Why did a united Scandinavia not form?

[Dinner]

Up until the 16th century the Kalmar Union created a unified, if highly decentralized, Kingdom of Scandinavia made up of Kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the Duchy of Finland. Linguistically Danes, Swedes, Norweigens, Icelanders, and Greenlanders were one people (Finns were linguistically different but historically associated with Scandinavia as were Baltics at various times though they got traded between Sweden, Russia, and Germany) and Norweigens weren't even seen as a seporate people until the end of the 19th century (up to that point they were either Danes or Swedes depending upon who you asked and those two groups were really two different factions of the same people).

So in the 19th century when other ethnic groups were forming their own states (Germany, Italy, various Balkan states) why didn't Scandinavia unite? Was it because the two royal families were to powerful and had to long of a history trying to dominate each other? Was it conservative short sightedness? Was it a lack of common identity which Italians and Germans were able to find but the Scandinavians could not? Why did Scandinavia decide to be a group of little powerless countries instead of a united and strong country?

[chequita guevara]

It did form. It just fell apart.

[KrazyHorse]

Because Danes are ****ng asshiles

[Mr. Harley]

One simple answer. Scandanavian cooking.

[KrazyHorse]

I like my asnewre bettere.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc
One simple answer. Scandanavian cooking.

I dunno, dude. Ann Sather's resteraunt in Chicago had cinnamon rolls to die for. It's a Swedish resteraunt. No one else's come close.

[BeBMan]

It was because of the evil Finns.

[Chemical Ollie]

We kicked some Danish butt, over and over. Last time was in the Napoleon wars, where we got Norway in the peace deal. Then Norway decided to have some stupid independence referendum in 1905.

[Saras]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc
One simple answer. Scandanavian cooking.

Skagen toast
Beef rydberg
Herring with Danzka vodka
Aquavit :vomit:
Fresh salmon carpaccio with some dill

shawnmmcc :clueless:

[Combat Ingrid]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Because Danes are ****ng asshiles

What he said

[Dinner]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc
One simple answer. Scandanavian cooking.

You've never seen the Swedish Chef on the show "New Scandinavian Cooking". PBS carries the show in the US and it is a cross between adventure travel (she always gathers the ingredients in each show which means diving for oysters, hunting wild pigs, helping herd reindeer, picking berries, etc...) and then goes through how to cook everything. Pretty good and tasty food though several of the specialty local ingredients would be damn near impossible to find outside of Scandinavia (reindeer cheese, fresh picked linden berries, or cold pressed rapeseed oil from Gotland).

Basically the show goes over new takes on traditional foods from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland. They mix in exotic imports like mangos, Korean soy, Portuguese wine, Indian curry to create interesting a new combinations. I have to admit the roasted wild pig stuffed with rice, saffron, & coriander sounded good especially when they injected it with a sauce made from honey and Madeira wine.

http://www.scandcook.com/

[Saras]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Basically the show goes over new takes on traditional foods from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland. They mix in exotic imports like mangos, Korean soy, Portuguese wine, Indian curry to create interesting a new combinations. I have to admit the roasted wild pig stuffed with rice, saffron, & coriander sounded good especially when they injected it with a sauce made from honey and Madeira wine.

:drool:

[Dinner]

It was kind of funny seeing these reindeer herders in Swedish Lapland dressed up in American cowboy clothes though. They were complete with cowboy hats.

[Mr. Harley]

Just trolling (wanted some people to post so I could find out what I didn't know about Scandanavian cooking). Thanks for the Scancook link.

[Dinner]

No problem. The guy who invented pickled herring should be shot though.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1469413