Because You Asked: A Snack Trip to Scandinavia

This month – instead of visiting just one country – Universal Yums provided me with a “smorgas-box” (their words, not mine!) of Scandinavian countries to sample snacks from.
Off we go!

Donna and I had so much fun dressing up and setting the tone for France last month and we wanted to do the same for this (and all subsequent boxes). I had a plan for music and setting, and Donna researched how to dress Scandi-style (lots of black and they love plain white shirts, apparently). We were set to start snackin’!

ABBA was the first group that came to mind, natch.

The box included this cute sticker:

Edvard Munch is probably rolling in his grave about now.

That sticker inspired me to change the artwork on my Frame TV to this:

This painting always reminds me of the scenery around my new home.

Here are the contents of this month’s box:

Looks promising!

The very first item to try was the Danish Yankie bar – a weirdly wonderful pairing of Nougat and (salty) Licorice, in a chocolate bar. I have to say that even I – a salted licorice afficionado – was taken aback by this pairing.

Yep. That is a ribbon of salted licorice, folks where the caramel should be.

We gave this first treat the ol’ college try what even does that mean.

How it started…
How it ended…(note IKEA Kallax unit under the Munch artwork…Scandi, Scandi, Scandi!)

As you can tell from the above photos, it nearly came to blows surprise! We both really really liked the damn Yankie bar. 🙂 Oh – and nice gun show, Donna – your online gym sessions are really showing results!

Next up was the Cheesy Corn Puffs, also from Denmark.

Then, another savoury Danish snack…these tasted like very nice BBQ-flavoured chips:

After this, it was the biggest package in the box: the Oat Cookies.

So far, so great! Everything we tasted up to now was wonderful. Next up, the Cocoa Mud Cake Balls.

The guidebook included the recipe, in case anyone wants to try their hand at making Delicatobolls.

Wild Strawberry Toffees (Sweden) were up next in our snack travails travels. Apparently this candy is reminiscent of the start of summer (Midsommar) festival, where locals go “to the countryside to eat strawberries, wear flower crowns, and dance like frogs around an ivy-covered pole called the midsomar staang”. Dance like frogs????

Lastly came another sweet treat: the mixed fruit licorice (again with the licorice???) stick. “Copenhagen’s chewiest, fondant-filled secret” the booklet proclaimed.

This Yum package was another winner. It was difficult to pick amongst so many favourites, but we managed to come up with very similar rankings for the Scandinavian box.

Finished score card.

Thank you for joining us on this snack trip through Scandinavia! From your frog-dancing fools friends…

…Deb and Donna. (If anyone knows what actual frog dancing is supposed to look like, please comment below!)

Until next time,

Rock on,

The WB

57 thoughts on “Because You Asked: A Snack Trip to Scandinavia

  1. AJ Blythe

    Funny that two of them had American names. Best box yet? Seems to be because loads of yum and nothing awful. Good to know next time you’re in Scandinavia you won’t starve 😉

    1. I thought that was a bit weird too…although I know from visiting the Netherlands that anything American has a certain appeal (so long as it’s not a stereotypical American tourist 🤣). Definitely won’t starve in Scandinavia, yep! Thanks, AJ 💕

  2. Hmm…not what I would pick, having lived in Denmark and married to a Swede! I have never seen those strawberry sweets, but they must be called something else in Sweden. No Salte Fisk? (salt liquorice shaped like fish), the wrong flavour of crisps (should be dill and sour cream), no Norwegian ‘Lunch’ chocolate bar? And the packaging is all in English…..

    Dancing round the midsummer pole…yes Swedish midsummer is the biggest holiday in the country, given it also is close to the longest day of the year. One of the dances is ‘small frogs’ – really aimed at children. Look it up on YouTube – I am sure you can find it somewhere! There are parties that go on all night, with beer, snaps, herring and lots of food.

    1. It does seem weird that the packing is in English. I wonder if it is special for these boxes, so people have the ingredient listing etc., in case of allergies and for importation rules? I never thought to look up frog dancing in the heat of our Scandi adventure…will have to be more thorough with future boxes, for sure! Thank you 💕

  3. hilarymb

    Hi Deb – what fun the two of you have with these … and I love your take on the Scandi-packs … and interesting tastes. Frog dancing … no idea! Cheers Hilary

    1. Europeans tend to have a fascination with all things American, I have noticed. Seen it in the Netherlands as well. And they loooooove American TV. Thanks, RG 💕

  4. The frog dancing sent me to multiple youtube videos and Gilles immediately recognized the tune. Huh – who knew?! He couldn’t recall any of the words in French and I didn’t recognize it all. Maybe we’ll have to add this fun little dance (which kind of reminds me a bit of the Macarena) to our must-do list for the Summer Solstice. If the neighbours have any doubts about our sanity, this would surely eliminate them … although the Bouncy Castle for Gilles’ 60th birthday party probably already accomplished that 😆

    1. OMG, I have to look up this frog dancing thing now! Summer solstice frog dancing sounds like my kinda good time 🤣. Send video of your and yours doing this please 😉. Thanks, Joanne 💕

  5. You guys really make these snack boxes so much fun. I googled ‘Danish frog dance’ and found a couple of videos, several looked like a group of people hoping like a rabbit around a May Pole.

