Saturday, September 6, 2014

The International Street Market or The 3-Week Plan: Day 6

Saturday on our food plan is for improvisation and Sundays are for eating with the mum-in-law. This week we included her in our improvisations and brought her food (she declined to come with us this time as she had been on a long walk yesterday and was a bit knackered). Last year was the first time the International Street Market came to LuleĆ„, the weather was smashing and they were a big success. We were a big success to them, buying food for an incredible 8 million SEK! I don´t remember what the husband and I were doing, but we didn´t go then. This year, I was sent by the mum-in-law to get some sausage and cheese on Wednesday, and was bowled over by the diversity and quality of what was on offer.

Today was the last day and the last chance to go for the husband, who became so entusiastic that he declared that next year we shall eat all week at the market. There was certainly enough variation on offer: ragu from France, curry-wurst from Berlin, waffles from Belgium, bigos (hunter´s stew) and pirogi from Poland, fish & chips and curry from England, and more.

Also, next week is the Swedish elections, so there were lots of heated political discussions on the street. The Swedish custom is that every party puts up a valstuga, an election cottage, where people can come and get information and discuss all the current issues. Immigration is a hot topic, and the Sweden Democrats (who aren´t really much for democracy when it comes down to it, having their roots in and being ideologically estabished in the neo-nazi movement) have support from about 10% of the electorate. I hope the abstainers will rise from their sofas this year and stand up for democracy and decency in Swedish politics.

Continental cookies, a grand selection.


Italian chocolate, which I didn´t even know was a Thing.




Turkish delight, of which we had three kinds: almond, rose, and lemon.

The Christian Democratic valstuga. Campaigning that more jobs = more welfare.

Very pretty Brittish teacups.
A sea, nay, an ocean of English fudge (and I bought none, still full up from this summer´s excesses in Scarborough...)!
Centerpartiet (used to be the farmer´s party),
campaigning for a sustainable Sweden.


Not just food on offer, but lovely quality clothing as well.
The strudel-makers were making lots of money!

The Berlin sausage booth had a real fire going.
Local politicial Stefan Tornberg (of Centerpartiet) being photographed with a voter.
Our desserts.
Folkpartiet´s valstuga (the Liberal party), campaigning for
dignified care of the elderly.
Swedes love sitting outdoors, even if it means having warming fire and blankets.

Pirogi, which we had for dinner (among other things).
Bigos, the Polish hunter´s stew, that has sauerkraut in it.
Dutch cheese.
We ended up at home late in the evening in front of a Bond adventure on the television, with whiskey (for me, the husband is a teetotaller) and an assortment of goodies.





2 comments:

  1. What fun! The food looks sooo good, the teacups would've been tempting to me, I love those little hooded sweaters/poncho things... I'd love this event!

    I wish we had more than 2 major parties here. I think it would improve discussion of the issues if there was more variety.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, those teacups were absolutely charming. My cupboards are too full already, however, I have to resist or throw something else out and I´m not prepared to do that.

      Our political discussions have been suffering in the last 20-30 years or so from all parties moving more towards a liberal middleground. It´s confusing for the voters when parties are no longer acting from an evident ideology, but rather in favour of some kind of "voter´s market", to remain in the driver´s seat, so to speak. The current media situation is to blame, I think, turning even politics into some kind of game show. Integrity seems very unfashionable these days.

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