God Jul! That's Merry Christmas in Swedish! Listen in Sat. 11AM to KCRW's Good Food. Swedish Christmas Fair & Food! 89.9FM & KCRW.com!

It's hard to believe but there are cultures that begin the Christmas holidays not by being pepper sprayed at a Walmart whilst attempting to score an Xbox on Black Friday. Instead some traditions choose to commune with friends and family while listening to the angelic voices of a girls choir singing the Neapolitan song Santa Lucia. This gently commences the holiday season. Welcome to a Swedish Christmas.



Treats that resemble deliciously sweet marbles called kanel kulor and colorfully festive bags filled with a variety of goodies delight children and transport adults back to childhood.



Swedish meatballs by the hundreds sate and signify a holiday feast that will last all season. The savory gravy and airy meatballs warm up bodies like a roaring hearth.



Sweet desserts are always around during a Swedish Christmas. Ris à la Malta is a dulcet rice pudding topped with petite slices of mandarin oranges. It's creamy, sweet and accentuated with exotic spices just for the holidays.



Swedish pancakes as thin as French crepes topped with fruit jam and whipped cream make eyes grow wide and tastebuds happy.



Yellow peas are used in the Swedish rendition of pea soup. A bit chunkier than the kind you find at Andersen's Pea Soup, it's another hearty way to warm up during those cold winters in Sweden.



There are other ways to warm up than through the stomach. The Santa Lucia song sweetly crooned by a girls choir will warm your heart as much as any group of Christmas carolers.



And if you're still feeling the chill of the crisp Christmas air, try a cup of glögg (glug). If you're not warmed up by then, you may be as dead as a doornail.

Listen to my segment of my visit to the annual Swedish Christmas Fair by SWEA (Swedish Women Education Association) at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. It's a smorgasbord of sights, sounds and, of course, food.

Tune in to 89.9 FM KCRW or KCRW.com Saturday, December 17, 2011 at 11 AM for the Good Food Show and join me as I celebrate Christmas Swedish style!

Merry Christmas and God Jul to you!!