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Tre Kronor: A Scandinavian treasure in Chicago

By
Natalie Söderberg
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3




[Latest info from Tre Kronor restaurant]: Open for takeout, curbside, indoor dining, and outdoor dining (weather permitting). Find updated business hours at the end of the article.  

Nestled in between North Park University and the Sweden Shop in Andersonville, Chicago, lies the Scandinavian cult classic Tre Kronor Restaurant. This place has been a part of the Andersonville community since 1991. It serves as a Mecca for Scandinavians in Chicago, especially after the Swedish bakery closed down in 2017.

When Christmas was closing in on me, I naturally started missing Sweden a bit more than usual. I decided to grab a friend and head to Andersonville and Tre Kronor to satisfy my cravings.

The facade of Tre Kronor is true to its roots, looking like a typical Swedish cottage “stuga” with the simple red “Falu rödfärg” and the white knots.

Upon entering the restaurant, you notice the big mural on the wall of the restaurant picturing trolls dancing around a midsummer pole, a big poster of Emil i Lönneberga, pictures of the Swedish Royal Family and the jerseys of the Swedish players in Chicago Blackhawks. I was sad to see the jersey of Niklas Hjalmarsson taken down but equally as proud to see Gustav Forsling’s hanging there.

The decor of the restaurant truly is a homage to the home country.

 

The obvious items for me to order when I go to Tre Kronor is the Falukorv and the Swedish Pancakes. Does it taste just like home? Yes.

At the time, they also had a special, smoked salmon benedict with dill (a lot of it). This isn’t a particularly Swedish dish, but I was happy never the less. It incorporated all the Swedish flavors into this beloved dish.

As for the rest of the menu, you can find a Norwegian meatball sandwich, a variety of Scandinavian omelets, salads, pickled herring, and much more. Some of these dishes are entirely foreign to me, and things I’ve never seen served in Sweden. With that said, the menu definitely is more of an American-Swedish fusion, catering perfectly to their customers who are both American or Scandinavian.

 

The staff is either students at North Park or Scandifiles, so it’s always a pleasure talking to them about Sweden. I ordered to my heart’s content, and the bill came in at a satisfying $45. It’ safe to say that you get your pennies worth here, especially if your craving some Swedish food.



It warmed my Swedish heart, even more, receiving a Swedish note on the bill before heading off. If you live in Chicago, or you are just passing by, Tre Kronor is definitely worth your time and visit.

This article was first published on January 16, 2018. It has since then been edited & updated. 

 

Address 
3258 W Foster Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
 
Hours
Tuesday-Thursday: 9 am-7 pm
Friday: 9 am-8 pm
Saturday: 8 am – 8 pm
Sunday:9 am – 3 pm

Phone number
(773) 267-9888
 
Website
 
 
 
 



Swedish bakery holds world record for largest surströmming roll

By
Luda Berdnyk
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0

Once upon a time, in a small town along the Swedish High Coast, a man had a dream to bake the world’s largest surströmming [fermented herring] roll.

In 2018, his dream came true. This is his story.

The event took place two years ago in the town of Ullånger. Torbjörn Ullsten, CEO of the Mjälloms Tunnbröd bakery, always played around with the idea of baking a huge surströmmingsklämma, which is a piece of fermented herring sandwiched between two pieces of flatbread and smothered in potatoes, sour cream, onion, and dill.

“We had the idea a few years back to back the world’s biggest tunnbröd,” Torbjörn Ullsten, chief executive of Mjälloms Tunnbröd said to TT.

“And it wasn’t too much of an extra step to make it the world’s largest surströmmingsklämma, even if the category doesn’t exist in the record books.”

The process began with Mjälloms Tunnbröd baking a long piece of flatbread. As Mr. Ullsten notes, “When we rolled out [the flatbread] it became almost 60 meters long. The record itself is measured in square meters and therefore its final dimensions became 26 square meters. The old record was 15 meters.”

Photo credit: TT

More than 25 kilograms of sour cream, 100 kilograms of potatoes, and eight kilograms of butter were used to create the final product.

