In Sweden, it is easy to think that St. Lucia Day is only about the saffron-infused, raisin-topped, reverse-S shaped buns (Lussekatter) which appear on every home and meeting table in the month of December:

(photos by Ryo Yonami)

But in Fittja, the tradition of St. Lucia’s day at school is very important to many of our young friends, even if they themselves are not Catholic or born in Sweden. Our friends Kubra and Cevda invited us for 7am at their school, though we didn’t see them till later that day. Even the school told us to come back at 8; we were welcomed into the elementary school with a stern look and ‘shoe protection’:

After appropriately outfitting our shoes we were seated in the school’s auditorium with its beautiful tapestry:

And then the saints walked in…

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There were so many kinds of saints on the stage, from female St Nicholas to every kind of St Lucia imaginable, except for Kubra and Cevda. Still it was fun to see the elementary school sing, and to hear the female drum corps lead them off the stage:

We got to cook with Kubra and Cevda later on, and to top off the holiday, Phil Hession gave an artist talk and performance event at the Fittja youth center which turned into an impromptu open mic and dance party.

The night ended at the Pelikan with traditional Swedish Christmas fare and a long slow farewell to Phil and his amazing project.

(the elk)

What a treat. Thank you everyone – Cevda, Kubra, Phil, and everyone at Botkyrka Konsthall – for a really warm St. Lucia’s Day.

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To make St. Lucia rolls in the style of Malin, an artist and farmer who is part of Kultivator, here is the recipe:

 6.5 cups of flour; 1 cake or 4.5 tsp of active dry yeast; 1 tsp salt; 1 cup fresh milk; 3/4 cup sugar; 1 cup melted butter; 1 tsp saffron threads pounded to a powder and mixed with 2 Tbs vodka; 2 eggs beaten together plus one egg white for glazing; raisins.

Melt 1 cup butter and add 1 cup milk with 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp salt. Stir to combine and heat through.
Cool mixture to skin temperature in a large mixing bowl and break up or stir in yeast. After 5-10 minutes add 6.5 cups of flour gradually, in alternation with 2 beaten eggs and the saffron dissolved in vodka. Once mixture comes together in a soft dough, stir or knead well to combine and develop the dough. Allow to rise for 1-1.5 hours, then deflate and knead several times on a floured surface. The dough should be smooth, soft, and elastic. Divide dough into small handsful and roll to make snakes; then curl top end toward left and bottom end toward right to form a backward S. Decorate with raisins at either end of the curl and allow to rise again, covered, for an hour. Meanwhile, warm oven to 375, and when rolls have doubled in size, brush them with egg whites and bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden.

Yesterday was our first workshop of the Takeaway Caffe here at Krogarvagen 26.

At first, all of our guests were from Botkyrka Konsthall…

(photo: Ryo Yonami)

Shashtin, the ceramicist at the Konsthall, taught Ryo how to peel an apple in 30 seconds flat while they began simmering the apple butter which would cook all afternoon.

(photo: Ryo Yonami)

The kitchen was pretty quiet at first, so we began cooking Fittja Food recipes, including a winter vegetable soup which we put on to boil just as Irina, the curatorial intern at Botkyrka Konsthall, walked through the door.

Here is Irina at the table with Elmas, our friend from October, who had been waiting for us to come back. Elmas taught us how to make Turkish dolma in October, so when she came, we began steaming the eggplant and peppers to stuff for this week’s dolma.

Here are Erik, Irina, and Chanise discussing recipes. By far the most prepared visitor, Chanise brought much more than she took away! She arrived with a whole chicken, a pair of slippers to wear, and ready to chat, saying that in Jamaica, where she’s from, everything happens around a plate of jerk chicken.

As she was writing the recipe, team MAGO showed up: Mohsen, Oden, and Gyorgye, three friends who were ready to cook. All of their fathers work as restaurateurs or cooks in restaurants, some as far away as northern Sweden, and they confidently took knife in hand, cutting up Chanise’s chicken and spicing it – heavily! – for a very open interpretation of Chanise’s recipe.

As the chicken was finishing, our friends Cevda and Kubra came and took charge of the last of the cooking and eating:

When it was all over, we had cooked a massive feast, including winter vegetable soup, eggplant and pepper dolmas, MAGO’s extremely spicy jerk chicken, beetroot salad, a chicken stock for the week, apple butter, and a cauldron of milk tea, mixing recipes from Jamaica, Turkey, Estonia, Sri Lanka, Chile, and of course Tumba and Fittja.

We sat down for a final conversation with the kids about food, agriculture, St. Lucia Day (today! the 13th of December!), and Rihanna, and then the hallway began to empty of boots, jackets, and snow pants.

Cevda, Kubra, and Allison – our daily participants from the fall caffe – were the last to leave, and we’ll see them again today at 7:30 at Fittja School for the St Lucia Day ceremonies!