Välkommen till Sverige: Gotland Pancakes and the Search for Chicken Soup

I took a trip from Stockholm to the small island of Gotland is an island in the south of Sweden that was a wealthy trading port during the middle ages. Despite technically being part of Sweden, its varied history means it actually has its own language and is culturally very different from Sweden. An indication of its rich trading history is the Gotland pancake, a bright yellow cake-like confection made with saffron topped with whipped cream and berry jam. The cake is surprisingly not very sweet, but is moist and springy. The whipped cream, as seems to be common in Sweden, is also unsweetened, but is balanced out by the rich, sweet jam that accompanies the cake and cream. While far from what I would call a pancake, the Gotland treat is undoubtedly something to try if you want a taste of the windy island.

Once I got back to Stockholm, I came down with a cold. While wheezing and coughing, I did the logical American thing: put chicken soup on my grocery list. Little did I know it would not be that simple. Apparently, Swedes don’t really understand the idea of chicken noodle soup; something that quickly became apparent to me after I began to search for some at the store. After a fruitless search at LIDL (a budget supermarket chain), I moved on to the ICA (another supermarket chain) near my apartment. After combing the store high and low, I managed to uncover what seemed to be a can of chicken soup. When I got home and attempted to heat some, however, I discovered that the can actually contained a gelatinous material with only minimal resemblance to what I would call chicken soup. I was desperate so I tried to dilute the concentrate (apparently, it is quite common to sell soups as concentrates in Sweden) into a close approximation of chicken soup. Alas, it was not to be. The final product can best be described as slightly yellow in color and definitely unappealing, especially because of the bits of un-dissolved concentrate still floating in it (though I admit this might have been due to my complete uncertainty as to how to deal with the alien substance I had unknowingly purchased). Nevertheless, I remain firm in my opinion that Sweden has many fantastic food virtues, even though chicken noodle soup is not one of them.
-Chloe Kaczvinsky