Sweden

Anderstorp Summers and the Swedish Table

Sweden hosted six Grands Prix in the 1970s and produced Ronnie Peterson, and its cooking pairs simple country food with berries, bread and the sea.

The Swedish Grand Prix had a short spell on the calendar: six editions, from 1973 to 1978, at the Scandinavian Raceway, known today as Anderstorp Raceway. Denny Hulme took the first, Jody Scheckter and Niki Lauda won it twice each, and Jacques Laffite won in 1977.

Ronnie Peterson is Sweden's most successful driver, with ten Grand Prix wins from 123 starts between 1970 and 1978. Jo Bonnier, who made 104 starts from 1956 to 1971, had already given the country its first victory at the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix, and Gunnar Nilsson won the 1977 Belgian Grand Prix. Stefan Johansson reached a best finish of second in a 79 start career, and Marcus Ericsson made 97 starts between 2014 and 2018.

Swedish cooking stretches the length of a long country, with reindeer and game in the far north, some of it rooted in Sami culture, and more fresh vegetables in the south. Everyday traditional food, husmanskost, was built on local pork, fish, grains, milk, potatoes, root vegetables, cabbage, apples and berries. Bread comes in many forms, from rye and sourdough loaves to crispbread, and many dishes rely on simple contrasts, such as meatballs in cream sauce with tart lingonberry jam, proof that sweet and savory can share a plate without an argument.

The calendar sets the table. Thursday is traditionally soup day, with yellow pea soup and pancakes to follow. Midsummer brings new potatoes with sour cream, chives and pickled herring, then the first strawberries, and August means crayfish boiled with a generous hand of dill. Internationally, Sweden is best known for the smörgåsbord and the Christmas julbord, where gravlax and meatballs rank among the favorites.

A taste of Sweden

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