The Homeland

Although to many, Ikea is a place for a great value on home-decorating pieces, for me it is also a slice of a second home. My father is a full-blood Swede, and his uncle stayed behind in Sweden while his father and two remaining uncles came to America. During the summer between seventh and eighth grade, my mother, Eric, and I visited Sweden, spending half of the time in Stockholm with a friend of my mother's teaching there for a year, and the other half was spent in Gotland, where my father's family is from.


My cousins Birgit and Åke (beer-ghit, oaky) live in Stenkyrka (sten-shurka), Gotland, not too far from the town of Vall. When my grandfather and great-uncles came to America, the immigration officials told them that there were too many of "them" - meaning the Johansson was too common of a name. Thus, they were forced to take the name of the city where they were from in Gotland: Vall. But the immigration official spelled it wrong, giving us the surname "Wall."

Visiting them was nothing short of lovely, and Ikea's selection of Swedish foods reminds me of the time I spent with my relatives on the island.


Lingonberries: slightly less tart than their close relative (cranberries), these berries are extremely prevalent in Scandanavian cuisine due to the climate and ease of preparation (as well as their high vitamin C content). I was able to buy both lingonsylt (jam) and saft (see below...it's the GIGANTIC gallon of concentrate. I am so excited!). Lingonberry also makes a really good mixer for drinks, going very well with vodka and champagne)

Anna's Pepperkokkar (Anna's Gingerbread): Swedes enjoy a coffee and chatting break around 10 each morning, and gingerbread cookies are often the sweet of choice (and for those of you that just really need something sweet as a snack, they are small and fairly low in calories).

Elderberry saft: saft is a fruit concentrate that you dilute with water before drinking (kind of like a classy European koolaid with much better flavors and no fake sugar).

Bilar: chewy candy cars: deliciously odd tasting candies.


Unfortunately, they don't have such delicacies as almond buns, real fresh sill (fish), or beet salad that dyes your tongue bright red...I'll just have to go back some day.