Kumla: a force to be reckoned with
January 8, 2007 by alex
TOAD: January 7th, 2007: For most people, the holiday season begins with Thanksgiving and ends with the New Year’s celebration. For the past 3 years I have been invited to the various holidays that Karen and her family have cooked up. The first is Bonna Bake Day, where everyone gets together and bakes about 6 varieties of Scandinavian Christmas cookies. The second is Scandinavian Christmas, which happened yesterday, and it serves as the bookend to our holiday season.
Scandinavian Christmas involves the whole Norwegian side of Karen’s family coming together for a day and eating a variety of foods from various Scandinavian countries. Traditionally I love eating almost anything but this meal I still have a hard time with (except for the fish stew that Karen nails every year). Karen supposes its because everything is in a cream sauce, which could very well be the case. I think it might be a Norwegian thing - the Norwegian side of her family truly loves all of the specialties that make it to Scandinavian Xmas and no food has more lore around it than the Kumla (pictured above).
To you (and me) it may seem like a greyish, sticky mass of packed potato (is anything in Nature supposed to be that grey?) but to Karen’s family it is a treat that is only served one day a year and is to be taken very seriously. They are to be enjoyed with a huge pat of melted butter and nothing else (the butter serves as lubrication - making it possible to actually swallow a piece and have it successfully reach your stomach without getting lodged in your esophagus) I like to envision having it with salsa or maybe ketchup to spice it up a bit. That is frowned upon.
After a day that stretched from noon until 8pm, Karen and I packed up the car and a very tired Sasha and headed back to Brooklyn in the rain. Our stomachs full of Kumla and cream sauce, we’re now ready to start our new year.
Posted in Projects
January 8th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Let it be known that I do not take part in the love for Kumla. I try it every year and walk away after three bites feeling like there isn’t enough butter in this world to make it something worth consuming. I do enjoy the fiskepudding and fish stew though.
This year marked the first Scandinavian Christmas where vegetables were served, albeit in cream sauce.
January 8th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Clay’s tale of lutefisk has pretty much singlehandedly frightened me off of Scandinavian cuisine.
January 8th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Oh Lia, I wish I had never read that. Clay was filthy in 1994!
He’s right on with the “we only eat this once a year” attitude though.
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:29 pm
[...] Dec 19th, 2007: Every year Karen’s family celebrates Scandinavian Christmas and I am surrounded by all things grey and fishy. Last year I decided that I would stop complaining [...]