The time of the contest, the lucky locals were invited to a “picnic”, where they could take a piece of the roll and celebrate the bakery’s big win.

Sådärja. Vi slog världsrekord????

Slået op af Mjälloms Tunnbröd AB i Lørdag den 25. august 2018

This article was originally published on August 31, 2018, and has since then been updated.

These Scandinavian breweries are among the best in the world

By
Swedes in the States
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0

The Scandinavians have a lot to be proud of when it comes to our fine beer. But this year perhaps more specifically the Danes. Danish Mikkeller takes the top spot as the best Scandinavian brewery in the world by the site RateBeer.com.

According to the site, the winners represent a small portion of the top 1% of brewers worldwide.

“All of us in the RateBeer worldwide community are very pleased and grateful for the artisanal contributions of these leading breweries.”

All in all, six Scandinavian breweries made it on to the list of the top 100 brewers in the world. Among them was Swedish Omnipollo, which was voted among the top 10 best beers in the world in 2018.

Norway’s contribution to the list was breweries Nøgne Ø and Lervig Aktiebryggeri.  

Here are the Scandinavian breweries that made it on the top 100 list: 

16. Mikkeller ?? Copenhagen, Denmark

41. To Øl?? Copenhagen, Denmark

60. Nøgne Ø (Hansa Borg)?? Grimstad, Norway

63. Omnipollo?? Stockholm, Sweden

65. Amager Bryghus??Kastrup, NULL, Denmark

100. Lervig Aktiebryggeri??Stavanger, NULL, Norway

To see the full list: The Best Brewers in the World – RateBeer.com

Amazon confirms Sweden launch

By
Swedes in the States
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0

It has long been speculated whether or not Amazon would make an entry on to the Swedish market. The giant e-commerce platform has now confirmed the rumors through a press release, and they might be launching sooner rather than later.

According to Swedish news site DI Digital, Amazon has been preparing for this expansion for a while. The company has for instance been recruiting Swedish-speaking employees and is also looking to fill executive positions for the Swedish market.

After years of suspense, Amazon’s VP of Expansion in the EU, Alex Ootes, confirms in a press release that the company will, in fact, be launching in Sweden:

“We are optimistic that, by focusing on the things we believe customers will place the greatest emphasis on – low prices, a wide range, and fast deliveries – we will eventually be able to win the trust of Swedish customers,”

The Swedish expansion marks the first entry on to the Nordic market with their eCommerce platform. Amazon has already established a presence for Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, and Audible in the Nordic countries.

Despite confirming the launch, Amazon is still secretive when it comes to the timeline and expected premiere date. At the time of writing, the Swedish site, Amazon.se still redirects to the German website, Amazon.de.

Minecraft Has a Secret Library – to Fight Cyber Censorship

By
Swedes in the States
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0







Minecraft – the video game, co-founded by Swede Markus Persson, currently the best-selling video game in the world, with close to 126 million active users every month.

But apart from being a popular game where players can spend hours exploring new worlds, the game has proven to be an efficient tool for more noble causes – like press freedom.



The German subsidiary of the NGO, Reporters without Borders have built an “uncensored” library in their fight for press freedom. According to AdAge, the building was built in cooperation with the British design agency BlockWorks. 




The library which was created in time for World Day Against Cyber Censorship took over three months to build and is made from more than 12.5 million ‘blocks’. 




It took 24 builders from around the world over 250 hours to design, develop, and create the library, which has a garden and has a dome that’s nearly 300 meters wide. 

“In many countries around the world, there is no open access to information. Websites are blocked, independent newspapers are banned and the press is controlled by the state,” noted Christian Mihr, managing director at Reporters Without Borders Germany. 




He continues: “Young people grow up without being able to form their own opinions. By using Minecraft, the world’s most popular computer game, as a medium, we give them access to independent information.”

The library contains banned reporting from Mexico, Russia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

This article was originally published on August 2, 2020

Swedish-British AstraZeneca Might Have Coronavirus Vaccine Available By End of 2020

By
Luda Berdnyk
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0

AstraZeneca, one of the leading pharmaceutical brands in the world, has announced that it is working on bringing a coronavirus vaccine to market by the end of the year. 

