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Get your free copy17 January 2011, 18:11 PM
- Scandinavian food is tipped to be the biggest culinary trend of 2011, with traditional Nordic delicacies set to leap in demand over the coming year
Supermarket giant Waitrose is currently collaborating with the Swedish Trade Council to host Scandinavian food trials at a number of its outlets until the end of February. The chosen stores will be stocking Västerbottensost cheese, Leksandsbröd crisp bread, Swedish Kitchen Organic Meatballs and lingonberry jam in a bid to gauge consumer demand.
Britain’s discovery of Nordic food follows the smash-hit success of Swedish fiction such as Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the Wallander television series. Denmark’s Noma restaurant helped put ‘Scandi’ food on the culinary map when it scooped the world’s best restaurant award last year.
“Scandinavian food is now being discovered for its simple, clean flavours,” said Waitrose executive chef Neil Nugent. “I think this will eventually become part of the repertoire of foods that Britons eat and some products could be a future food staple, such as Västerbottensost cheese which could become as popular as Edam.”
Swedish Trade Council project manager Gustaf Bergström said: “Swedish food is about natural ingredients, high quality and innovation, hence it fits well into the Waitrose offering. It is the first time such a trial sale of Swedish food has been conducted in the UK and we think the timing is just right since we can see a large and growing interest around Swedish and Scandinavian food.”
