Magnus Nilsson’s Cookbooks Will Teach You How to Cook Like a Swede

By
Ron K
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Swedish celebrity chef Magnus Nilsson has done it all. With features in the Emmy-Award winning US PBS series The Mind of a Chef and the Netflix docuseries Chef’s Table, Nilsson is known for embracing the Nordic cooking style and delivering it with grace. The winner of the White Guide Global Gastronomy Award in 2015, he’s also the author of several cooking books, the latest Fäviken: 4015 Days, Beginning to End.

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Fäviken to close at the end of the year. Dear Friends, With this note I would like to tell you that this coming season will be my last at Fäviken Magasinet. I have been the chef here for more than ten years now and it has been amazing. Unusually early in my career I was presented with the opportunity to develop and operate an ambitious restaurant in a way that most chefs can only dream about. I have had the chance to work alongside the best team I could have wished for, cooking for the most fantastic guests (mostly). Fäviken has been a project where I have enjoyed tremendous support from the Brummer family who are Fäviken’s owners and my business partners. I have been allowed to grow and develop, and I have enjoyed complete creative freedom. It has been a hard decision, but one that I believe is the right one. The evening of the 14th of December 2019 will be my last. I wanted to share this news now when the coming season is already fully booked, as to not motivate guests to come here just because of the news itself. I hope that my last half-year at Fäviken is going to be business as usual, and that the people come here to enjoy Fäviken and what we have to offer, not because it will end soon, but because it is a magnificent restaurant experience right now. We have truly never been better. When I am done here I am going to spend time with my family, reflect, fish, garden, write, rest and get fit, both physically and mentally. I am not going to lie, I am a little bit tired after all this time pushing the development of the restaurant forward. I would like to thank you all for coming here to work, eat, share, and to be a part of what Fäviken has been and will be for a while longer. I have given one interview on this matter, (with the LA Times) to provide a little bit more depth. For those who are interested, link in bio. To my friends out there working in media: I want to spend my last half-year at Fäviken enjoying my work in the restaurant, not talking about what has been and what is coming. I am very sorry for not making myself available for any more interviews at this time. I hope you understand. Thank you all! Magnus Nilsson

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“People don’t really have a grasp of the full food culture, simply because it’s very inaccessible,” he told Suitcase Magazine, stressing that Nordic cuisine isn’t restricted to herring, gravlax, and meatballs.

“If you compare Nordic food culture to, for example, Spanish food, you could go into a random restaurant in Madrid, and there is a pretty good chance of you finding a true representation of traditional Spanish cooking,” he remarked.

“But in Sweden, you won’t find anything. That kind of restaurant doesn’t exist, because in the Nordic region the food culture is carried more within the home, rather than in restaurants. If you don’t have someone in the Nordic region to invite you into their home, the chances are you probably won’t get a taste of the food culture there.”

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Thank you Portland and @dinnerlab for a great last stop on the U.S. Part of the launch tour of #thenordiccookbook such a great city! Also this morning I talked about the book @npr #weekendedition. A bit of a pity that they focused so much on the extremes of the book and not what makes up the most of it which is what people in the Nordics actually eat on an everyday basis. I mean, it has one recipe out of 738 which happen to contain reindeer blood, it is not a collection of recipes all containing reindeer blood. I actually counted and I think there are about 50 recipes in the book that no one will be able to cook since they contain special ingredients. Those recipes still deserve a place in the book though since they explain something about the culture of food in the parts where they are important. However most of us in the Nordics don't eat neither reindeer blood, puffin, whale or seal in our daily lives and my whole goal with the book was to explain what we actually eat in the different parts of the region and why, at the same time as I wanted to show that Nordic food culture is more than herring, meatballs and odd ingredient exoticism. Anyhow if you want to listen to the npr piece the link is in my bio. If you want to read the book and learn all about cooking with reindeer blood (and just a few other ingredients) you can find it at amazon.com #shamelesslypluggingmyownbook #thenordiccookbook while I am at it I am also going to#shamelesslyplugmyfriendssneakercompany those shoes in the pic really are the best sneakers in the world @cqpgallery #cqpgallery #idontplugoftenbutwhenidoitidoitproperly #cqpsneakers

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He also stresses the diversity of the Nordic kitchen, taking into account the importance of local ingredients. “What you eat in Finland and what you eat in Greenland are incredibly different,” says Nilsson.

Follow his social media accounts for a taste of Sweden.