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said the company was “hopeful” that the vaccine would be ready for distribution by the end of the year. “Our hope is that we can actually start delivering the vaccine before the end of the year, and how early before the end of the year depends really on infection rates in the community,” he said.

In a recent press release, the British-Swedish company noted that it hopes to start distributing the Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine after preliminary trial results revealed it induces a strong immune response within humans and seems to be safe.

According to the scientific journal Lancet, scientists noted that the vaccine produced a “dual immune response” in people aged 18 to 55 – provoking a T-cell response within 14 days of vaccination and an antibody response after 28 days.

Of course, more trials will be needed in order to establish how long these cells last within the body. Studies will also need to be carried out to see if the vaccine will prevent people from falling ill or lessen the symptoms of COVID-19 in patients who already have the virus.

Professor Sarah Gilbert, a co-author of the study, noted that there “is still much work to be done before we can confirm if our vaccine will help manage the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Oxford University has taken their vaccine findings and partnered with AstraZeneca to produce the vaccine globally. The pharmaceutical corporation has already committed to making at least 2 billion doses.

Soriot noted that AstraZeneca would begin the manufacturing process in parallel to the next stages of the Oxford study. “The only way to be ready to distribute the vaccine shortly after we get the results is to manufacture in parallel to doing the clinical development,” he said.

One of the most interesting factors is that more research is still needed to confirm the findings across various groups of people – such as older age groups, those with underlying health conditions, and in ethnically and geographically diverse populations.

Mr. Soriot said results on the vaccine, in terms of its effectiveness and the longevity of the immune response it induces, are meanwhile expected to be available between September and November.

Scientists and medical researchers around the world have welcomed the “very encouraging” results from Oxford University and AstraZeneca.

Sweden’s most popular fast food chain compensates for 110% of its carbon emissions

By
Swedes in the States
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0




Who doesn’t love a good burger?

In Sweden, MAX’s burgers is the food chain that outperforms all other fast-food restaurants by far, according to customer surveys. Max doesn’t just make a really, good beef burger, they also offer delicious veggie alternatives like a halloumi burger and a vegan BBQ sandwich. Yes, you heard that right.

Max Hamburgers, which was founded in 1968 by Curt Bergfors in Gällivare, has for a long time worked consciously with its impact on the environment. Max has since 2008 produced the most extensive environmental analysis of all fast-food chains in the world.

On June 14, 2018, the food chain introduced its most environmentally friendly menu yet. The entire menu is what Max calls Climate Positive, meaning that they do not only compensate for 100% of the company’s carbon footprint but exceeds it by 10%!

By planting trees that absorb carbon dioxide, Max Hamburgers actively reduces existing amounts of carbon in the atmosphere. “To reach the “two degrees goal” of the Paris Agreement, it’s not enough to just compensate for current emissions,” says Kaj Török, CRO & CSO at Max Burgers, at the Sustainable Brands fair in Vancouver on the 5 of June. You can see his whole presentation on Max’s work as a sustainable brand here.

According to Kaj Török, the devil is in the details. Max’s environmental analysis, available to the public and tallied by Ernest & Young, includes emissions produced from the start of production to point of consumption. Read the entire report (in Swedish) here.

Photo: max.se

The article was originally published on July 20, 2018

 

Copenhagen healthiest city in Europe

By
Luda Berdnyk
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2

Have you been inspired to live healthier lately? If so, you may want to take a few cues from the city of Copenhagen, which was crowned the healthiest city in Europe earlier this year.

Treated.com recently conducted a survey that looked at 10 key factors surrounding the health of a city’s inhabitants, including the overall quality of life, the average monthly price of gym membership in the city, CO2 emissions, percentage of people living in the city that are walking/cycling to work, average life expectancy, and even the average price of fresh fruit and vegetables available. 

Copenhagen consistently came out on top of many of these factors — the city has an air quality score of 82/100; Copenhagen residents have an average lifespan of around 80.82 years, and the city comes in 2nd place for the number of people who walk or cycle to work, with Amsterdam ranking as number 1 in that category.

