Filled with just apples and cinnamon, Apfelstrudel.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

Apples are generally a late summer harvest in Scandinavia, where in west coast Sweden, Signe Tillisch and the Red Ingrid Marie are varieties that can be found in plenty of home gardens.

There are many recipes to apfelstrudel in cookbooks and the internet on what goes into such an excellent creation, where finding your favourite combination of recipes for your perfect strudel is a matter of search and retrieve at your fingertips. This here is mostly a photo blog on the making of apfelstrudel with, just apples.

The trick to Phyllo pastry is to get it paper-thin. This here is almost there, with more stretching of the dough to come.

I contemplated between using puff pastry or phyllo pastry, where in this making of apple strudel, I tried with phyllo. It was a single large sheet of unleavened flour dough that was subsequently rolled around the apples to create layers.

The apple sauce was made with at least two varieties of Swedish apples. On top of the apple sauce, some green Granny Smiths dusted over with cinnamon.

A cheese cloth or linen helps in the rolling.

Brushing over with butter, to help in the browning.

Vents, to help in the baking and the decorative look of the strudel.

Once baked and out of the oven, a dusting over of icing sugar.

For afternoon tea.

This strudel was baked for about 45 minutes in a Bertazzoni at c. 175C. I wanted time enough for the cut apples to soften and the apple sauce a little of a smother over the phyllo when served.

A completely different palate of taste compared to the phyllo pastries for triangularly shaped curry puffs back in Singapore, but there again it was those curry puffs, these days sold only in spsecific coffeeshops in Singapore, that had first led to my love of phyllo pastries, the result of which was this prelapsarian apfelstrudel.

In the early summer sun.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

It was in 2010 that Marc Jacobs brought nostalgia with hints of the 70s back into fashion, hot on the runways. Today in 2012, the the flavour of the 70s are still in on the runways from Diesel to Halston, whilst Louis Vuitton Fall 2012 makes romantic the long train voyages of the 1920s in reminiscence of a time that was in reality, filled with great uncertainty – such is the magic of fashion, to take viewers into a completely different world, even if briefly.

From New York, one of my favourites is Prabal Gurung Fall 2012, with elements of futurism in the slick materials, some with a flavour of the 70s that included bell bottoms, belted waists and A-line skirts to the knee.

Outfit: vintage print dress, crocheted bolero by DKNY, Louis Vuitton Manhattan PM bag, Chloé strappy sandals with stacked wooden heels, and pearls on a string, with a diamond clasp.

Early summer and this is the time in Sweden when college or pre-university graduations are held all around the city, the graduates donning mostly white outfits. Heavy winter coats are sheleved and in place, lighter summer clothes, no matter if the temperatures hover at ca. 14C outdoors – still chilly for someone from the tropics such as myself.

While I have been always reluctant to shelve my winter jackets too early, I gave in to the beckoning sunshine today with a vintage print dress, a crocheted bolero shrug and strappy sandals.

In the midst of preparing an academic paper for an upcoming Yin Yang themed conference at the Stockholm University School of Business, I as usual got sidetracked into other interesting reads. This time one by L.H. Wee[1], on how Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) helps build Singapore’s national identity.

Growing up in a Eurasian family in Singapore[2], there were many on my father’s side who worked as civil servants, mostly within the British administration system, English being their mother tongue and language at work. I always marveled at how very proper their spoken English sounded but never thought much of it.

Eventually when I started school at the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus[3], I noticed that not all classmates of mine had English as first language, and the fact that my paternal grandparents spoke English with Received Pronunciation, became more of a dismay to me than anything else, since the English my friends spoke outside of the speech and drama classes from the Nuns, was different.

It was so different that it included words that didn’t even belong to English at all. I was a bit confused but tried to keep this ‘other’ language secret from my grandparents and other aunts and uncles who when I had slipped and spoken with a more Hokkien influenced English intonation, had rapped my knuckles followed by disapproving clicks of their tongue, tsk tsk…

Still, there was no stopping learning this ‘bad English’ at school, because socializing across cultures meant that a common language was needed in order to be part of the group, whether it was playing games or buying food at the canteen.

This ‘bad English’ was of course my first encounter with SCE or Singlish.

