This was quite a fun read - especially the self-deprecating humor and the little vignettes about how and where the author sampled the different mustards - but I was pretty surprised by the narrow selection.
In various parts of Europe there's a strong tradition of very geographically-specific types of mustard - often differing greatly in texture, strength, color and taste in neighboring towns or regions.
Also mustards can be seasonal - here in Sweden there are many mustards that are only available at Christmas, for instance - not to mention that people make their own mustards (also usually based on regional preferences).
>here in Sweden there are many mustards that are only available at Christmas
I have a theory that desserts that are only on holidays really sort of suck or they would have broken out of the holiday and are just getting by on the nostalgia factor - how are these mustards you talk about?
Also can you name some of them? I guess I can always take the train over to Malmö in a couple of months to pick some up to test the quality myself.
> I have a theory that desserts that are only on holidays really sort of suck or they would have broken out of the holiday and are just getting by on the nostalgia factor
People have time off on holidays, and families all get together increasing the available labor pool. Accordingly holiday foods can be more labor intensive than foods eaten during the rest of the year, which is an alternative explanation for why some foods only appear at holidays.
As another commenter mentioned, egg nog is one. Home made egg nog is a fair bit of work, doesn't keep for long (well depends on if you pre-mix the booze I guess), and is calorie dense enough that eating it year round would be a mistake.
Heck home made pies in general.
Also certain foods are a lot of work to get setup, but they scale up very well. It is just as much work to mull a little bit of wine as a lot of wine. Holiday cookies, kind of both. If you are rolling out cookie dough mine as well roll out a lot, and if you have lots of kids around, free labor to do the decoration!
As an aside, store bought eggnog is not good, if you don't like eggnog, try home made, you can adjust consistency, flavor profile, and sweetness dramatically. I never liked store eggnog, but on a whim I made it at home once and it turned out grand.
> take the train over to Malmö in a couple of months to pick some up
If it’s Christmas mustard you’re hoping to find, simply search online for ‘julsenap’ before your visit.
Regional variations will more likely turn up at Christmas Markets (julmarknader), but even normal grocery stores will have more to choose from at that time of year.
An unusual tradition - a hangover from a time when people used mustard for its medicinal properties - is that chemists sell julsenap at Christmas.
There are literally dozens of varieties to choose from nowadays - some of them including unconventional flavorings and spices. Here’s one example (not a recommendation! I’ve never tried this - just googled julsenap and this was one) which includes chili and lemon:
https://dellback.se/hovsenap-julsenap-chili-citron
Johnny's isn't good. For dishes like split pea soup, I recommend a visit to a Swedish apothecary in the month(s) before Christmas and Easter -- they have a great mustard which is particularly good for traditional food, and also (together with a creamier one like Graveleij and a little bit Dijon) great for mustard herring after my grandfather's recipe. :)
I think it depends. Lots of the food is a hassle to make, so only done for big occasions when it will serve many.
But some of it I agree. Never learned to enjoy the traditional Norwegian food. Now it's "fårikål season", which is basically just lamb+cabbage boiled for far too long. Or "smalahove" where you eat the sheep's head. Christmas is the samme. Take ribs of the lamb and damp with salty water. Might be lamb I don't like, though.
We have a ton of Christmas-only or Easter-only desserts in Italy, all very good. I'm guessing the short availability window increases sales, you just need to make sure you always have something in season ;) It's more of a tradition than anything else, really!
Against this thought, which I have shared, I will oppose the pumpkin pie, which is a real delight, but almost always confined to American Thanksgiving, which has a strong historical connection to squash. I could do damage to a pumpkin pie right now.
I sort of agree with pumpkin pie, but I have had some outside of the season and it did not taste as good as it did in the season, which makes me think that my thinking it was good was because of strong nostalgia factor.
My main exhibit for this is the Danish ris a la mande which is during Christmas, it tastes great to me (nostalgia) and Danes if told it's crap will defend it. But foreigners don't taste the goodness, and really if I think about it when eating I start to think: "you know, a tiramisu is better, so is risengrød for that matter, this stuff sort of sucks but I like it."
Ris a la mande also has a specific Christmas tradition associated with it (you have to feel with your mouth for the whole almond in it, and if you find it you get a gift) so doubling down on "it's not taste" explaining the love.
On Thanksgiving growing up, my mother used to bake two pumpkin pies: one for me and one for the rest of the family. I've eaten 3/4 of one in a single day. I could easily eat a whole pie in a day if the shame didn't slow me down.
I think your theory explains some but not all seasonal foods.
Many are originally seasonal for logistical reasons: before refrigeration, food had to be eaten close to harvest time or preserved in some way. So you have pumpkin dishes in fall because that's when the pumpkins are ripe. Likewise tomato dishes in spring.
Winter holiday foods often get that association because they are preserved. We ate them then because we had nothing else to eat since the harvest is over. That gives you eggnog, cured meat, jams, etc.
Once a dish gets a strong association with a certain time of year, I think it tends to hold it because the association is part of the enjoyment. Sure, I could have a mug of eggnog in June, but it wouldn't be as magical.
> I have a theory that desserts that are only on holidays really sort of suck
I have a counter-example.
I love peppermint stick ice cream, and it is impossible that anyone might not also love it. :-)
When I was a kid back it was one of the always-available flavors at the nearby ice cream shop. I don't know if was just luck or not, but now it seems peppermint stick is available only around Christmas, and even then I often have a hard time finding it.
I also find that my desire for such a heavy drink decreases dramatically the warmer it is outside. My partner and I aged a batch of eggnog for a year, drinking 1/12th of it every month to see if there was a point at which the returns on aging diminished. It was genuinely difficult to be enthusiastic about sampling a glass of heavy cream, sugar, egg yolk, and bourbon on a 30° summer day.
When you go to Greenpoint, Brooklyn's Polish neighborhood, there are supermarkets with multiple shelves dedicated to mustard with the slight regional and stylistic variation that you describe. I assume that the narrow selection was based on attempting to recreate Beard's list rather than all of the mustards available to a New Yorker.
I had the same impression regarding breadth. There's local mustards all over the US, which I was expecting more of. I still enjoyed reading it but was expecting something a little different.
In various parts of Europe there's a strong tradition of very geographically-specific types of mustard - often differing greatly in texture, strength, color and taste in neighboring towns or regions.
Also mustards can be seasonal - here in Sweden there are many mustards that are only available at Christmas, for instance - not to mention that people make their own mustards (also usually based on regional preferences).