Scandinavian food: top culinary trend of 2011?

  • January 10, 2011
  • Josette Dunn

Scandinavian food is tipped as the hottest UK culinary trend of 2011 and could even be a future shopping basket staple.Britain’s discovery of Nordic nosh follows the smash-hit success of Scandinavian 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 poised to make a splash in Britain, according to an independent trends report called Food Watching commissioned by Waitrose.  Traditional Nordic products such as herring, smoked fish and lingonberry jam are predicted to increasingly be on British shopping lists.

The popularity of Scandinavian cuisine in the UK may herald a similar trend in Australia, where consumers already can’t get enough of Scandinavian furniture, homewares and fiction.

The simplicity of light Nordic cuisine together with its use of pared-down, high quality ingredients are its main attractions, the report says.

Waitrose Executive Chef Neil Nugent said: “Scandinavian food is now being discovered for its simple, clean flavours. 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.  We can see a large and growing interest around Swedish and Scandinavian food.”Classic Scandinavian food is a mix of simple oats and wholegrains, berries, vegetables, oil-rich fish such as herring or salmon, hard cheese, poultry and lean meat.

London’s restaurant scene is already reflecting this latest food trend. Scandinavian venue Madsen in South Kensington has enjoyed positive reviews whilst Verru, opening on Marylebone Lane this month, will merge Baltic and Scandinavian flavours.


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2 Responses to “Scandinavian food: top culinary trend of 2011?”

  1. e-menus on January 11th, 2011 11:23 am

    well lets hope so as im pretty sure i haven’t had Scandinavian food, however i would like to very much.

    if anyone knows of a Scandinavian restaurant please let me know as i’d like to have them on e-menus for all to find. thanks.

  2. Anna on January 26th, 2011 1:06 am

    Scandinavian kitchen is really good

    http://www.scandikitchen.co.uk