Having read theories of SCE[4], of it being for example a diglossic variation to Singapore Standard English (SSE), and having grown up in Singapore with English as mother tongue, which would theoretically place me in the acrolectal end of the sociolect continuum, I was surprised when reading Wee’s paper on the Singapore linguistic scene, that the words cited in the paper such as “cheebalized”, “untahanable” and “agaration” were not just new, but their usage unfathomable to me. I could of course guess their etymology, but I couldn’t really place them in context. I was for example, more familiar with the phrases, “bueh tahan” and “agak agak”, and where the word “cheebalized”[5] was certainly unimaginable in any polite context of use, here I found it cited in an academic paper!

Suddenly concerned at my lack of knowledge of SCE, I immediately flipped to the first page of the paper to check its year of publication – 2007 – only a mere five years after I had left Singapore, to live and work in Sweden.

My first thoughts were – I’m getting old – but from there, I of course realized that this linguistic scenario was also the reason why my knuckles were rapped by my older Eurasian relatives when I was young, for using ‘bad English’. Language evolves, and even the colloquial form of English in Singapore had never stopped evolving since the early 1900s, both as reflecting and as a reflection of current ‘realities’, between the people who use it. SCE had now moved on to new frontiers.

The larger comfort, if I could call it such, is of course to situate all of this experience and initial alarm into the broader picture of things, framing it potentially in the theoretical Yin Yang perspective of culture. As language makes up part of culture in dialogic evolution with its people, in the context of Singapore, SCE has been and continues to be part of the country’s national identity, a shared heritage from the times of the British East India company with Singapore as a free port of trade, and when the necessity of a lingua franca arose between immigrants who arrived in Singapore for trade.

This shared ‘common language’ of course still exists today across ethnic and religious backgrounds, whilst Singapore still keeps standard English as one of its main administrative languages.

This observation, that as usual turns every sidetrack into something useful, had put me back in touch with my academic roots in language and linguistics.

And instead of being the typical over-achiever Singaporean with alarm sirens going off when I find that I no longer understand words from SCE cited in an academic paper, I figure it’s better to sit back and be rather Swedish about the whole thing, take things over fika in the manner of lagom and contemplate why it is that the very existence of new words within SCE, could well contribute to the overall theoretical foundations of the Yin Yang perspective of culture[6] – not a bad idea at all to share in Stockholm come early June 2012.

Footnotes
[1] Wee, L.H. 2007. Englishization as an aspect of building the Singapore identity. Chapter contribution to, Englishization in Asia. K.K. Tam, ed. Hong Kong Open University Press, pp. 46-69.

[2] Lim Pin Foo. The Singapore Eurasians – The Inheritors of Western and Asian Cultures. March 31, 2011 at 12:00 am (Current Affairs, History).

[3] CHIJ Katong was established in 1930 by the Infant Jesus Sisters based on the philosophy and teachings of Friar Nicolas Barré. Born in Amiens, France, on 21 October 1621 and educated by the Jesuits, Nicolas Barré joined the Minims of St Francis of Paola. The Order of the Minims (O.M.) are members of the Roman Catholic religious order founded by St. Francis of Paola in 15th century Italy. The Order soon spread to France, Germany and Spain and continues to exist today. The movement of the Order includes the friars, the nuns (who set up the CHIJ schools in Singapore) and the laypeople who live in the spirit of the Order in their daily lives. Today, there are two fraternities of the Minim tertiaries, both are in Italy.

[4] See the body of literature on SCE and SSE by Anthea Gupta Fraser, Anne Pakir, Bao Zhiming, Mary Tay, Joseph A. Foley, John Platt, Lionel Wee, Lubna Alsagoff, Ho Chee Lick and Thiru Kandiah (et. al).

[5] cheebalized – a fusion word in SCE to denote a sarcastic remark for “civilized”, with Hokkien etymology and the English suffix “-ize” (Wee, 2007). Here in the title of this blog, the word is meant to refer to the “uncivilized” and perhaps “uncontrollable” manner of language evolution, that leads to the serendipitous use of words in new contexts.

[6] “YIN YANG: A new perspective on culture”. The Inaugural International Conference on Yin Yang Paradigm at the Stockholm University School of Business. June 7-11, 2012. Conference Chair: Professor Tony Fang, Stockholm University School of Business.

The Blue Frog at the Shanghai World Financial Center.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

Even before my first visit to Shanghai, friends were recommending I visit two places, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Blue Frog restaurant that as a friend put it, served “very good fusion food”. And I couldn’t have done serendipitously better than by dining at the Blue Frog at the Shanghai World Financial Center!

