STOCKHOLMS GASTRONOMICAL LANDSCAPE THROUGH A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
A COMPARISON BETWEEN 1950-60s AND 2000s

NORRA REAL

Oskar Åkerstrand

ENGLISH COURSE C

SPRING 2013

Abstract
Food and especially gastronomy is something that has always interested me.
Because of my interest of cuisine I chose to write a paper about restaurant culture in Stockholm.
My goal was to write about the restaurant life in Stockholm through a sociological perspective, with politics and economics as the main perspectives.
Because of time limits I was needed to narrow my view of the restaurant world to two timeframes, from 1955-1965 and 2002-2012.
The study is mainly based on literature analyses and attempts to find connection between economical and political events and events in the restaurant world.
Through the analysing of literature pertinent to my subject I’ve found that the restaurants and it’s life is highly dependant on it’s society, some changes are of course panoptic but there are certain changes in the political landscape and the economy that has indeed influenced the restaurants.
It is important to recognize that we can’t discuss about Stockholm’s restaurant life isolated when there has been major changes in society. Some changes are general for the whole society as well as the country.
Keywords Gastronomy, Restaurant life, Sociology

Introduction

Question
Can the development of society mirror on to the restaurant scene of Stockholm regarding array of cuisines, culture and economics?

Thesis
By looking at Stockholm’s restaurant life at two different periods of time we may read the development of society and it’s footprint on the restaurant life.

Economy
After world war II Europe was wrecked which originated an industrial golden age for the following three decades.
The Swedish industry expanded rapidly as well as its export.
The immigration grew quickly from war-afflicted countries in the central and southern part of Europe.
The economical growth grew more and more after each year and during the 1950-1960s Sweden had an average 3,5% economical increase every year.
The reason we could maintain such high economical increases was mainly because of our neutrality in the war, and because of that our industry had not been damaged neither had our economy been as impeded as many other European countries.

If the 1950-60s was a golden age of Swedish economy the 1990-2000 was its opposite.
With an economy crises in the early 90s as well as a internet bubble bust in the early 2000s and yet another economical crises in 2008 this last decade hasn’t been good for the Swedish economy.

Politics
The 20th century was highly governed by the Swedish social democratic party.
During the 50s and 60s the party was in command in the Swedish parliament and led by on our their most famous leaders, Tage Erlander.
Coined the phrase “The strong society”, with expanded public sector to develop the welfare society.
To do this the socialist party increased the taxes and added a few more of them.
One of the new taxes the party established was the OMS, a sales tax which as it’s introduction in 1960 was at as low as 4,2%.
Another tax that was introduced to support the strong society was the employment tax. The employment tax was at 3,5% on it’s introduction.
Erlander and his successors in the socialist party kept increasing the taxes through out the 20th century.

During the 21th century society has instead been govern by the Moderate Party whom has won the last two elections (2006 & 2010.) The party is liberal-conservative as opposed to the socialist party during the 50s and 60s.
With a more liberal government there has been tax reductions and a decrease in social welfare.
Even though the Moderate Party has tried to lower the taxes the taxes are still a lot higher than during the 1950-60s.
Today the OMS is known as MOMS as is currently at a 25%.
The employment tax is as of 2013 at 31,42%.
One of the major tax changes the Moderate Party introduced was the reduced restaurant vat, from 25 % to 12,5%.

Immigration and travelling
After World War II Sweden had a steady flow of immigration from the central and southern countries, such as Italy, Austria, Suisse and Germany.
The immigration was solely labour migration.
Most of the workers who came to Sweden started work in the industries but some joined the restaurant business, especially from Germany and Suisse.

During the midst 50s air travelling was starting to get commercialized and in 1955 the first charter plane flew to Mallorca. With the introduction of charter planes the ability to travel to foreign countries got a lot easier. During the 50s and 60s the charter planes mostly flew to southern Europe.

In the 80s, 90,s and 2000 the immigration has changed, a large part of our immigration is still labour based but there has been an increase in asylum immigration from especially the middle east and Asian countries.

The limitations of travelling abroad are today non-existent with a just a few exceptions.

Restaurant culture

In October 1955 the ration book was revoked.
In the restaurant business this is called the October revolution.
During the times of the ration book the restaurant culture in Stockholm was more or less dead. The only reason people visited a restaurant during this time was to get their allowance of liquor. When the ration book was revoked the restaurant business changed as a whole, suddenly people started to visit restaurant to eat well-cooked food instead of just liquor.

