Swedish or Turkish Meatballs?

[Santi]

News Today in Catalonia

The Swedish government has made a statement explaining that the Swedish meatballs that IKEAa has popularized around the world are Turkish.

[Santi]

don't cry Bex, you're a vegetarian

[Eldsjäl]

This is only partly true as the Swedish meatballs of today have more in common with the Danish frikadeller than the old Turkish kofta dish.

The story usually goes that our king Charles XII brought the dish to Sweden along with the cabbage roll from his time in exile in the Ottoman Empire around 1709–1713. The recipe has altered a lot since then and it came to be kind of it's own thing.

[fish]

don't cry Bex, you're a vegetarian

It's amazing that the myths and legends of the origins of a nation's cuisine are very similar worldwide.
And so much has to do with the movement of people around the world.
Greeks and Italians migrating to Australia.
Swedes returning from Denmark and/or Turkey.

I remember discovering an Algerian restaurant some time ago in Adelaide.
Beautiful food.
Classical French.
Then I asked myself who colonised/invaded Algeria.

[Santi]

Well, I was referring more to Ikea's mistakes in their restaurants.
When horse meat was found in the meatloaf and had to be removed or worse when it found human poop in their cakes.
It does not seem good to me that she like to say that it is a Swedish company because all this affects the country.

[Eldsjäl]

Alright. I thought you were referring to the recent news stories about the origin of the Swedish meatballs, which BBC and New York Times among with various other outlets brought up.

[fish]

...When horse meat was found in the meatloaf and ...when it found human poop in their cakes...

I'm glad I've only ever been to Ikea once, and didn't eat anything.

...I thought you were referring to the recent news stories about the origin of the Swedish meatballs...

I only saw that for the first time this morning when I was catching up on my Facbok page.
Until then I didn't know of any controversy about them.

My life must be very sheltered here in Australia.

[Ian]

In the UK they are (or were, anyway) called "faggots".

You couldn't make it up.

[Eldsjäl]

That's hilarious! I had to look it up now:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_%28food%29

Seems like this dish typically is made out of pig entrails, not necessarily pork.

Another variation of faggot is pig's fry (testicles) wrapped in pig's caul: the pig's fry and boiled onions are minced (ground) together, then mixed with breadcrumbs or cold boiled potatoes, seasoned with sage, mixed herbs and pepper, all beaten together and then wrapped in small pieces of caul to form a ball. They are then baked in the oven and are usually served cold.

Doesn't sound that tasty if you ask me.

[fish]

Entrails, testicles.
No wonder Ian ran away to Australia.

[Ian]

I don't think I ever had any. Happily.

[snaps]

Man banned from Facebook for liking faggots

Robert Wilkes was blocked from Facebook after a comment about his favourite childhood dish of faggots sparked concerns about homophobia

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10419598/Man-banned-from-Facebook-for-liking-faggots.html

[Ian]

The stupidity of modern society never fails to amaze.

[fish]

The stupidity of modern society never fails to amaze.

Ian said it all really.