in season.

01 03 03 04
After several days in his holding bin he collects them for market.

01 03 28 04
Most of his catch he sells to a wholesale buyer from the city, but he sells a little to his friend Molle, chef at the beautiful Julita Hotel Restaurant.

01 03 43 09
Molle prepares Jan Erik’s catch in several ways but here he makes one of the few still popular regional dishes.

01 03 50 08
Raw herring is marinated in 1 part water, 2 parts sugar and 3 parts vinegar with white pepper, allspice and bay leaves

01 03 59 14
Molle said: In the middle of oat fields, dairy herds, fish from the lakes and the nearby Baltic, I make few Swedish recipes. People want volume- stews, thick soups, plates of ham and chunks of bread…and they want it for little money.
01 04 17 21
Tourists know pasta and tacos; they don’t remember our traditions’.

01 04 24 03
Finishing the marinade, he thought about the remaining regional ingredients.

01 04 30 09
Strong cheeses; goat’s milk and sheep…but I…further up in the north I should say…deer…and of course fish from the lakes…pike, perch…and cray fish of course…cheese with cumin.

01 04 54 16
A Scandinavian favourite is cloud berries, a tart fruit which grows in harsh conditions.

01 05 09 07
Molle mixes them with sugar and serves them on homemade vanilla ice cream, a recipe from the Levant via France.

01 05 17 00
A one time important Swedish word ‘Lagom’ means ‘just right’, or ‘in moderation….’

01 0523 11
But Swedish cuisine and moderation are passing.

01 05 32 17
Because the countryside has been emptied of traditional village life with its patterns of food production, places like the Julita Hotel struggle against the fast food mentality.

01 05 43 04
This group, Rent Spel, keeps traditional music alive in the way that Molle keeps the local recipes alive.

01 06 08 18
On the island of Oaxen is the "Oaxen Skärgårdskrog" Restaurant

01 06 13 01
Magnus Ek, an award winning chef, uses local produce and fish when available.


01 06 22 18
As he prepares perch with carrots and aubergine he explains that the island and his garden have local varieties of herbs. He uses the herbs fresh or to flavour oils.

01 06 36 03
With a clientele who have lost the taste for their own cuisine, Magnus has little reason to pursue a distinctively Swedish style.

01 06 42 16
“What we think is really Swedish is from the beginning borrowed from other countries. We’ve got really strong influences from Italy, France, Spain, Turkey…”

01 06 59 10
He innovates, searching for surprises, especially of textures.

01 07 03 01
His artistry, international in style, shines through.

01 07 13 04
In the 1960’s Sweden began to industrialize its farming: creating ever larger units of production, using expensive machinery, fertilizers and pesticides. Small farmers were driven out.

01 07 26 09
There were 300,000 dairy farmers then, now there are 9000.

01 07 31 09
As people were forced out of the villages and off their farms, the country’s food identity weakened.

01 07 37 96
But Bo the herdsman, who names each animal, survives with 200 cows on rented land.

01 07 49 12
Bo said: ‘Routine, they demand routine, regularity. They eat, they’re milked- line up for it; in the warm weather they wander to the fields and back, munch straw or grass, they’re milked again, rest in the sun, milked a third time, sleep and Bo says they dream.


01 08 19 07
At night, when the barn is quiet and most of the cows are lying down, they’ll twitch as if from things imagined.’

01 08 25 18
Cows dream of what? Bo wonders.

01 08 28 16
He added: ‘The EU sustain us with their subsidies but its crazy the way the countryside’s been killed.

01 08 34 10
This farm used to have 37 workers; now there’s 3.

01 08 43 03
Milk, cream, cheese, butter these dairy products are central to the Swedish diet.

01 08 52 02
Ami Halberg prepares a soured milk pudding.

01 08 59 12
She brings a litre of fresh milk to a boil.

01 09 06 18
She adds cream to thicken and make it richer.

01 09 13 07
After it has cooled Amy adds a little soured milk…

01 09 17 02
…cools it and leaves it to set in bowls overnight.

01 09 30 10
It’s a kids treat for everyone eaten with wild strawberries or cinnamon.

01 09 42 16
With only 9 million people, vast stretches of Sweden’s forests and lakes are free of human footprints.



01 09 59 01
At Äleby Vilt, an animal preserve owned by Ingela and Johan Högfeldt, wild deer and boar roam free and safe…

01 10 07 16
…except from humans who admire their gamey meat.