The Montana.

Located at B109 at the Shanghai World Financial Center, the Blue Frog’s atmosphere was friendly upon entering. Warm, cozy and certainly a place that you could continue the business conversation from the day if need be, in a more relaxed atmosphere than at seminar rooms or at the office. We had little difficulty deciding what to order, The Montana being a must try for me simply because it looked impressive with each plate ordered to other tables that came from the kitchen.

Deep fried spring rolls.

Grilled chicken salad.

Though spring rolls and grilled chicken salad are not particulary adventurous orders, it’s often a matter of comfort sometimes, when out in a different country that you crave something more familiar. Leaving perhaps, the adventure to come in the form of cocktail drinks later in the evening.

‘The World’s First Diamond Ring’ by Shawish Jewellery, Geneva.
Text © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

Anyone with a latent interest for absurdly expensive things would have noted the Shawesh brothers of the the Swiss Shawish Jewellery company unveil their 150 carat laser-cut ‘all diamond’ ring at the recent prestigious BASELWORLD watch and jewellery event in Zürich, 2012. Their actions, at a time when world news is dismal with civil unrest and a massive earthquake hitting Indonesia, that brings forth uncomfortable memories, in a stroke of genius in their world, re-defined the concept of something as superfluous as a ‘diamond ring’.

Even with modern techniques, the cutting and polishing of a regular diamond crystal would result in approximately 50% loss of its weight. With this ring from Shawish Geneva the staggering weight loss in itself would break the hearts of many brides-to-be.

But therein lies the very definition of luxury from the point of view of the surreal.

The value of this copyrighted all diamond ring comes more from what is not there any more, the center removed to leave us with a ‘mere’ 150 carat ring. Its very design defies any logic of usefulness in the sense that it is not possible to re-size it to fit the buyer, but that the buyer needs to fit the ring. Thus almost all the logic of the sale point that jewellery should fit the wearer and so on, basically almost everything philosophized and argued for by J.N. Kapferer and V. Bastien in their 2009 book, The Luxury Strategy rings true. This product will – literally – not bend to anyone but the buyer will need to give up everything, including delivering 43 million GBP ($70 Million USD) for the pleasure of owning it.

A video from Shawish Jewellers, in collaboration with Intoit Management and Il Bottaccio Venue, from its London unveiling of ‘The World’s First Diamond Ring’, a copyrighted, £43million, 150-carat ring composed entirely of a finished diamond.

This ring encompasses all paradoxes of the concept of luxury, where luxury in itself carries with it contradictions of being. Again according to Kapferer and Bastien (2009), luxury is all at once accessible and inaccessible, exclusive and inclusive, isolating and encompassing. A ring such as this, with its very own personality, will demand of its owner and wearer to be very solidly worthy of it. Who could possibly wear an object like this and not end up being worn by it? As such, the thought then lands on the question – can the ring in all its exclusiveness find its suitor, even if it came in the form of a gift? Its very quest for a suitable suitor defines it – a Cinderella Diamond Ring.

Just as well that most who encounter this object will see it as an all diamond ring, the first of its kind. And so too perhaps that Shawish Jewellery is trying to sell it as such, a breakthrough concept in a diamond ring. But what if it is, as I see it, a Cinderella Diamond Ring?

A few years ago a similarly unlikely object – the Hirst Diamond Skull – appeared on the market. That was however properly advertised as art but evoked similar questions for me, which I haven’t seen reflected anywhere else however the similarities in concept are there.

This is also the case with other objects in history that have refuted a purpose except, to just be. The great Pyramids come to mind or the Eiffel Tower.

In my mind, this amazing ring is really a piece of art, with all its thought provoking and multifaceted values and the beauty of it all, that encompasses too, the ultimate globalized experience of current times – a fantastic blink of surrealism away from the grim of the daily. And like the infinite steps of the Krupp Diamond when peering into it, this ring is just so?

But from surreal to real, well yes, if given the chance, I will of course see if the ring fits, just in case.

Spanish lentil soup, a keepsake from Barcelona.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

My favorite souvenir to bring back from places I have visited is actually the food.

Not only all the local specialties I can fit into my luggage and hope will survive the trip back, but the smell, the flavours and that particular piece of memory and history they contain, that could so easily be revived over and over again at the stove back home.

