I will be trading some bread in December. There will be some winter sweet versions with saffron (I traded a HUGE amount of Iranian Saffron from a german quality snaps producer in october) but also some simple ones since these are my personal favorite. I would love to trade my bread for anything you have that is special (food wise) to bring home to my Swedish family for christmas.

I tell you why.

In Sweden we eat “Smörgåsbord” for Christmas. It is something like a “Best of 2013″, a mix of the best things that was saved throughout the year. Since fridges is a new invention (and most people could not afford much more than what the garden and the neighbors produced) this resulted in a lot of salted, dried and pickled fishes and meat. In Sweden we still eat this for christmas eve. It is a really heavy afternoon and maybe it explains why our culture also developed a tradition of Vodka consumption since you practically need snaps to pour all these heavy dishes down.

The christmas dinner in my family is not sooo traditional. We have over the years compressed the amount of dishes to a potpuri of the ones we really really like (Janssons potato gratin had to go and more salads took its place. Meatballs has been changed into moose meatballs). My brother has his favorite and my contribution has been to make the christmas dinner a little bit more green and a little bit more “fishy”.

Since I moved from home it has been my task to bring international delicacies to the christmas table. German sausages, English jams, Polish rabbit pate, French Cheese, Spanish ham. Anywhere I went in November/December I collected food which (especially my dad) is very excited about. That way my family is kind of with me on my travels. Dad already wrote me when I was in morocco to remind me to look for something for Christmas. I think I will bring a spicy tea to drink after dinner.

Anyhow. In case you like to trade bread in December, and do not know what you could trade, I do have a wish. I’d love to trade any speciality to bring home for christmas. It does not have to be a christmas food from where you are from, just something local that I can share.

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The image is of a smoked deer that my father bought from a neighbor of ours.