This Swedish bread plate literally fell out of the roll top desk my mother took with her when she moved to assisted living recently. (It’s a very nice place and we’re all very relieved our mother has taken to the new place so well, is eating better, and also is no longer driving.)
My Swedish is abysmal but I think the inscription, “Bättre grov kaka än ingen smaka,” translates as “Better coarse bread than none.” If readers who know colloquial Swedish have a better translation, please let me know!
I have to believe this is my great-grandmother’s bread plate, or perhaps even her mother Carolina Larsdotter’s possession. Anna’s nephew, her brother’s son, came from Sweden to visit the family in Chicago. Perhaps the bread plate was a gift to his aunt.
I’ve written about my Swedish great-grandmother, Anna Larsdotter Hann, before. I admire her for raising three children under the age of five, including her youngest posthumous child and my grandmother, after she was widowed at the age of 33.
Anna lived in Chicago, had limited English, and scrubbed floors, did piecework, and took in laundry to support her children. She never remarried, but raised her three children in Chicago with the help of her maiden sister Hedda. She lived to see her children married and started successfully on their own lives and families.
We’ll never know how this wonderful Swedish bread plate entered the family, but I’m glad it’s newly discovered.
I have the same bread cutting board that was my grandmothers. I understand the meaning. Her name was Marie Elizabeth Nelson Hallberg Burns. She passed away in Dec. 1969. I was heartbroken and still am after all these years. Her only child was Elmer Fungal Hallberg. My father. I miss her still. She was kind and loving and lived in the community of Edgewater. She was my best friend and taught me about Sweden. We rode the bus everywhere in Chicago
She’s buried it Rose 🌹 Hill Cemetery in Chicago. You were sent to me through that old 🍞 board
God works in mysterious ways!
Pamela
Elaine at Facebook Swedish Genealogy group has supplied the following improved translation: “Better a coarse cake/bread than to taste none at all.” Thanks, Elaine!