This weekend I was thinking about Barcelona, that will always have a special place in my heart.

If you walk down La Rambla from the Placa de Catalunya and resist the temptation to turn left into the Barri Gótic just for once, to get lost in the myriads of picturesque back alleys and squares that endlessly lead you round and around in the search for the perfect xocolata you had yesterday, just somewhere around here … and instead carry on, down past the familiar facade of La Boqueria wet market, and turn right, about there, you will soon find yourself inside the bohemian turned pretty posh quarters of El Raval.

There, immediately before you hit the open area of Rambla del Raval, you will find Casa Leopoldo.

Casa Leopoldo is not one of those gastronomically very inventive places you so easily can find in Barcelona, but rather the opposite I would say. It’s a rustic and genuine Barcelonean eatery. It was opened in 1929 by Señor Leopold Gin. The story goes that on the opening day, they only had two customers. One at lunch and one in the evening. Eventually it turned out to have been only one customer, since it was the same man. However, they decided this was a good sign since already the first day they had got a repeat customer.

If you are looking for true Spanish fare, this would be one of the options. Excellent ingredients sourced daily at the nearby La Boqueria.

If your feet still haven’t given up on you, you might want to continue a bit further until you find Mesón David. “A slice of the old Spain” as the guide book has it. We could not stop marveling at the size of the portions that were handed out to seasoned locals obviously accustomed to the solid fare, none raised an eyebrow to dishes in sizes similar to that found at a Swedish Christmas table to each guest, indeed worthy a nation of conquistadors and bull fighters.

Sopa de llenties.

From this area I picked the inspiration to this green, very Spanish, lentil soup. Lentils date back all the way to the Roman Empire some 2000 years  ago, when they were a staple in the Roman Army because they are easy to preserve and transport.

Tomato, garlic and olive oil are basic ingredients in Catalan cooking and gives together with onions the typical meat sauce sofregit. Spices are surprisingly absent in Catalan coocking as a whole, but parsley and black pepper felt like a reasonable safe bet and as a last touch, a dash of ground cumin seeds.

A few sliced up spicy Spanish txorizo (Chorizo) sausages made from coarsely chopped pork and pork fat, seasoned with smoked pimentón added some muscles to this soup and to mellow it down a bit, I topped it up with a dash of whipped cream dusted with some black pepper.

Recipe

400 grams (1lb) Green lentils. Soak in water for 1 hour.

1 onion, 2 carrots and 3 cloves of garlic, chopped up in small lentil sized quarters

Stir fry in 2 tbs olive oil and some butter, add water and lentil as needed.

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tbs thyme

1 tsp ground cumin seeds

1-2 tbs tomato puré

ca 250 gram (1/2 pound) Chorizo sausages

Boil in 1 liter of mixed chicken and meat stock for 1 hour. Add more water as needed. Add salt if you like but be careful, depending on the meat stock you use. This soup will only become better if you cook it longer. Serve with some Spanish red wine and white bread rubbed in garlic, tomato, olive oil and some salt.

Perfect as an entré or for lunch.

Creamy west Swedish blue mussel soup laced with Vermentino an Italian white wine – a toast and celebration of the friendly relations between Sweden and Italy – whether at a Swedish Royal gala dinner for trade or in more politically shared interests regarding developments in the Middle East organized at the Second Aspen Bosphorus Dialogue Conference by the Aspen Institute Italia, 2-3 March 2012.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

It was after work and I had my mind on the topics covered at a recent seminar held at the Aspen Institute Italia on Leadership, Globalization and the Quest for Common Values held earlier in March 2012 in beautiful and panoramic Cernobbio nonetheless, where ideas were exchanged on leadership for the twenty-first century. Just 40 km north of Milan, Cernobbio is the city that is home to the luxury hotel Villa d’Este that sits along the shores of Lake Como. The city was also host to a seminar that allowed for various interpretations to be heard on the complexities of leadership in the modern, globalized world and how tensions in leadership could be addressed.

Half absent in mind at the wet market, I scanned flittingly over the different types of raw seafood that west Sweden is so well known for when my eyes came to settle on some very lovely blue mussels.

Part of the innovative culture in Sweden is manifest in their attitude towards culinary adventures. You can find recipes for mussel soup in west Sweden laced with a variety alcohol from white wines to dry sherry and beer.

