|
|
|
|
I promised someone I would do this today, so here goes... Something silly:
To understand the Swedish people, and the Swedish mentality, you have to understand our milk. Sounds peculiar? Well maybe! You see, our milk is very important to us (for some reason, hopefully a historical one, and not some unhealthy obsession about bovine mammary glands and udders and stuff...). We've been raised since generations on it, and teached that milk is good for us; it is nourishing, and makes our bones strong (to prove the point, it is fortified with vitamins too). Recent scientific studies may point in a different direction however, but that's kinda beside the point, really.
The point is, milk is kind of a big thing over here. We're some of the biggest milk-drinkers in the world actually (along with coffee, but that's ALSO beside the point).
So let's get right to that point. I mean like, RIGHT NOW:
In the beginning, in the dawn of time, there was only MILK. It was pasteurized and homogenized of course, and had a set, standardized fat content of tree percent (and even wayer back, before the dawn of time I guess, it actually came in glass bottles and not the cartons we all are used to today). Seemed nice and proper at the time it was decided I'm sure, three percent. Gives it a nice and well-rounded taste without making your mouth feel buttery and slick. Actually, it was decreed the entire, banana-shaped kingdom of ours, a length of some 1.574 kilometers or in the thereabouts (that's 977 miles for you metric-challenged peeps), should have the same milk. No regional deviations, oh no. Not in Sweden. We don't do things like that over here.
Sure, three's a fine number in most respects, but then we started discovering cardio-vascular diseases and such, and the correlation between those and saturated fat intake. So in an effort to let people cut down on that, another kind of milk was introduced; 'light' milk. It comes in blue containers, as compared to standard milk's red, and it has just half a percent of fat in it.
Many years passed, the Swedish people was rested and content - for the most part anyway - but eventually we discovered something was missing in our lives. You see, we're really a people mostly devoid of extremes in either directon. We don't like it when things become too controversial, we close our eyes or look the other way. Nice and quiet, that's how we want it. A bit 'hobbitey' you might even say.
We even have a word for that. A word which has NO correlation in the English language (and indeed, most of the other languages on this planet, either spoken today or extinct I believe). That word means something like, "not too much and not too little", or maybe, "just about right", something like that. And we realized our milk JUST WASN'T RIGHT. We had one extreme, and the other, but what about all those people who wanted the richer taste of standard, but the lower fat contents of light? SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!
And it was.
Lo and behold, 'middle' milk was created! It comes in green containers ('green' in Swedish rhymes with the word 'pleasant', not sure there's a real correlation there, but one can always pretend), and it has a fat content of one and a half percent. A nice compromise I'm sure you agree, and very, very Swedish!
One of our more famous writers, stand-up comedians and playwrights (and, he's gay too by the way), has written a book with a slightly peculiar title. It's called "The land of the middle milk". I haven't read it, but I suppose it is about us.
So now you know FAR more about Swedish milk than you ever wanted to know...!
My friend, was that silly enough?
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
tim
|
 |
Really getting into it |
Location: UK, West of London in Ber...
Registered: February 2002
Messages: 842
|
|
|
We have in England:- Jersey Milk (heavy, heavy fat content. You can whip the cream you take off the top
- Full cream (regular) milk
- Full cream homogenised milk
- Semi Skimmed
- Skimmed
- Sterilised (tastes awful)
- Ultra Heat Treated long life (tastes just like sterilised)
In addition we can have all grades of milk organic or non organic.
We used to have glass bottles everywhere. Since we also have doorstep milk delivery (At least 50% price uplift on a supermarket) we still have glass bottles in many places. But we chnaged our style of glass bottle to get more modern about 30 years ago, too.
Now add to this soy milk, non soy milk, goat's milk and you get a crazy milk based country too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I´m sure, outside of Sweden it can be used as a magíc spell. I think as soon as know it, I´ll have to use it a hundred times a day......
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The word you're looking for is "lagom".
Say it three times quickly when an unpleasant and/or annoying relative rings your doorbell and...absolutely nothing will happen!
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
e
|
 |
On fire! |
Location: currently So Cal
Registered: May 2002
Messages: 1179
|
|
|
Well, I would have been foolish and obvious enough to make a "Got Milk" joke, but now you've taken all the fun out of it.
To me milk is something that you put chocolate in, or a spoonful of molasses, or pour over cereal, or make into custard or cheese. But NEVER EVER should be mentioned in the same sentence as coffee or tea. And to actually drink it plain, right out of the bottle, carton, or plastic jug is downright repulsive. Though I must admit that getting it warm right out of the cow ain't bad. (no I didn't suck the nipples).
I do ask the question, though, since you brought it up, if milk is so good for you, why do they have to fortify it with vitamins?
Here in the States, we have "whole milk," 2% (skim) milk, 1% milk, and nonfat milk. Nearly all is homogenized and pastuerized. There is also powdered milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk. In health food stores you can find "organic" milk, goat milk, and sheep milk.
In Wisconsin there's a whole culture of "people?" who call themselves "cheeseheads" and walk around in public with hats that resemble wedges of Swiss cheese.
Strangely enough California is also about 900 miles long and sort of bananna shaped. It is the largest producer of milk in the US. Coincidence?
Think good thoughts,
e
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
trevor
|
|
Really getting into it |
Registered: November 2002
Messages: 732
|
|
|
"Come smell our dairy air." Hmm, I dunno how to spell that word in French, but you get the idea, I'm sure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No Message Body
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
|
] 
A Place of Safety
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
Silly. 
Please: What is that magic swedish word for "just about right"? 
Re: What, no 'got milk?' jokes? 
New state slogan for Wisconsin 