01 10 19 11
Boar meat is rich, thick with flavour and aroma.

01 10 24 13
Cold smoked and cured it is silky and moist

01 10 35 14
Maria Printz and her French husband Thierry run a kitchen which provides catering for local events.

01 10 41 15
As Maria prepared vegetables to roast she said: ‘We love our region’s ingredients and use them in our preparations.

01 10 53 20
Thierry prepares a loin of venison in ham and herbs.

01 11 03 00
Shallots are softened in butter…

01 11 07 01
…and than pin head barley and a veal stock are added.

01 11 13 05
Dried morels are soaked and than fried.

01 11 19 02
When softened Thierry adds them to the barley which is a staple carbohydrate of the area.

01 11 28 07
Butter is added to cream to make a thick sauce. Thierry brings together local tastes with French techniques.



01 11 36 10
In northern Europe, butter and cream take the place of the olive oil of southern Europe.

01 11 41 18
Baltic and lake fish, seasonal game, root vegetables, nuts and fruits are combined with a hearty Swedish love of these things informed by the refinements of French cuisine.

01 11 55 16
Thierry further moistens the barley and Marie brings her Swedish taste buds to bare…

01 12 16 16
A spinach-like leaf is wilted with the remaining morels.

01 12 27 01
Like many Swedes, Andreas Pauli spends a part of some weekends at his lakeside summer house hunting for wild mushrooms.

01 12 36 14
He knows they’re there…….somewhere.

01 12 39 00
In the damp patch near the tree…

01 12 45 24
…under fallen foliage….

01 12 48 18
…somewhere.

01 13 01 05
Being meticulous and persistent, he prevails.

01 13 08 23
Back at the kitchen, Marie extracts her now roasted vegetables from the oven.

01 13 16 10
She makes a honey and vinegar dressing.


01 13 27 00
Marie combines the roasted vegetables with apple, nuts and slices of the smoked boar to finish a delicious salad of varied textures and tastes.

01 13 3 07
And Thierry assembles the venison…

01 13 43 11
…barley

01 13 46 20
…leaves….

01 13 48 15
…and sauce…

01 13 50 16
…a beautiful collaboration of local ingredients with a classic French nuance.

01 14 00 00
Barley is grown on this farm dedicated to raising horses and to organic arable crops.

01 14 06 07
The owner Karl-David Sundberg said: ‘We decided to use the arable fields to produce our own beer, vodka and acquavit…to invest in something that could be made small scale. We only have 400 hectares and in national terms its not such a big deal.’
‘We’ve made a 100% stainless steel automated malting plant.. We are building a good position in the food industry with bakers and breweries, the only plant in Northern Europe that is completely organic.’

01 14 42 01
A part of their production is grown specifically to service their brewery in Stockholm devoted to organic beer making.

01 14 49 00
These hop pellets are added to the brewing malt to flavour the beer.

01 15 03 17
Patrick Holmqvist, a biochemist who is now an award winning brewer, clears the kettles after the liquid had been filtered into vats where it will rest and mature before being bottled.
01 15 15 16
Karl-David named the new brews ‘Nils Oscar; after his grandfather. People seem to need continuities and traditions.

01 15 25 10
On the farm they leave the verges of the fields, up to 41/2% of the land, as a special habitat for insects and animals.

01 15 38 03
A local bakery could use the organic flour but, as they said, ‘we don’t think about it.’
At the Café Konditorei….in the main square of Strängnäs their influences are Danish, French, German, and Austrian.

01 15 51 18
Anette Björling, master chef- in the bakery by three AM, flour and yeast dust fill the air, the morning’s eggs arrive, handfuls of cardamoms for flavouring, sugar and cinnamon perfume the bakery.

01 16 21 12
Working on her own, she slices, weighs, crushes and cracks, effortlessly producing different dough.

01 15 21 16
She thinks small scale bread production is beginning to disappear.

01 15 25 05
She said: ‘People buy what is often falsely called ‘fresh baked bread’ from supermarkets.

01 15 32 21
Most people don’t know these supermarket breads have been pre-baked and that they are chemically contrived to fool the customer into equating ‘soft’ with ‘fresh’.

01 15 46 12
After her dough has been mixed and allowed to rise, she divides and kneads it again before working it into particular shapes.