Blue mussels are almost as staple as cod in restaurants along the Swedish west coast, where fish and seafood are Gothenburg’s culinary métier. So when I got my hands on these mussels, I simply stood alongside my Bertazzoni at home and stared blank at them, not for the lack of ideas but rather, too many ideas. I had already settled for a creamy mussel soup but even a creamy mussel soup in Sweden had several well recommended recipes you could choose from, not to mention, happily modify to make your own.

Considering that I had a bottle of Vermentino in the wine cellar and that was what the dinner table was going to have the evening, the recipe for this Mussel Soup went something like this:

• About 2 kgs of mussels, scrubbed and cleaned (in Sweden, you could also use clams, cockles or a mixture of mussels, clams and cockels)
• 1 – 2 cloves of garlic
• A small bit of leek, chopped
• Marina Colonna extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup oregano (in some other Swedish recipes, parsley, basil or thyme)
• A generous splash of Vermentino, Italian white wine
• 1 cup cream
• A tablespoon of butter
• A pinch of salt
• A crush of black pepper
• Some cayenne pepper (depending on how much heat you want in the soup)
• A squirt of lemon (lime or vinegar) to adjust the taste

Blue mussels and shrimp – a taste of the west Sweden. Well, actually a Taste of West Sweden is a brand owned by the tourism board of West Sweden that puts culinary joy in the sights, smells and textures of raw produce from western Sweden.

While the mussels were simmering in the garlic, spices and wine with heat turned on high and in the seven minutes that it took for them to open, my thoughts wandered back to seminar moderator Professor Leigh Hafrey who is with the MIT Sloan School of Management.

With a career in Behavioral and Policy Sciences and lecturing in executive education programs, in 2008, Professor Leigh Hafrey taught a class on “Values into Leadership” to Tsinghua International MBA program (IMBA) first-year students on the importance of values and how they could be applied at the workplace. The students learned about corporate ethics and the different methods in which they could stand up for their own values in the workplace. Learning not to compromise their own values at work would in turn promote and encourage an integrated organization fabric of cross-cultural values. The students learned how to preserve one’s integrity, whilst respecting the values of Others from different socio-cultural and religious background.

I strained the broth to get it smooth as a last move before serving the mussels in deep dishes to all around the table, where upon settling down with a glass of Vermentino proper at the table, I couldn’t help but figure that it would take time. Just as the blending of flavours in this creamy and aromatic broth takes time, things will settle. That when it comes to cross-cultural workplaces and the leadership tensions that result in today’s globalized organization landscapes, strategy and communication are of course key but add to that, patience and time.

In all these thoughts, there are immediate things to celebrate and in front of me, some very delightful Mussel Soup with white wine.

Wearing mostly vintage. Arden B. knitted top, vintage nautical belt and white cotton skirt with hand embroidered florals, also vintage.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

Windy! Typical at this time of year along the Swedish west coast, though nowhere near warm…The glow of the sun – thoroughly inviting!

On close encounter a different picture emerges that speaks about a state of denial that have grown into a culture of its own. In a time when globalization is increasingly becoming a non-issue, when through the Internet Syria is as close as Malmö, this phenomenon might become a problem. The problem, being that the wider meaning of the word ‘culture’ in Sweden has been obscured and cemented into oblivion so much that there are almost no words there to talk about the fact that values, beliefs, religions and various ideas about what is right or wrong are different in different parts of the world.

Defining culture

In the early 2000s when I began to prepare my research for my doctoral thesis in the field of managing across cultures and leadership across cultures, it appeared that almost every author touching upon the topic of culture had come up with a definition of their own. Already during the 1950s, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn had compiled a list of 164 definitions. The definitions spanned fine arts and humanities, pattern of human knowledge, beliefs and behavior, shared attitudes, values, goals and practices. Everything from cultivating small societies of bacteria in a Petri dish to my favourite, Geert Hofstede, who defined culture as a ‘collective programming of the mind’. It appeared that the only common ground was the agreement that there was such a thing as culture and in its broader sense all were the creations of man to fit in between them and what was given by nature to make just about any place on earth inhabitable. Thus, of course, any “culture” would vary with the places and be whatever served its purpose best at that place.

This wider definition made for three simple observations:

1. There is such a thing as culture
2. They vary with their geographical location
3. Their usefulness will vary since what is useful in one place will be plain stupid in another

What we arrive at in the most secular country in the world is however, the contradiction that the Swedes do not believe in the thesis of Greek philosopher Protagoras, that “man is the measure of all things” but would much rather go with the Old Testament’s belief in absolute truths, that what is true to one man is true to all.

