At the Swedish bourgeois table of the late 19th century, the meal opens with the smörgåsbord: a cold assortment of salted or pickled fish, breads, and butter that each guest composes. Then comes husmanskost, the warm and hearty home cooking—soups and stews that punctuate the week. The day ends with fika, the coffee break accompanied by a yeasted pastry—a social ritual that Strindberg practiced in the cafés of Stockholm, Paris, and Berlin.

The queen herb of Scandinavia: its aniseed, fresh fragrance marks the salted and pickled fish of the North. With vinegar, salt, and sugar, dill is the aromatic soul of the Swedish smörgåsbord.