A smorgasbord is a Swedish buffet table.
Smörgås means something like "open sandwich", and bord is simply a table.
But still, it is not a table full of sandwiches. Instead, it contains quite a lot of small dishes, typically all the Swedish specialties will be there. That means herring in all variations (sweet-pickled, pickled with onions, mustard, dill, whatever), Swedish meatballs (köttbullar), salmon, salads, eggs, bread, boiled and fried potatoes and so on.
It is said that in former times each guest used to bring a cold dish to a party, and so the smorgasbord came into being. Nowadays they are common in Swedish homes for the big celebrations on Christmas and Easter, as well as in hotels and anywhere you would normally expect a buffet.
Interestingly, the word in English can also be used figuratively, meaning basically "a large variety where there's something for everybody". |