When I went on in the course of my research and talked to Swedish top managers about their “management style”, asking if they felt that their ‘style’ would broadly correspond to the “Swedish culture and values” most Swedes would have it that there did not exist any particular Swedish management style, and certainly no framework of a Swedish national culture that influenced this non-existent “Swedish management style”.

Furthermore an entire afternoon fika session at the university saw a colleague of mine argue that the concept of national culture as such was a huge conspiracy and that everyone all over the world was in effect the same; with the same values, same beliefs and same behaviour.

Needless to say, that fika period took on a deeply philosophical turn and what I had hoped to take away from that discussion in terms of concrete definitions and a taxonomy of culture, much in line to Hofstede’s work, failed to materialize. In fact, their fervent insistence of the non-existence of a Swedish management style made the task of researching Swedish and Chinese management styles even more challenging, the plethora of definitions of ‘culture’ coming in direct opposition to the Swedes firm belief that there was no such thing as a Swedish management style based on Swedish culture.

Secondary sources of information in the local mass media seemed to contradict this.

Coming from a Hallidayan perspective of a functional view of language that includes the reflection of dominant social ideologies in the use of language, I found it most interesting to explore the meanings from language that arise from and underlie any paradigmatic choice of words. But my observations and findings were accidental, as most research findings often are – that it is not what is said – that lent a new perspective to what is being studied – but what was left unsaid, that drew up just as interesting a phenomenon.

But there is no ‘Swedish culture’

Looking for articles on values and beliefs it would have seemed natural to anyone to look for the word ‘culture’, but to my surprise, what was referred to by the word ‘culture’ in Swedish media, right up to and including the Swedish Ministry of Culture were related to the arts, music, dance, theater, museum installations and even – sports. The Ministry of Culture’s Model of cultural cooperation – culture closer to citizens for example was defined as a collaboration with the Arts sector, with the Swedish Arts Council. What was little addressed by the Ministry of Culture were the aspects of race, religion, language, beliefs and traditions of the people who are of different cultural backgrounds in Sweden.

The issue of creating a public awareness that the definition of culture goes beyond the realm of arts and sports is relevant since the Swedish society at large will both need and witness an increase in global mobility in their population whether due to political, social or business reasons.

This non-recognition of the wider aspect of culture in the public domains in terms of values and beliefs is to a large part reflected also in the country’s approach to foreign immigrants with a strategy of assimilation rather than integration. That the two words are often used associatively with each other, some even using them interchangeably adds confusion to the concepts, since the results of the policies and approach to migrant situations in Sweden will differ quite drastically depending on the overarching ideology of whether Sweden prefers an approach to foreigners that is more assimilative or integrative.

Assimilation and integration are different concepts altogether, which is not readily recognized in the debate. Assimilation is when different groups have blended so much that they are inseparable turned into one. If we have learnt anything from history that would be that this rarely happens. The other approach is integration, in which a society makes it possible – and allowed – to be different. To create systems that allows for differences instead of trying to make or waiting for everybody to become identical.

Sweden’s conscious assimilative efforts can be found not just in the lack of public address in the use of the word ‘culture’ to refer to a people’s system of values and beliefs, but at an operative level towards immigrants in the syllabus of Swedish language courses for immigrants for example, content range from how to make police reports or reports to the sjukkassan in Sweden, to reading high-level literature that includes generally depressing literature such as Strindberg. Even the more ‘cultural’ values of Swedes that is not fully addressed for example is why so much herring on the menu? Or what is Pingstdagen, or why this dancing around the Midsummer Pole?

Events deeply connected to what would be Swedish socio-cultural history is simply omitted in the language courses for immigrants.

The subjects addressed and the manner of delivery in the textbooks all suggest the cold pragmatic manner in which foreigners are expected to assimilate as in with the best of intentions, disappearing, once having arrived in Sweden – the sooner the better. Besides which, there would also be not many job opportunities should you not learn the language, no matter if you were a post-graduate or a medical doctor in a specialist field.

Talent drain and lack of future leadership as part consequences of ‘no culture’ in Swedish public discourse

This consistent slant in the use of the word culture at most institutional levels of the society (save the academic institutions), to refer to fine arts and public entertainment scene in the Swedish mass media and governmental discourse could be coincidental or even insignificant, but the consequences are evident within the social fabric of the Swedish society and the nation is already facing some difficulties.