    I love your Frame TV app. When Bill Gates first talked about being able to do that in the future I thought it would be the most wonderful thing and now it’s possible. Thank you so much for sharing yours. I googled how to do it for my brand of TV and it looks simple enough that even I can do it.

    1. That’s so cool, Jean! I love that my TV can look like a piece of art (of my choice) when not in use (which is the majority of the time) rather than an ugly black screen. Thank you 💕

    1. Oh dear. I guess I am pronouncing it wrong too, then. Everybody seems to pronounce Dutch words wrong too, so I am used to that…like Gouda (as in the cheese and the city)…the O is pronounced like “ouch”, not like “good”. And the G is pronounced like you got something stuck in your throat 🤣. Thanks, Kari 💕

  6. What a fun post! First of all, I LOVE that terrible Evard Munch pun. He is one of my favorite artists and the painting you picked for your TV screen is a favorite too (and, you are right, it does remind me of the views in your area). That box was definitely a winner. Some weird flavor combos, but what the heck. Funny that the potato chip bag reads “American” Grilled… hmmmm.

    1. What a fun post! Who knew all of the great adventures these little boxes would lead us to? Thank you for including me in. I’m now off to tumble down a rabbit hole Googling ‘Scandinavian Frog Dancing.’ Funny that I never thought of this before. 😀

    2. Europeans are fascinated by all things American so I am not surprised to see it reflected in their snacks. It was another “winner” box, for sure! Thanks, Janis 💕

  7. Salted licorice? I’ve never even heard of it. I’ll have to be on the lookout for it and try it.

    Those little houses remind me of the KLM houses filled with booze. I only have 3 but want more…preferably given to me during a flight on KLM airlines like the three I have were. 😀

    1. That’s because they are both representations of Dutch canal houses. My aunt gifted me that set…they were collectables in the Netherlands a while back and now they are out of fashion (there) but I love them. People go crazy for those KLM houses – they are very collectible, apparently. And who wouldn’t want to fly KLM (my favourite airline) to get more! Thanks, Deborah 💕

  8. Jean Stein

    You have to find a little indy film called “Midsommar,” where you will learn how frog dancing is really done. Just kidding. Movie is quite an adventure.

  9. I love your world snack posts! So much fun. I’m obsessed with your Frame TV and the fact that you shared a scandalous photo on ye ole blog!

    Had I been there, I would have pushed someone down for the corn cheese curls and American grill chips.
    Wait, it wasn’t that kind of party? *snap*

    I might have done a frog dance once, but there was much tequila involved so I will (hopefully) never recreate it.

    1. Oh, you mean tequila might have helped with our frog dancing? OK, next time there may have to be a liquor component to our snack tastings 🤔…Push people down to get to the snacks? Sounds like you’d fit right in 😁. Thank you, Suz 💕

  10. I’ve been wanting to read this post when I had time to think it through, because snacks! I don’t think I’d like any of these foods. Maybe the strawberry and caramel one, but I dunno. I know about the dancing like frogs, btw. I follow someone on Twitter who mentions it every year. 🐸

    1. Really? Where the hell have I been that I have only learned of frog dancing just now? 😄 The strawberry toffee really surprised me, as did the nougat and licorice bar. In pleasant ways. Thanks, Ally 💕

  11. So much fun to follow along with you on these foodie adventures. Not sure I’d have loved the same ones you did – I am not a fan of licorice at all. But those oat cookies looked fabulous.

    1. Maybe Swedish fish are not really Swedish? Like French fries are not really French? 🤷‍♀️ (I think they originated in Belgium.) And I thought salted licorice was purely a Dutch thing. Minds being blown here, with each box 🤣. Thanks for commenting 💕

  12. Well, THAT was delicious! Even without actually getting to taste these Scandinavian delights, I enjoyed watching you two do so. And, um, are you sure there was no alcohol in those treats? You two are having an awful lot of fun. 🙂

  13. debscarey

    I feared for you when I saw you were visiting Scandinavia, as I’m not generally a fan of their food – even our Norwegian friend calls it “brown food”. However, he failed to mention that they do good snacks – I’m relieved and pleased for you both. I shall question him about the frog dancing, as I’m sure he’ll be delighted to diss his Scandinavian neighbours 😀

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