Since the introduction of restaurants in France during the 18th century restaurants has always been about the French. The food is French; even the language spoken on Swedish restaurants were French. Everything about the restaurants was very pretentious with French influences. Because of this and the high prices of the French delicacies (which was very common on the restaurants who made gastronomy instead of just food.) visiting restaurants during the 50s and 60s was not something for an average man.
To change this the well renowned chef Tore Wretman introduced “plain food” in the midst 1960s on the more high-class restaurants as an alternative to the French cuisine.
Being a chef in the midst of the 20th century was not a honourable position. The chefs mostly joined the restaurant business as a last resort because of failure in school. The chef’s roll was mostly to follow certain recipes and stick with them, imagination wasn’t appreciated.

The kitchen was also a lot larger with more people working in the kitchen as well larger waiting staff.
Positions such as Butter sculptor, cold buffet and pastry chef are all gone from the restaurants.

The array of different types of national cuisines was very limited; there were some German restaurants such as tyroler but there mainly French and Swedish restaurants. There were one Chinese restaurant opened in 1940s, Berns Asiatiska. There were yet no pizza or hamburgers in Stockholm. During the 21th century the French cuisine still has a vast influence on Stockholm’s restaurants, but not nearly as big as during the 1950-60s.
Swedish gastronomy is at its highest peak, with as many as 10 Michelin stars just in Stockholm. There has also been a change in attitude when making gastronomy, in the 50s-60s making gastronomy was all about following French recipes making French dishes whereas today the Swedish chefs have started to make their own style of high end cuisine with focus on the Swedish and Nordic traditions.
In 2003 this new way of cuisine was written down in a manifest called “The new Nordic cuisine”.

It’s not only the trends in the food that has changed but also the restaurants as a whole.
Today working as a chef is something honourable, and the most renowned chefs are viewed as rock stars. During the 1980s the chef’s role changed, now the chef was allowed to experiment with both the food and the aesthetics. With this change a lot of the positions in the kitchen has disappeared.

The array of national cuisines has grown rapidly and now you can find food from all over the world In Stockholm. Especially the Asian cuisines such as Japanese sushi and Thai food are extremely popular today.

Discussion
Stockholm has today 1,3 million inhabitants; people come both through urbanisation and immigration. This has created a multicultural city with inhabitants from all over the world.
This together with the increased travelling abroad has created a market and demand for foreign food; a large part of our immigration is from Asia, which is also reflected on the gastronomical landscape with an increase of Asian restaurants since the early 1990s.
The trend was similar in the 1950-60s with an increased desire for south European food. With the increased taxes under the “strong society” era and introduction of both the sales tax and the employment tax the costs for running a restaurant was getting higher and higher since a large part of the restaurants expenses are personnel.
The connection between the increased taxes and the introduction on plain food on the higher end restaurants are clear, because of the increased tax incidence the restaurants had to germinate to be able to survive.

The increased taxes during the 20th century also changed the way restaurants would work, with less personnel and more responsibility for the ones left.
A lot of the skills of the waiting staff have disappeared like carving and flaming.

One of the larger differences between going to a restaurant for 50 years ago and today is the crowd. With the introduction of fast food and evaporation of the French pretentiousness average citizens have started to eat at restaurants in a much larger scale.
The visit of a restaurant isn’t such a big deal anymore and it’s a way of meeting friends.
The restaurant business has grown rapidly and as of 2012 it turned over one billion kronor for the first time.
The new restaurant vat has created a healthier and a better climate for restaurant owners. 6000 jobs were created in 2012 after the introduction of the reduced restaurant vat.
The restaurant business is filled with teenagers so I believe this was a smart way of reducing youth unemployment. I believe the business has a bright horizon with a government who doesn’t look to increase the taxes and an increased general interest in gastronomy.
The Swedish cuisine is getting more and more famous in the world and the Swedish team won 4 gold in the Culinary Olympics.

References
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Hedman, Uno & Nordén, Gösta, Välkommen till bords, Carlsson Bokförlag, 2012

Gellerfeldt, Mats, Restaurangliv, Sellin & Partner Bok och Idé AB, 1997

Arvidsson, Gösta & Melander, Lars, VI SES PÅ BAREN! Carlssons Bokförlag, 2009

Norden, Anno 1959-1970, Norden Förlagshus, 1959-1970.

Höganäs, Nationalencyklopedin 1995-2012, Höganäs, 1995-2012

Appelgren, L, Sjögren H, Ekonomisk brottslighet och nationalstatens kontrollmakt, Gidlunds, Örlinge. 2001

Jönsson, Håkan, Den gastronomiska revolutionen, Carlsson, 2012

Magnusson, Lars, Sveriges ekonomiska historia, Tiden Athena, Stockholm, 1996

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