Is Scandinavian cultural heritage well preserved/cherished in MN? (Minneapolis: homes, live)

[ozzie679]

There's nothing wrong with preserving cultural heritage.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by ozzie679

There's nothing wrong with preserving cultural heritage.

And perhaps worth noting that the Scandinavians themselves were the first to introduce open air (or folk) museums, where traditional or historic buildings were gathered for preservation and interpretation. I've been to several of them in Denmark and Norway, as well as many more in the United States. Many of these now also have living history components, which are designed specifically to preserve cultural heritage.

[ozzie679]

A stinky, and perhaps strange, Christmas tradition - Kanabec County Times
DAY— While many industries are feeling the pain of a weak economy, the lutefisk industry remains as strong as its smell.
At Day Fish Co., they go through 35 tons of lutefisk from October through January and this year is expected to be no different.

[kuan]

Poor man's lobster? Really?

[uptown_urbanist]

Ha. I have a shirt from the Star Tribune that proclaims it "Minnesota's sushi," but I kind of like the sound of "poor man's lobster" better.

[TravisW]

I've always heard of Torsk as being "poor man's lobster". Lutefisk, on the other hand, is "the piece of cod that passes all understanding".

[marothisu]

I don't know what most of you are talking about...I grew up in Minnesota and moved away. I have never been to anywhere in the United States that shows a visible Ccandanavian heritage as much as a lot of Minnesota (the only place coming close is Andersonville in Northern Chicago which has a pretty high population of Swedes).

Yeah, sure people aren't going to be speaking the language, but to say it's not well preserved is just BS in my opinion. You guys even realize that Minnesota produces more Lutefisk per year than Norway itself right? Go to the small towns in Minnesota and you'll find the culture is still there.

You are going to be hard pressed to find many places in the US where you can get actual Scandinavian food or see customs as you can in at least the Minneapolis St. Paul area. The only other places I could directly foresee would be say Northern Iowa (Decorah), New York City, Chicago, or maybe parts of Wisconsin..but nothing on a LARGE scale.

[TravisW]

I'd add North and South Dakota to that list.

[TropicalAussie]

Originally Posted by cmptrwlt

Only the ignorant ones like to think so....

The cultural heritage is from 19th century Scandinavia. As a Norwegian, I find it rather weird trying to preserve this...

I agree with the Scandanavian more than I do the Americans with Scandanavian ancestors on this one. Or maybe Minnesotans think they are 'more swedish than the swedes'?

Culture isn't something to perserve in aspic.

[TropicalAussie]

Originally Posted by Haver

an almost fundamentalist egalitarianism

No, that's Australia