Caviar that comes in a toothpaste tube. You eat it on toast. For breakfast.
In Sweden, open-faced sandwiches, with boiled eggs and kaviar is the way to serve it. This is not a delicacy; it is a time-honored, everyday food in Sweden and Finland. You can read more about it here.
I fully intend to try kaviar when I go to Sweden one of these days-- even though I am alarmed at the idea. I like fishy things, so that isn't what bothers me.Is it the texture that I imagine will be objectionable? But I eat tobiko, the flying fish eggs that often surround my sushi rolls. So why not?
Maybe it's the idea of fish for breakfast, something they do in many other countries but don't do here. This cartoon expresses my feelings, albeit in German.
"This marmalade tastes like fish!" "This is caviar."
Maybe it's the idea of the tube. I haven't eaten things in tubes like that before, except maybe Cheese Whiz.
Update:
I just have to share with you this Swedish commercial for kaviar. At the end it says, "Kalla all gone?" "There is more at the store." And YouTube has some other funny ones too. Gotta love YouTube!
11 comments:
Hi K, nice German cartoon and nicely translated. :) It specifically said the type of marmalade as well, which is blackberry. I recall those tubes from the 70's here (it looked exactly like you posted it: on hard boiled eggs). And it didn't taste too bad at all. In the meantime they not just have mustard in tubes, but chopped onions for example. It's just more practicable, it doesn't necessarily has to taste bad. And I like fish for breakfast as well. R.
It's funny how everything comes in a tube in Germany.. ketchup, mustard, and every other condiment you can think of:) I love fishy things.. I put anchovies on everything!
That makes me think about the tubes themselves. Toothpaste tubes in the USA used to be made of metal. A metal, in fact, that had the look and feel of lead!
No one ever talked about what those tubes were made of. No one ever answered my questions about it. And that was in the days before Google!
I wonder now if food tubes are made of some kind of metal that no one ever talks about.
I wonder.....
Oh, say, did you see the beautiful sunshine outside this morning?
(One of the many benefits of having ADHD).
Anonymous, It's a gorgeous day! And I was wondering about the metal, but I was too lazy to look into that last night when I was pondering caviar in a tube.
My friend told me about all those other things that come in tubes. Mustard, etc. But R, chopped onion?
Anyway, it is an interesting and unfamiliar way to preserve food, in a tube. But you have to admire the handiness of it.
Over here all our condiments are coming in squeeze bottles these days.
Ha ha, I understand your scepticism to tube-food! In Sweden it is not just caviar that comes from a tube, also cheese... with flavours (!!) such as shrimp, mushroom, game - you name it! I personally don't like any of the food coming from a tube but my O, from Spain absolutely loves it! He is the one who has to visit Ikea when we are in mainland US to buy Kalles Kaviar, "räkost" (shrimp cheese - how tempting does it sound??) and Swedish hard cheese (not from a tube)! A French friend of mine dated a Swede for a while and fell in love with the above räkost to her father's dismay - "it is not cheese if it comes from a tube" :D
I did have a small taste of Kalles kaviar the other day on my boiled eggs, first time in a loooong time and nope, not for me - it is not disgusting, not at all but just too fishy and salty.
However, I love how you are so curious about everything Swedish! I hope that you get to visit Sweden soon.
Thinking about it some more (and yes, chopped onions...) I recall that my mom used to hardboil eggs, cut them in half and then top it with this salmon tube paste and she bought the cheapest available caviar we could afford from a glass and topped the eggs also. *yuk* Now seriously: who in the world likes the taste of fish eggs??? Not me! R.
One more thing: the tubes out of metal... didn't it all start with the army, who tried to preserve food. In the German army they call them E-packs. And Anonymous: does anyone care about how we get poisoned anyway? The government I mean... so then it's lead. It's best to be into fresh food anyway ;-) one more proof of it! R.
Petchie, I am so lucky to have Swedish friends, virtual though they are, to accompany me on my journey of cultural exploration. If I can ever help demystify American culture, please hit me up (although I have to admit, it mystifies me sometimes).
Ya know, as long as Kaviar doesn't have the texture of fish eggs (bursting in your mouth when you chew, *ugh), fishy and salty sounds ok. I love anchovies on pizza and in Caesar salads, and I can eat canned salmon and tuna, so...
It would be nice to know what metal tubes are made of...
All those tube-foods, it's so space-age! At our house, only three things come in tubes: toothpaste, glue and lube. It's bad enough to get any of those mixed up... I wouldn't want to grab the shrimp-flavored cheese by mistake.
I'm liking my food free of any containers these days, but I bet tubular snacks are real convenient for traveling (except, I guess, you would't be able to carry them on planes now).
You can buy that stuff at IKEA. It's not my favorite. I find it too salty. The tuna kind is ok though. If you ever go to Sweden, you'll have to try the curry chicken and banana pizza. It's surprisingly good.
I remember that pizza from your blog. I have a Finnish thing to send you that Anders gave me. It's hilarious and you, especially, will appreciate it.
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