Just say no to lutefisk

Yuletide is upon us, and it is a difficult time of the year for Swedes living abroad, as the traditional food stuffs that belong to Christmas in Sweden are hard to come by, and the traditional julbord, or Christmas table, served by Swedish restaurants at this time of year are of course non-existent in the deep southwest.

But those are the results of choices I’ve made, so no reason to cry over spilt aquavit. I would, however, like to use this forum to banish one particular piece of Scandinavian stereotyping that goes on: A lot of us don’t eat lutefisk. Really. It’s gross. The only people who eat it and convince themselves they like it are the poor souls inflicted at childhood with this terrible cultural scarring.

Vive la resistance!

Got to thinking about this when an old post of Clay Shirky’s showed up, where he discusses being in Norway for Christmas and being exposed to lutefisk by his hosts. It’s pretty funny.