The time has come for the 1,300 guests to sit down to the table in Stockholm’s City Hall. The guests at the table of honor marched into the Blue Hall shortly after 7 p.m., to the organ and trumpet. This was followed by the first toast of the evening.
The food
And what is then served at the Nobel service?
For starters, there will be goat’s cheese from Östergötland filled with pork tenderloin, which is served with Swedish beets, honey and rose quince and roasted pumpkin seeds.
This year’s Nobel chef, star chef Jessie Sommarström, revealed in advance an ingredient in this year’s main course: wholemeal porridge.
– This grain has also been hydrothermally treated, which means that the body can absorb more of the nutrition in it, Sommarström told SVT the other day.
The whole grain porridge – on cut barley, wild and cultivated mushrooms, artichoke and a roasted chicken cloud with Pomme de Vie – is joined on the plates by quenell on chicken, Swedish legumes and autumn truffles from Gotland.
Vegetarians get mushrooms instead of chicken. And vegan special accessories.
For dessert there will be a variation on Swedish apples; terrine on caramelized Frida apples together with browned butter cake on ground almonds flavored with fir shoots, cream on rose quince and thinly sliced apples with chamomile. The whole thing is served with an ice cream on street chamomile and punch.
– We have had a fantastic apple year this year, so it feels like a good raw material to work with, responsible pastry chef, Frida Bäcke, said before the festivities.
About 800 meters of linen are used for the approximately 60 tables. And during the evening, a team of 44 chefs and 190 waiters and waitresses work.
Flowers and music
The theme of this year’s flower decorations is “our green life-giving nature”, with a mix of leaf shapes, textures and green colors combined with flowers in soft pastels. The blue hall is decorated in different tree shapes, with a tree of knowledge on the honor table.
The guests at the Nobel banquet are also treated to divertissement – entertainment. This year, the power of inspiration is celebrated through dance and music in four acts. Among other things, Laleh performs newly written music together with dancers from Base23 and solo musicians.
At 11 p.m., the guests move from the Blue Hall to the Golden Hall, where more music and dancing await.