Sweden’s want for homogeneity leaves room for a greater debate that is currently ongoing for Swedish immigrants in New York, as reflected in Medufia “Keke” Kulego’s story and Blatte United in The Local.

In 2009, Svenska Dagsbladet, ran several articles on leadership in organizations in Sweden. In an article entitled “Vem vill ta över” (Who will want to take over) Agneta Lagercrantz quoted Bengt Lejsved, a Swedish headhunter who has been in the field for twenty years who was worried about the lack of interest among the younger generations to take over the future top management positions. He foresaw that Sweden as a nation would need to look abroad, to Africa or the Middle East for example, for their future leaders of Swedish corporations. Something he was hesitant about the fesability about since he foresaw cultural problems “because Sweden is not exactly world champions on integration”.

In another article entitled “Ledarskap i globaliseringstid”, Lagercrantz gathered pointers from prominent thought leaders in the field on the forms of future leadership for Sweden with the conclusion that the general consensus from a conference on the future of management held in 2009 by IFL in Stockholm and Globaliseringsrådet is that “there is no typical Swedish leadership you can lean against for support in the globalization era” – a conclusion that still reflects Sweden’s denial of culture or “culture of denial” in the land of lagom.

A culture of ‘no culture’: the Swedish ‘lagom’

Etymology aside, the concept of ‘lagom’ in layman Swedish language use refers generally to what is moderate, enough, just right or adequate. But even a brief overview of the Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map of the World shows Sweden to be in a radical spot of its own. In fact, the survey reflects that Sweden had actually moved farther apart from its Nordic neighbours to a niche corner of its own from 2004 to 2008. Meaning to say that not only is Swedish culture in a complete class of its own on the world map, but that the Swedish ‘lagom’ is anything but.

Source: Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, Modernization, Cultural Change and Democracy New York: Cambridg University Press, 2005: page 63. (World Values Survey)

Source: Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, “Changing Mass Priorities: The Link Between Modernization and Democracy.” Perspectives on Politics June 2010 (vol 8, No. 2) page 554.

In light of this information from the world values survey, would it not be more useful to begin from “within” and seek answers to Swedish leadership problems beginning with a look at what indeed is in the Swedish culture at large and reflected in its leaders, in the Swedish management culture and defining what makes Swedes distinct from even their closest neighbours? But the question remains – how can you begin from “within” if you do not first recognize the phenomenon of that there exists a Swedish management style, based on Swedish values and national culture?

And as noticed from the Svenska Globaliseringsrådet, talking about culture as a crucial aspect of global trade for Sweden becomes difficult when the government institutions insist that the way to success for Sweden is to water down Swedishness and go for a more ‘global identity’ especially in management, and that Sweden’s main method of managing foreign immigrants living in Sweden is assimilation vaguely disguised as a feeble attempt to allow integration.

The place of culture in a globalized Sweden: What can be done?

With the Swedish government pushing for Sweden’s globalization on several fronts – the lack of proper address in the use of the word culture so much so that it cannot be used in its broader meaning without quite substantial explanations – is in the long run myopic and possibly dangerous, since it means that a whole gamut of socio-cultural problems that exist in the Swedish society cannot even be discussed. For how are we to discuss these problems systematically and efficiently when there isn’t even a proper name for them? Such is the two-edged sword of language, in a constant dialogic process between events, happenings and users.

Cultural change is a slow and sometimes difficult process, but in this age where globalization is overnight becoming a non-issue, isn’t it about time that Swedes themselves have a paradigm shift in ideology? The concerns of being egalitarian on several fronts could remain, but within that framework, shouldn’t it also be possible to acknowledge that all people are not alike and to say so doesn’t mean you are sexist, racist, discriminatory or prejudiced, and to acknowledge that Swedes do possess certain values of their own and, that these will be brought with them in terms of organization management and leadership, and that thinking so is not an original sin, meaning that you will burn in a hell they don’t even believe in anyway, forever?

