Ah Swedish butter, how I have forgotten that it is true manna of the gods.
Growing up, Swedish butter was something we dreamed about. Seriously. In my house, my mother was always on a diet despite weighing all of 100 pounds. This meant mysterious American foods like 'Butter Buds' and 'Pam' which had 'All the flavor of butter' but none of the fat - or so they claimed.
The trips we took to Sweden were filled with Bregott's Extra Salted butter - because the extra salt meant you didn't have to refrigerate the butter. At our Swedish family's house they kept a tub of butter on the counter. And the father in that family? He heaped about a a centimeter high layer of butter on every slice of bread he ate. So when in Sweden I could butter my sandwiches 'The Swedish Way.' (This was second only to when I got to get sugar cereals on my birthday - and by sugar I mean Honey nut Cheerios, not Cookie Crisp).
Since moving to Sweden, I've managed to wean myself from the Extra Salty to the Organic, but I still stick to Bregotts.
Except on this road trip. When some friends of ours, who joined us for a leg of the trip, were made responsible for refrigerated perishables. Turns out they are Swedish margarine lovers. I guess someone has to eat Swedish margarine.
The first day I thought, 'This won't be so bad, it's just a few days.' But man, after the second day of margarine open-faced smorgas for breakfast, I was jonesing for some Bregotts.
I ended up getting a small container to tide me over. I don't know if there is anything quite like it in the States, since my exposure to real butter was pretty limited.
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