Change is the law of life.
And those who look only to the past or present
are certain to miss the future
-John F.Kennedy
Today the Swedish Bakery in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago announced that after 80 some years they are closing. They opened in the late 1920's in the Andersonville neighborhood that at that time was heavily Swedish with many being first and second generation immigrants. The Swedish Bakery is famous for specializing in Swedish coffeecakes, cookies, sweet rolls and marzipan cakes. They are known for using unique ingredients, common in Sweden and other Northern European countries such as cardamom, saffron, anise, fennel, orange peel and almond paste. The neighborhood however has changed. It is now no longer a Swedish immigrant neighborhood but more and more an upscale and increasingly expensive Chicago neighborhood. If truth be told, you would be hard pressed to find a 100% Swede anywhere in Chicago today. I, for one, am half Swedish. my children 1/4 and my grandchildren 1/8. Cultures, tastes, heck everything has changed. I guess the market is no longer there. Sad, but then again I do love the abundance of other cultural dishes and goodies I never knew as a child but now are common in the Chicago area.
Goodbye Swedish Bakery. I guess I just have to get my hubby, the baker of the family, to turn more effort toward sweet rolls and almond coffeecakes. Times are changing and so must we. I guess I will be okay as long as Chicago still has by far the best deep dish pizza and of course the Chicago hot-dog. On a poppy seed bun, Vienna Beef dogs that snap when you bite them, tomato, bright green sweet relish, sport peppers, dill pickle, celery salt, onions and yellow mustard. You can skip the sport peppers if you choose (I do) but NEVER NEVER put ketchup on a hot dog in Chicago.
Read about the end of the Swedish Bakery on Clark Street in Chicago HERE.