At a societal level, acknowledging that people are different from each other and that different cultures in Sweden do exist (a result of its rather liberal immigrant policies), would also mean an acknowledgment of Swedish values and culture not just at home but abroad. It would also acknowledge that organizations do in fact send Swedes to foreign subsidiaries as “culture carriers”. What is needed in public discourse is the distinction that globalizing Sweden does not necessarily mean being non-Swedish, losing egalitarianism or that everyone needs to be “the same”, but rather embracing differences, being aware of them and learning to work within such a framework.

And it is within this framework that perhaps the current challenge of talent drain and worries of future leadership can be properly addressed for Sweden. Issues that are urgent to the extent that it affects Sweden’s economic competitive edge in a time when the economies of Asia have come into their own.

As a Singaporean now living and working in Sweden, to Sweden, I’d say – Lets get on with it. Different is fun. Multicultural societies create interest and stimulate creativity. I for one, am looking forward to the added bonus of more pickled herring to the world!

The first ice-cream of the household for 2012 in Spring – Raspberry Cardamom.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

If there ever were a reflected change in values from one generation to the next, in my life, I can find no better example than that of the attitude towards cooking.

In the hierarchic familial structure of the Asian society, the activity of cooking was invariably bound to the social pecking order in the family. Either the eldest, the youngest or the ‘least favoured’ of children was often given the task of cooking for, the usually, large family. Cooking could also be parceled out as a kind of punishment to children, to be ‘kitchen bound’, instead of being allowed to go outdoors to play with your friends after school or worse, on weekends.

The ingredients to this Raspberry Cardamom ice-cream are but five: raspberries, cream, milk, sugar and a pinch of cardamom. The process begins by whipping the cream and sugar.

Growing up in Singapore one comment that often came my way from my older aunts and female cousins was how lucky I was first, not to have a large family to cook for, but also that my mother didn’t bind me to the kitchen as how they had been bound to the kitchen for the slightest misdemeanor whilst growing up.

In fact, my childhood had quite the comical and opposite effect of me being taught to cook as part of a ‘skills for life’ training, only ending up with my mother pounding, slicing and chopping the ingredients herself because I created such a mess in the kitchen that it would be just more work for her to clean up after me, than if she did everything herself. The fact that I was careless with the cutlery in the kitchen and in general had butter fingers didn’t help either.

Using fresh raspberries for this ice-cream will be the joy of late summer! At this time of year that is March, I found it most practical to just reach for frozen raspberries in a box.

Despite this sometimes negative filter of connotations of cooking as a coerced and necessary activity whilst growing up, I still find myself often writing about how I find cooking therapeutic, my point of view of cooking differing from those of my aunts and cousins. There are of course, many drivers of change that contributed to this difference in opinion in one generation, from a changing consumer landscape to globalization, an equalizing of women’s rights to landing in a new country etc, but whether it’s in the making of your own tapenade or of a homemade chocolate hazelnut spread otherwise known as ‘nutella’, the circumstances of today has made cooking a luxury.

There’s a sense of hedonistic rush in the folding in of raspberries, with whipped cream and milk.

Being able to make this simple ice-cream is a personal luxury to me that is not just connected with the social concept of ‘time is money’ or the lack of time for hobbies these days per se, but rather to the multi sensory dimension of luxury. The ingredients to make this ice-cream is fairly basic, so any price considerations are of little influence as to why I would consider this Raspberry Cardamon ice-cream a luxury to me. It is the fact that I can in two seconds, decide I wanted cardamom instead of five-spice or cinnamon to the creamy batter and the fact that I know I use zero food colouring in this ice-cream compared to what I might get from a restaurant or a grocery store gives me a sense of satisfaction and a hedonistic rush that money cannot buy and cloaks me with a feeling of privilege.

In part it is the changing global environment, cultural values and family demographics etc. that enabled such a shift in perspective in a mere generation on the point of view of home cooking.

Though in a continuous dialogue and exchange of culture and values across generations, there is a small aspect of this Raspberry Cardamom ice-cream that I would like to share, encompassed in the dual aspects of luxury of being both inaccessible and accessible at the same time, that while unable to unravel events and experiences in history, might bring a pinprick of joy and indulgence now.

With any given recipe and on any given day at your convenience for example, a similar batch of homemade Raspberry Cardamom or whatever else flavour your heart desires, can be whipped up and enjoyed, on a whim for your very own consumption of both ice-cream and personal luxury.

And it isn’t so much that time has now become such a scarce commodity, but the change in the perception of the activity of cooking from one of pain, to pleasure and then to personal luxury is certainly a shift in the paradigm.