In the winter cold outside the City Hall, police officers stood with reinforcement weapons. But inside the Blå hall there was a cheerful party atmosphere when this year’s Nobel laureates were to be celebrated with dinner.
The Nobel banquet, which is not infrequently called the party of parties, began shortly after 7 p.m. when royalty, dignitaries and the newly awarded laureates marched down the steps of the City Hall.
The 86 guests of honor took their seats at the table of honor, decorated with flowers from the Italian coastal town of San Remo where Nobel spent his last years, arranged by Nobel Florist Per Benjamin.
The menu, a well-kept secret until the very end, was this year in the sign of the sea. Beetroot baked with seaweed and salt and a cream on seaweed from the west coast were served as a starter. The main course consisted of a cod loin stuffed with king crab, served with a kohlrabi roll, fried body cake filled with cod and king crab, and pickled onions with mushrooms.
Lingon from Mockträsk
As if that wasn’t enough, it is served with winter vegetables and summer pickled primroses and a sauce on grilled mussels. All signed by the star chef Jacob Holmström.
The dessert will be served during the Nobel banquet in the City Hall in Stockholm on Sunday.
For dessert, there was baked chocolate cream with compote made from lingonberries. These particular lingonberries usually live in Mockträsk outside Boden, and were flavored with tar syrup in honor of the evening.
During the breaks, there was music as usual, the thing that stood out was perhaps a cower David Bowie’s “Heroes”. Magnus Lindgrenwho was responsible for the artistic design of the entertainment, acted as conductor and offered wind instrument performances.
King Carl Gustaf together with physics prize winner Anne L’Huillier.
The soprano stood for the beauty Elizabeth Meyer which, among other things, appeared on a balcony, surrounded by a surprising amount of artificial smoke. Also returning was a girls’ choir from Västerås, in sparkly sweaters. Blacknuss added some funkier tones.
Hungarians proud
Hungarian journalist Zoltan Bugnyár reports on location for Hir TV and the newspaper Magyar Nemzet. Usually the Nobel Prize does not receive much attention, but this year the interest is greater as the country has two laureates, the medicine laureate Katalin Kariko and Hungarian-Austrian Ferenc Krausz.
“It’s a bit strange, but it feels great,” he says, and continues:
— It’s very festive.
Nobel laureate in medicine Katalin Karikó sat next to Prince Daniel during the Nobel banquet in the City Hall.