When it comes to Swedish food, you probably think of meatballs, Muppet chefs and the food court at IKEA. But Shout Out Louds’ bassist Ted Malmros, who is based in Stockholm, takes a break from honing his bouncy indie rock tunes to clue us in to his country’s cuisine, which involves a lot of pickled seafood. Delish? Yes!
“Many meals here are fish-based,” he tells me. “Herring, salmon and cod are all popular. And Stockholm is near the Baltic Sea, where there are a lot of white fish like perch, too.”
Malmros admits his traditional method of preparing fish makes some Americans cringe. “We salt and pickle things to preserve them. When Americans try our food, they tend to think something is wrong with it.” But his signature dish, which he compares to a layered cake—but with salmon!—actually sounds pretty great. “I make this very traditional Swedish dish that piles potatoes, eggs, milk, dill, onions and salmon that’s been cured in salt and sugar for a few days. You wrap it up with the salmon on top and bake it.”
That may sound more like a burrito than a cake, but Malmros reveals that Swedes have their own brand of burrito. Take thin flat bread, roll it with mashed potatoes, bratwurst, relish and roasted onions and you got yourself a Tummbrödrulle. I’ve been informed that it’s easier going down than it is to say.
Malmros tells me it’s very popular to eat locally and seasonally in Sweden. “Today you can get anything anytime, but people eat much more locally here than they do in the States,” he says. “In the winter, cucumbers, beets and root vegetables are popular. I make a great mash from them. The yellow beet, which is like root celery and is called ‘Swede,’ is one of the few things rich in Vitamin C this time of year. Mushroom season is in September and October, and you can find them everywhere!”
Touring through the States, Malmros says he tries to sample local cuisines everywhere he goes. “I like the South, where you can have yams and smoked meats and barbecue and okra—the stuff we never have in Sweden. And I eat a lot of sushi on the West Coast. Traveling throughout America, I love stopping at diners—they’re so cheap and there’s no diner culture in Sweden.”
See if you can spot Malmros and his band Shout Out Louds at a diner near you as they support their latest effort, Our Ill Wills, on tour. Here are the dates:
3/9, Big Cypress Indian Reservation (Pompano Beach, FL)
3/11, Joe’s Pub (New York, NY)
3/14, The Parish (Austin, TX - SXSW)
4/27, Coachella Festival (Indio, CA)
More Shout Out Louds can be heard on their MySpace page.