This past Monday was National Day in Sweden.
It marks the anniversary of the day in 1523 when Gustav Vasa was elected king, which started establishing Sweden as its own country.
Sweden also adopted a constitution today in 1809.
But, even with all of that happening on Monday, it’s here on Thursday that the real fun gets underway.
That’s when people eat pea soup and pancakes.
Together.
In Sweden, husmanskost refers to standard foods that people would make and serve at home.
The food is generally inexpensive, not too hard to prepare, and features ingredients that would be readily available to most people.
It’s also filling – these are recipes that would have fed farm workers.
The soup typically features dried yellow peas and includes meat that’s cooked for hours.
The pancakes are often served with whipped cream and a jam made from berries, like lingonberries.
If you’re asking, why Thursday only? Here’s why.
Back in the 15th century, Catholics in Sweden would fast on Fridays.
So on Thursday, restaurants would make huge batches of the heartiest food they could quickly prepare, and a tradition was born.
It’s the last day of school for the students in my house.
We’re going to celebrate a little, though not on the scale of the student body at Basha High School in Chandler, Arizona.
Their tradition is called the Paper Toss.
It’s said the graduating class takes all their papers from the previous four years and drops them down a school stairwell.
They really hang on to all those papers for four years?!?
PEA SOUP AND PANCAKES – SWEDEN’S THURSDAY FAVOURITE (Routes North)
Basha High School end of year paper toss video goes viral (ABC 15)
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