On Tuesday 10 December, the annual Nobel dinner will take place in the Blue Hall in Stockholm City Hall. The event coincides on the same day that the various Nobel Prizes are awarded, and a blissful mix of people gathers there, ranging from researchers and royalty to writers and politicians.
The Nobel dinner takes place on December 10. Image source: Jonas Ekströmer/TT
Since the 1960s, the Nobel Festival has been broadcast live on television, which has made it a celebration for the entire Swedish people, and many see it today more or less as a folk tradition. So if you’re sitting with your flip flops on, pearl earrings in and some bubbly poured into the glass – then you’re not alone.
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The kick-off for Nobel 2024: The banquet starts at 8 p.m. on SVT and SVT Play.
What is the menu at the 2024 Nobel dinner?
The menu for this year, like previous years, is still secret until the very end – but the chef and pastry chef are in charge Jessie Sommarström and Frida Bäckehas hinted at what’s to come. And it’s about a… well you could say an old breakfast favourite.
– I call it a modern cultural porridge. We have a long tradition of growing grain in Sweden, while a lack of whole grains is one of the major food-related causes of ill health in Sweden, Jessie told Sweden’s radio. The dessert will have details of apple.
Jessie Sommarström won “Chef of the Year 2022” and then received an award from Prince Carl Philip. Image source: Anders Wiklund/TT
How exactly Jessie will serve the porridge or with what side dishes she has not revealed.
– When you have to serve food to so many people, you are most concerned that everything goes well, she concluded on Sweden’s radio.
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When it comes to the alcohol, champagne is served with the starter and followed by wine and dessert wine. If you have time to sip your bubbly before others finish theirs, the glass is topped up with a refill. The same applies to the wine.
If it’s a party, it is!
How long is the Nobel dinner?
If you are invited to participate in the Nobel dinner, it is best to urinate first. The sitting is four hours and then you are offered a starter, main course and dessert.
The Nobel dinner is four hours long. Image source: Jessica Gow/TT
But what happens if you have to pee? Well, then of course you just have to go. But if you can, it’s better to wait until after dinner.
Can you get kicked out of the Nobel dinner?
Oh yes. You absolutely can – but it takes some work for you to become one.
Over the years, it has happened that after a couple of drinks one or the other feels like going and chatting with the king – which you can’t just do. You are then quickly stopped by the king’s security guards and given a warning but no more than that.
Mats Danielsson, doctor of etiquette, says in an interview with SvD which, however, can absolutely make you go out headfirst.
– There are of course limits, on various occasions there have been protest actions. Such things can be classified as crimes, he said.
However, there are those who got away with some other goodies during the event.
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– Now I have not personally experienced this, but the Norwegian literature prize winner Knut Hamsundwas slightly over-refreshed and knocked Selma Lagerlöfs corset and made the comment “it sounds like a carillon”. Not great in terms of etiquette, but a little fun, he continued in the interview.
“Ah well, it’s Göran, well it’s just fine but sitting… at a dinner, was there anything special?” Image source: Jonas Ekströmer/TT Bild
Some other memorable little events included when Goran Persson forced to take a call in the middle of dinner. The same thing also happened Stefan Löfven. Fredrik Reinfeldt skipped the phone but instead chose to lick his fingers after trying the delicious dessert.
Come on. No elbows on the table. Image source: Jonas Ekströmer/TT
A few elbows on the table is also not something one prefers. This is so that you don’t take up space for your table neighbors.
But according to Mats Danielsson, there are a lot of common sense and etiquette mistakes that are made during the evening – but that it is only part of it and that there is rarely any harm done.
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