Presumed non-Scandinavian encounters lutefisk
Because I am not a member of the American Swedish Institute, I had to shell out an extra five bucks for my ticket to the annual ASI lutefisk dinner, which was held on Nov. 20 this year. The things I do for journalism. And maybe for curiosity. There are a surprising number of hulking blond Minnesotans named things like Anderson and Jensen and Peterson who are still lutefisk virgins! Some of them may even be members of the ASI and have lots of felt things and those cute horses in their homes.
I even dressed up and arrived promptly. This had better be worth it, I thought. Not wanting to prejudice the experience, I waited till it was over to do any supplemental research. But of course I had heard tales over the total of 25 years I have lived in Minnesota, with a 13-year gap when I lived in England.
The dinner took place in the event hall one floor up from Fika. The massive queue of people waiting to be seated at Fika prevented me from being wistfully jealous of the Fika diners. I went on up. There was a cash bar and a free punch bowl. I registered (no line) and grabbed a cup of punch and found my table. The table contained one couple, one single guy and four other single women, although two of them were friends of each other. We all chatted, and I told them about Southside Pride and how I would be writing about this.