Tastes of Scandinavian Heritage: Recipes & Research

ANALYSIS

      For my choice of Scandinavian food, I decided I wanted to learn more about Rømmegrøt. I thought it would be very interesting since I have had the dish a couple of time, but I had never thought about the preexistence and the history behind it. The most reliable resource for me to find answers about this dish was my mother. Sandy Eggermont, born in a relatively Norwegian family and in a relatively Norwegian community of Greenbush, MN. Her mother would made rømmegrøt for her family on Christmas and sometimes thanksgiving. When I asked her how her mother came about to know this dish, sandy told me that the recipe has been in her family for year, and every generation of mothers had to know how to make it for their families and then pass it down to keep the tradition going. And so with all her background and knowledge I chose her to be the head resource for my research.

       Before we started thinking about this making the dish, I had to interview her about the dish and the history of it. Unfortunately her memory of the history of the dish, was a little hazy and unclean. She suggested I do an interview on one of her good Old Norwegian friend Mr. Boyd Wermedahl. He was quite the character very humorous and I learned so much from him and what he thought about rømmegrøt. (As you will see this in the interview transcript). After my interview with Wermedahl, I took it with sandy to do the last piece of the interview, which was getting her family recipe.

       Rømmegrøt is a sour cream thick porridge made with milk, butter and sugar, as she explained and at some time trying to get the ingredients to make the meal. I thought to myself, “what a great way to spend time with her” she seem very happy and joyful that she was passing down a piece of family tradition. She continued talking me about the dish, saying how her family always had it on Christmas and how they had it as an appetizer. She also believes that Rømmegrøt, because it was so rice, at some time In Norway it was only for the nobles. But as the years passed on it was introduced to the lower class and that is how it spread.
We finished preparing the dish, so we had to try it. She went first and the first thing that came out of her mouth was, “oh how I have missed you”. I decided to try it to and my reaction was far better than the first time I had tried it. It was so good that we ate most of it and then realized we had to make more due to the fact that I had to take some for my class. My final thoughts were what a great time, and I would recommend this activity to anyone wanting to make a meal with their families.