Anne L'Huillier's day follows a dual rhythm. On the everyday side, husmanskost: simple, hearty, frugal Swedish "home cooking" made of fish, potatoes, rye bread, and wild berries. At the heart of the day, fika: an institutional coffee break taken at a nearly fixed time, where colleagues and students stop to share coffee and a pastry — a social moment as much as a gustatory one, where, they say, the best lab ideas are born. For special occasions come the smörgåsbord and the feast (the Nobel banquet being its most solemn version), where small cold and hot dishes are lined up, from cured salmon to meatballs.

Even more than cinnamon, ground cardamom is the fragrant soul of Swedish pastry. Its warm, lemony, resinous note marks fika pastries and winter mulled wine. A spice of the road, arrived from afar via Nordic trading posts, become a national identity — a nice wink for a Franco-Swedish physicist.