01 15 55 19
Each dough, worked and flavoured in different ways creates very different results.

01 17 25 08
A sugar and buttery cinnamon mix is spread as her bakers art begins to reveal itself.

01 17 36 21
These sweet pastries are a celebration, an excess in the Swedish diet. They are a bit of naughtiness which stands in opposition to the ‘Jante Law’ – a Lutheran edict which literally means ‘I not’… …’you shall not think that you are somebody at all..’

01 18 26 18
None the less, as Anette’s pastries bake, her trays are stacked waiting for buns and loaves of a hearty dough mixed with beer, sunflowers and fennel oil.

01 18 39 01
Anette said: ‘Every day is different. I don’t bake the same things regularly; I’ll experiment if I see an interesting recipe.

01 19 03 22
While historical events have led to Swedish cuisine being overlaid with French and German influences in particular, it is in local bakeries and some homes where the roots of Swedish cooking still survive.

01 19 22 14
By eleven Anette finishes and returns to train and play with her two dogs.

01 19 28 07
While she sleeps through the afternoon in this quiet little town, people buy her breads and pastries
She dreams of having her own place, where every morning she can produce whatever dough she wishes.

01 19 50 06
Outside of the bakery is Market Square overlooked by its gothic cathedral.

01 19 55 16
At this stall organic tomatoes and salads are sold.

01 20 09 09
Evelina and Vivec, daughters of Mats and Karin Sjöstedt, the farmers, sell to the general public and to shops, restaurants and cafes. They are the fourth generation in this family to sell in the market.

01 20 22 15
One buyer said: ‘When you’ve eaten their tomatoes you never want to go back to the tasteless ones.’ Another said: ‘we were passing, they looked good and we’ve been shopping here ever since.’

01 20 33 00
Their purple basil, sunflower greens and varieties of lettuce are vibrant with taste.

01 20 51 19
In 1978 Karin and Mats had their first child. They decided they wanted to feed their children on wholesome foods so started growing organic vegetables.

01 21 01 02
Between Mats -a teacher of biology, technology and geography, Karin -a student of nutrition and economics, their daughters and a few friends, they run the farm.

01 20 22 09
They begin growing in their greenhouses in February and cultivate until October…this is their choice.

01 21 30 24
Mats said: ‘When you grow organic produce you have to look at the amount of energy used in the product…to cultivate organically and then to use a lot of energy is a contradiction.

01 21 41 21
In a world where 800 million people are hungry everyday and almost one and a half billion are overweight or obese, the problem is not the amount of food created but the way it’s grown and distributed.

01 21 56 12
Organic farmers produce about 1/3 less volume per hectare than industrial farmers. Some say: ‘their heads are in the clouds with their feet still in muck’…but as with Mats and Karin, they try not to take more from the environment then they return to it.




01 22 11 19
This is a way to describe sustainability, a way not to steal from your children and their children the irreplaceable riches of the earth and a way of producing food which is unquestionably better for your health than that laden with poisonous chemicals.

01 22 41 03
Each variety they grow is distinctive with firm flesh and rich flavours…something appreciated by one of the finest chefs of the region.

01 23 00 08
At the beautiful Yxtaholms Slott restaurant set in an 18th century country house, chef Patrik Arneke uses Mat and Karin’s produce. In fact he so honours the qualities of their tomatoes he creates a special dish with them.

01 23 15 09
When I was young I started up in a kitchen, I didn’t know so much about restaurant life…but I started up to work with a chef and he was from the seaside. When the fishermen came in they brought in fish. I think that the most important thing he teach me was if someone brings you something which is goody have to buy it; that’s what will make your dinner.

01 23 50 21
So I think it’s very important to have a local connection with people and if they bring you something you should just buy it. Its something local…it brings in what you have outside. I think that a restaurant in a setting like this, in the middle of nature should always me a mirror of the landscape around.

01 24 28 05
Besides nurturing his own herb garden he has created a range of oils and condiments making greater used of local ingredients.

01 24 26 14
He said: ‘What is important is not just what….’

01 24 39 01
So what’s important is not just what a good chef could make in the kitchen, it’s much more important about where the food is coming from.




01 25 26 01
Today Sweden is rich and has many social benefits for its people. But with its industrial farms and processed food, with global culture having turned people away from their own indigenous creative expression and cuisine, unsung heroes of continuity still produce wonderful things.





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