Food filled Friday: Episode 3: South African Wine.

Just a quick update on the continuation of the food "Food filled Friday" segment. On average we had 28.5 page views per post on this segment. We had 13 positive votes which means that 55% of the viewers did not indicate a preference or dislike for this segment.

The food of this week is wine. In particular wine from South Africa. From the beginning we noticed that South African wine is well represented in the state owned liquor stores. These stores, called "Systembolaget" are the only places in Sweden where you can buy alcohol (except for the very very light beer). If you are not a regular visitor to Systembolaget you may also see a number of advertisements on television and printed media for popular South African wines. South African wines are almost always found on restaurant menus and at parties.

The picture below is from a Swedish magazine we found on a train.

A good wine selection from our home country is both good and bad. The problem is that we know which wines to select and often buy them because we know what we will get. We therefore rarely try wines from other countries. The advantage, of course, is that we know what we are getting is nice. We also expose other people to South African produce.

Finally we should mention that alcohol is extremely expensive here. A glass of wine at a restaurant can easily set you back from R60 upwards (stronger liquor are also as expensive and are sold per centiliter for approximately R15, which means you would pay R1.5 for a milliliter of whisky). Since the restaurant meals, especially something red and meatish, is very expensive in any case, you will rather frequent it less often but include the wine. However, a respectable bottle of wine can be bought for R80.

Skål/Gesondheid.

R&C

ps. Drinking songs are extremely popular during parties and celebrations. Here is a interesting one about the desire for more wine, even if the grapes are stomped by the fungus infested feet of a fat sweaty French woman (no offense meant to our French readers, it was the Swedes...):

Feta Fransyskor som svettas om fötterna
de trampar druvor som sedan ska jäsas till vin
Transpirationen viktig e´
ty den ger fin boquet
Vårtor och svampar följer me´,
men vad gör väl de´?

Vi vill ha vin, vill ha vin, vill ha mera vin
även om följderna bli att vi må lida pin
Flickor: Flaskan och glasset gått sin
Pojkar: Hit med vin, mera vin
Flickor: Tror ni att bi är fyllesvin?
JA!