Bands with Pans: Heliotropes
Jessica calls up a shopping list on her phone, explaining the “traditional Thursday Swedish meal thing from the medieval times… [In medieval times, Swedish people] used to load up on pea soup and pancakes because that was the heaviest thing you could load up on during Thursdays before you had to fast on Friday.” Gul Ärtsoppa, Jessica explains, is a hearty pea soup—a real rib-sticker. Then there’s the sweet counterpart, traditional Swedish pancakes called Pannkakor (Jessica: “Really they are a saltier version of crepes.”). The most compelling component, however is the Glögg, a Nordic spin on mulled wine.
She credits much of her culinary prowess and interest to her time studying in the frosty country.
“It was one of the first places I had to cook a lot,” she says. “It’s so expensive to go out to eat there… so even shitty, frat boy types—like, a crappy dude with pictures of soccer all over his wall [cook].”