The beauty of
Swenglish is that even if I travel from one part of the city to another, it often
feels like travelling between two different countries. I spent most weekend
with host number 12 meditating, singing mantras, following a wheat-free,
sugar-free, vegan, sattvic (excluding mushroom, onion & garlic) diet and
drinking nothing stronger than nettle tea. On Sunday afternoon I met host
number 13 in a pub for a (vegetarian) roast and pints of ale, followed by
watching football in another pub.
Traditionally a
meal similar to the English roast dinner is served in Sweden on Sundays, but
people would never go out for a roast– unless there was a special occasion and
even then they would have to find a posh gastro pub and spend lots of money.
The potatoes would most likely be boiled instead of roasted and the meat would be
pork or beef, rarely lamb. And it would be unheard of for the younger
generation to have a traditional meal on a Sunday – take-away pizza is the
Swedish way.
In England people
of all ages, including lots of students, go out for a roast on Sundays and it’s
very affordable (between £6 and £10) and you usually get a mountain of food.
However the meal I had didn’t look very appetising (I photographed my plate
before I’d touched anything – it was served in a true sloppy manner) and I’m
not too sure about the taste as I was too hungry to care.
Among the slop on
my plate were Yorkshire pudding (years ago I thought it was a dessert and it does
remind me of savoury croissants), cauliflower cheese, and a mushroom parcel, so
I definitely broke the wheat-free, vegan, sattvic diet. I enjoyed having an ale,
but it wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. I quite liked my super
healthy week ...
I couldn’t care
less about the football – Ireland played Croatia and lost, but the Irishmen in
the pub were in good spirits and sang along to the Irish folk songs that the
bar staff kindly put on. Apparently England is playing Sweden this week. I’ll
have to get my Swenglish flag out ...
