Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Snapshots from Swedish landscapes

Now we have left Eskilstuna and headed over to the West coast, more exactly Stenungsund. On our trip we passed through the old 'robber forest' of Tiveden with its clear lakes and dark forests, then on to the large plains and the cradle of Swedish civilization around Skara, and passed over Göta River, and then to the west coast with its giant landscapes of granite mountains and clay-filled valleys. Here are some snapshots from the last couple of days, and as usual more photos are on Flickr.

Coca-Cola a la locavore
Locavore (eating local) has arrived in Sweden in the marketing departments. Coca-Cola proudly states "Made in Sweden" and "Sugar from Skåne" (the southernmost province) on their cans, most likely to inform that there are no high-fructose corn sugar syrup in this and it is not made in Germany or Spain or something. I was very surprised to see this. In America, would Coke say "Made in Pennsylvania"? I think the Swedes care more than the average American. However, there is no information about transfats about any food here, incredible. People love margarine, so the butter revolution hasn't really arrived yet. Otherwise there are lots of organic food alternatives in the regular supermarkets such as ICA and Coop, and Swedes are the best recyclers in the world.

Älgarås church
Älgarås church is a medieval wooden church, one of only 12 left in Sweden. It has the oldest church bell too, which has rune inscriptions on it. The inside of the church is covered in medieval paintings, and you can really hear the historic time ticking away in there. This is a great place, but is not near any of the big highways, so I think a lot of people are missing it.


Leo Pettersson: Sprung
The sculpture park at the old bronze age grave fields of Pilane is amazing. Modern sculptures are placed in the landscape surrounded by billion-year old rocks, thousand-year old culture, and living sheep. I loved this place! Many more of the sculptures are on Flickr. This sculpture is by Leo Pettersson and called Sprung and situated up on a large mountain with views over the Atlantic. The bent structures were made from fresh willows.

moon jelly fish
The jellyfishes were abundant! This moon jellyfish doesn't sting.

fishy things
The fish and seafood is fantastic in Sweden, especially along the coast. Lots of it is locally caught.

local organic farm
We picked our own tomatoes at Mölnebo Ecological Farm. We also bought fresh salad ingredients, but the lettuce was not lettuce, but 5 other unusual leafy vegetables, such as ice plant, New Zealand spinach and other very tasty leaves. It is a wonderful place, go and visit!

10 comments:

PP said...

lThe jellyfish...is it realy "glowing" or is it just the light?

LS said...

The jelly fish was strange. They don't glow, but when I fix the contrast and brightness on the photo to make it sharper, the glow and iridescence appeared. I was wondering if it is something the sensor in the camera can detect and not our eyes?

EH said...

About margarin and trans-fat: I had to check it up: It´s not transfats unless it´s marked "härdat veg fett".

Citat "Transfetter ("härdade fetter" eller på engelska "hydrogenated fat") har nu tagits bort från de flesta margariner. Härdade fetter finns dock i stället i många andra produkter, t ex choklad, kex, kakor, sötsaker, soppor, buljongtärningar, pulverkaffe som Capuccino och Café au lait etc. Vissa margariner är fortfarande uppbyggda på härdade fetter.

What they do instead is to esterize the fat again. But they remove many healthy substances from the fat and it´s surely better in that perspective to eat butter. The food should be as unprocessed as possible, if a choice is to be made.

EH said...

citat (quote above) from http://www.konsumentsamverkan.se/11verk/kampanj/saker/m-fakta.html#hardning

LS said...

I have to check that esterizing in the American margarines, I wonder if they do that there. Good that it is removed here. But on American labels, it now says Transfat as a special line, so people can know it is included or not. Yes, fresh and unprocessed is the best and tastes the best too. I bought lactose-free butter for you, EH, did you see?

EH said...

I don´t think I saw any lactose-free butter. But then it´s not lactose I´m trying to avoid but milk-protein. It´s a very common misunderstanding to think that milk and lactose always is the same. It´s not , I know you know that.

Looks like you got some nice fresh veggies in Bohuslän!

LS said...

Oh, so the protein in cheese is not milk protein? Casein I think it is called. Now I get it, it is not the lactose....

LS said...

PS. But butter is mostly fat, not protein anyway, so shouldn't that be OK?

EH said...

in chees-making the milkprotein is broken into pieces, I think. I merely go by what I feel, my tummy tells me what I shouldn´t eat. Milk, youghurt etc and eggs so far. I can tolerate a grat deal but only for a while.

EH said...

I hate mis-spelled words: corrections:

cheese
yoghurt
great

This keyboard is crazy.