domingo, 11 de mayo de 2014

Extensive listening series: Scandimania

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall starts his three-episode series on Scandinavian countries in Sweden.

In this episode, he meets a member of ABBA and they go hunting in the woods. He also visits the Ekstedt restaurant in Stockholm, where everything is cooked over a wood-burning fire.

Over 70% of Sweden is covered in forest and the Swedes love to spend time in the outdoors, so Hugh flies north to Umea, to join an elk hunt, where he cooks the hunters elk liver for dinner.

In Gothenburg, Hugh sees an IKEA flatpack house being assembled in just one morning and meets a group of stay-at-home dads.

Hugh visits the ABBA museum, where he meets Bjorn Ulvaeus, one of the men behind the music, who explains the concept of 'lagom', which means 'just enough', and sums up how Swedes approach life.

But is the 'Swedish model' of equality and prosperity at risk? Hugh visits the set of the country's number one sitcom, which mocks the materialistic aspirations of a new breed of wealthy citizens.

And at the end of journey, Hugh visits an end of summer crayfish party in Stockholm's archipelago.