Other Nordic capital’s like Helsinki, Stockholm, and Oslo were ranked as 4th, 6th, and 19th respectively.

What makes Denmark’s capital such a healthy city? Let’s take a look at some of the programs and initiatives:

  • Copenhagen is designed so that it’s easy to bicycle to and from work, school, markets, and all around the city. In fact, there are more bicycles than people in Copenhagen!
  • Copenhagen offers free stress clinics for anyone who needs them – which includes people who are working too hard, have family or marriage problems, or are students struggling in university. 
  • Free and fresh fruit is distributed every day to schools in Copenhagen

The study looked at 46 European capitals in total. Copenhagen was closely followed by Vienna, Bern, Helsinki, and Berlin.

Among the least healthy cities ranked were Ankara, Rome, and Moscow.

This article was originally published on February 3, 2020.

The Nobel prize banquet will be canceled for the first time in 64 years

By
Swedes in the States
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0

It was earlier this week that the Nobel Foundation announced to the Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, that this year’s Nobel prize banquet will be canceled for the first time since 1956 due to Coronavirus.

Lars Heikesten, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation told Dagens Nyheter: “There are two problems. We can’t gather that many people close to each other. And it is uncertain whether people will be able to travel to Sweden to the extent they want.”

Although the banquet, which usually draws around 1300 guests, will be canceled, the faith of the award ceremony has yet to be decided. The Nobel prize winners will be announced as usual in October.

“It’s a bit unclear on how we will be doing with that. To have everyone sitting in the concert hall, as usual, will probably not be the case. It could be that some of the winners are able to come to Stockholm while some won’t and that we somehow are able to connect them together virtually,” said Lars Heikensten to Dagens Nyheter.  

The Nobel prize was named after and funded by the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. According to the Swedish newspaper Expressen, the banquet has previously been canceled in 1907 following the death of King Oscar II, in 1924 when the Nobel prize winners boycotted the banquet and in 1956, when the Nobel Foundation decided to cancel the banquet in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Hungary.

Greta Thunberg Awarded 1 Million Euro Prize, Immediately Pledges to Donate it to Charity

By
Luda Berdnyk
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0

Greta Thunberg has been awarded the prestigious Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity this week for her work on educating youth about climate change. 

The 17-year old, who founded School Strike for Climate, won the award because “she has been able to mobilize younger generations for the cause of climate change and her tenacious struggle to alter a status quo that persists,” noted Jorge Sampaio, chairman of the prize.

But, instead of spending the hefty 1 million Euro check on herself, Thunberg has already decided that the prize money will go to organizations that are working to protect the environment and “fighting for a sustainable world.” 

It’s no wonder judges on the Gulbenkian panel described her as “one of the most remarkable figures of our days” — as well as being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2019, Thunberg has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In her typical humble character, Thunberg said, “I am extremely honored to receive the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity… We’re in a climate emergency, and my foundation will as quickly as possible donate all the prize money of one million euros to support organizations and projects that are fighting for a sustainable world.”

She continued, “The prize money […] is more money than I can begin to imagine. But, all the prize money will be donated, through my foundation, to different organisations and projects who are working to help people on the front line, affected by the climate crisis and ecological crisis.”

Portions of the prize money have already been appointed, with €100,000 going to the SOS Amazonia Campaign, which aims to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the Amazon. Thunberg also pledged €100,000 to the Stop Ecocide Foundation, an organization that wants to make ecocide an international crime.

The prize comes from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which was established in 1956 after the death of its namesake. Calouste Gulbenkian was a businessman and philanthropist who made money on petroleum development and later created a philanthropic institute that is “dedicated to the promotion of arts, charity, science, and education.” 

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Swedes in the States is a community created by Swedes living in the States for Swedes living in the States, and everyone else who is interested in Scandinavian culture, businesses and projects. All our editors and contributors are strongly connected to Scandinavia while living their dream in the United States. The parallels between our countries are astonishing and exciting, and you are invited to read all about it is politics, fashion, design or food. Välkommen!
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