Everyone's Swedish at Geneva's annual festival

Jag kom, jag såg, jag åto vitlök krabb pasta.

And a dab of lingonberry sauce used to make the kokosnöt at Graham's Chocolates. I eyeballed the cookies at the Kaffe Stoga run by the Illinois Norsk Rosemalers Association, but decided to treat myself to a double-dark bittersweet chocolate ice cream cone.

It may be Swedish Days, but Geneva's festival featured plenty of goodies from all over the map.

Including the aforementioned garlic crab pasta dished out by Ristorante Chianti's booth. Remember, it wasn't just Swedes who settled in Geneva; the Italians were a significant influence, too.

But Swedish food does rule at the fest. There was a Swedish pancake breakfast at a church, Swedish ham sandwiches with dill sauce, Swedish meatballs and skalies to be had.

"They're so good," said Jarrett Persak of Wheaton about the lingonberry floats, sundaes, overroskning (a lemon-infused custard treat) and kokosnöt (with lime and coconut) he was serving at Graham's Chocolates. "I'm allergic to them (the Swedish berry), but I fight through it."

The tiny red berry tastes like a cross between a raspberry and a cranberry. It was the featured ingredient at the pie-eating contest midafternoon, where being the fastest to gobble one sans hands could net you a golden pig trophy.

Contestant Bobby King of Hoffman Estates, not sure if it would get in the way, took his nose ring out. When asked if he goes around entering eating competitions, he laughed. "No, but I did practice," he said.

Swedish Days continues Sunday.

You can start the day with a traditional breakfast _ fried herring, with Swedish pancakes, fried eggs, potatoes, limpa bread, grilled onions and bacon. The Geneva Vikings Mimer Lodge 33 cooks it up at the American Legion Post 75 tent, Second and James streets, from 7 to 11 a.m. Cost is $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and younger. (The Vikings also helped out with the beer garden at the Legion this year, in thanks for the use of the Legion site for their activities.) It will fuel you up for the Green Geneva - An Eco-Fun Expo, the carnival, the Quad Power Jump and, of course, the huge Swedish Days Parade at 1 p.m.

What makes a pancake Swedish? "They're thin," said Mary Beckstrom Kroning of Batavia, who was working the snack stand at the beer tent Saturday. "Kind of like a crepe," said John Poi of Batavia, also helping.

And what's the deal with eating fried herring for breakfast?

"Blech," Kroning said. "I'm a Swede, but I don't like it."

Poi noted they soak the fish overnight to get rid of most of its salt. He estimated that, typically, at least two-thirds of the guests at Sunday's breakfast will at least try the herring.

"My wife thinks it's great," he said.