How to Skoal with Style and Grace
Alan Richman, "GQ" magazine food writer.
Visiting Sweden? Hope to impress a Swede? Just want to appear worldly and stylish? The French Culinary Institute's Cooking Issues blog has been posting an ongoing series of photos it calls the Skål!/Skoal! Project that can school you in one small social custom.
The series includes such food-world luminaries as Jeffrey Steingarten, Harold McGee, Wylie Dufresne, and Alan Richman (above), who has perhaps the most extreme skål to date. More pix after the jump.
Actor Max von Sydow: the ultimate skåler.
FCI's project got its start when someone there found these photos of actor Max von Sydow in the Time-Life book The Cooking of Scandinavia and had the idea to goad guests of the school into re-creations of Von Sydow's poses.
"Vogue" magazine food writer Jeffrey Steingarten.
The skål is a Scandinavian toast, practiced in its most formal version by the Swedes:
The proposer of the toast engages the eye of the person being toasted, and "skoal" is said. A slight bow of the head, and a twinkle of the eye—and the aquavit is drained in one gulp (if the drink is wine, a sip is taken). Just before the glass is put back on the table, the eyes meet again and there is another friendly nod.
Author and food geek Harold McGee.
I'm eagerly awaiting my own induction into the series; I skåled last night after getting grilled by a class of students learning how to food-blog.
Related
Jeppson's Malort Face Photo Pool
Q&A with Steven Shaw on His Food Blogging Class at the FCI
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9 Comments:
I think everyone at SE HQ should do this. I'd probably most resemble Alan Richman.
roboppy at 3:39PM on 05/20/09
Skal is also native to Denmark and Norway. My brother was engaged to the daughter of the US Ambassador to Denmark and stayed there for a month in the 90s. When he returned, he shared the tradition with me, and claimed it as his all-time favorite custom. We embraced it as our own.
It is a beautiful way to bond over a drink.
Cheers,
~ Paula
Paula Maack at 3:44PM on 05/20/09
@Robyn - LOL, I doubt it :)
@Adam, where's your photoset?
simon at 4:40PM on 05/20/09
related: Helan Går (Swedish drinking song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyZpCs3i71s
(and then there's the one about the little boat that goes toooot, but I don't know how to search for that one. skoal!)
Lilly Tao at 12:50AM on 05/21/09
My Norwegian grandfather, (who would be VERY upset to see skal shown as a Swedish tradition,) always taught us to keep eye contact the entire time - even during the sip. We also say "skal alle samman" (spelling...) which I think means skal to everyone, all around.
embolini9 at 4:00AM on 05/21/09
I love that Time Life cookbook. It's my go-to for Danish recipes. The look in Max's eye when he skaals has always amused me, so I'm glad that others are following suit.
ingabee at 10:23AM on 05/21/09
More proof that Jeffrey Steingarten is meant to be read and not seen....
Now as for that uber coool Max von Sydow, I was smitten by the pic as a kid when it first appeared in a TimeLife book on Swedish food in the '70's ... great book.
Pointy at 2:34PM on 05/21/09
That Max von Sydow is so damn cool in the pic sequence! He's a little wry and a ton of cool. Huge fan of Max! I had no idea about this custom, but the eye contact-nod combo looks so endearing.
JustNancy at 4:49PM on 05/21/09
I love this--it's witty, and can be a fun way of getting your dinner party guests into a jovial mode. It's like a photobooth moment...without the photobooth.
ElizabethS at 9:28PM on 05/22/09