Swedish Chef
Encyclopedia
The Swedish Chef is a Muppet
that appeared on The Muppet Show
. He was operated by Jim Henson
and Frank Oz
simultaneously and is now puppeteered by Bill Barretta
.
, the Swedish
Chef wears a toque blanche and has bushy eyebrows that completely obscure his eyes. He was one of the few Muppets to employ an actual puppeteer
's hands, originally Oz's, in the designs – that is, they were visible to the audience through his sleeves and facilitated handling food and utensils.
Nearly all Swedish Chef sketches begin with him in a kitchen, waving some utensils while singing his signature song in his typical mock Swedish
– a semi-comprehensible gibberish
mimicking Swedish phonology
and prosody
. The song's lyrics vary slightly from one episode to the next, but always end with "Börk, börk, börk!" as the Chef throws the utensils aside with a clatter that seems to startle him.
After this introduction, the Chef begins to prepare a recipe while giving a gibberish explanation of what he is doing. His commentary is spiced with the occasional English
word to clue in the viewer to what he is attempting; for example, "Aweenda shmure da froog's legs." These hints are necessary as he frequently uses unorthodox culinary equipment (firearms, sports equipment, hand tools, etc.) to prepare his dishes. In the pilot episode of The Muppet Show, the Chef's commentary was supplemented by Chinese subtitles, but this was abandoned for all other episodes of the series. The sketch typically degenerates into a slapstick
finale where the ingredients or equipment get the better of him.
In one sketch, a misaimed explosive charge slightly damaged the face of the puppet. The Chef's face remained scarred through the rest of the season.
The Chef is referred to by name in one episode, in which Danny Kaye
plays his uncle. Kaye reels off a very long name but adds, "But we call him Tom" – much to the Chef's amusement. In 2010, the Chef was seen wearing a wedding ring, implying that the character is married.
gained a life of its own with the creation of a Unix
lex
filter capable of converting standard English to "chefspeak" in 1992. The filter quickly became a staple of hacker culture
and eventually spread to the mainstream with "Swedish Chef" translators on several websites, most notably the Dialectizer ; there is a popular Mozilla Firefox
add-on called "Börk Börk Börk!", which allows the selective "translation" of text from web pages of the user's choice. In 2003, Opera Software
– a Norwegian company – published a special "Börk" version of its internet
browser
, which turned the MSN
website into "Swedish." Google
offers "Bork, bork, bork!" as one among its choices for user interface
language and Meebo
and Guild Wars
both offer "Börk!" as one of their language preferences. There also appeared a plethora of USENET
newsgroup
s named after the chef's speech, the first being "alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork", after which the repeated ending was incorporated into groups such as "alt.french.captain.borg.borg.borg
" and other groups following this pattern. This "börk filter" was used in the Darkwind MUD
as a curse, of sorts, when characters could be transformed into "little vikings" (to stay somewhat in theme) for a short duration.
The Norwegian
company Trolltech, who develop the Qt Development Frameworks, used this "encheferization" for a more serious purpose – although the friendly rivalry between Norwegians and Swedes perhaps was its inspiration. They encouraged software development
testing departments to use an "encheferizer" as a plug-in for the part of their product that provided internationalization and localization
. Whereas it could not be expected that a test team would know every language to which a product might be aimed, by translating the parts that were supposed to be internationalized through the encheferizer to produce a localized version for Swedish Chef speakers, testers could immediately spot mistakes in the internationalization – parts that had been missed – as anything that had not been localized (encheferized) would show up in the language of the original author of the text. All the same, a tester would be able to test the product functionally, as it takes little language skill, and no software, to be able to decheferize the text: its meaning is clear even when encheferized.
The generally longer encheferized text could also help with graphics testing because it could show up errors where, for example, not enough space had been left for languages that morphologically tend to use more characters than most, such as German
. While not perfect, and not intended to be, it stands as a good first stage to check an internationalization effort.
, a German American
television chef known as "Chef Tell". Another example is Lars "Kuprik" Bäckman
, a real life Swedish chef. Bäckman claims that his rather unsuccessful appearance on an early edition of Good Morning America
caught the attention of Jim Henson
, who later bought the rights to the recording and created Bäckman's Muppet alter ego. Bäckman's Dalecarlian
accent would explain the chef's strange pronunciation. Muppet writer Jerry Juhl
denied Bäckman's story and insisted the character had no real-world counterpart: "I wrote, rehearsed, rewrote, brainstormed, and giggled uncontrollably a thousand times with Jim Henson as we dealt with the Swedish Chef, and I never once heard him mention an actual Swedish chef..."
According to Brian Henson in one of his introductions for The Muppet Show, "Jim Henson had this tape that he used to play which was "How to Speak Mock Swedish". And he used to drive to work and I used to ride with him a lot. And he would drive to work trying to make a chicken sandwich in Mock Swedish or make a turkey casserole in Mock Swedish. It was the most ridiculous thing you had ever seen. And people at traffic lights used to stop and sort of look at him a little crazy. But that was the roots of the character that would eventually become the Swedish Chef."
In 1980, Jones New York offered a small collection of blue and yellow Swedish Chef kitchen linens including an apron, pot holders, and toaster cover. Miss Piggy
linens in pink were also available.
From 1988 to 1989, the Swedish Chef had his own short-lived breakfast cereal
for sale in grocery store
s, called "Cröonchy Stars
." Cröonchy Stars brought with it a small variety of Swedish Chef items, most notably a stuffed Chef doll complete with non-removable wooden rolling pin and spoon. There was also a coffee mug bearing a picture of the Chef and the logos of Post Cereal and Cröonchy Stars.
In 2000, German company Igel released a large (35 cm) plush Swedish Chef as part of the second wave of its stuffed Muppets line. In addition, there was a life-sized version available measuring nearly five feet tall. Though expensive, the huge Chef proved popular enough with collectors that the line was expanded the following year with five-foot plush versions of Kermit
, Miss Piggy
, Gonzo the Great
, Animal
, Statler and Waldorf.
Also in 2000, UK food chain Little Chef
released a small toy car called Swedish Chef's Sporty Sponge (the Chef riding a cake on wheels) as part of line of promotional Muppet Corgi cars.
2002 was celebrated as the 25th anniversary of The Muppet Show, which brought a flurry of new Muppet toys and collectibles. Included in this was a line of action figures from Palisades Toys, which would run through 2005 and grow to include many dozens of figures. Palisades' Swedish Chef items include:
In 2003, Sideshow Collectibles offered a Swedish Chef bust statue as part of the third wave of its line of Muppet busts. Other modern Swedish Chef items include yet another plush doll (this time a smaller 18" one), a Disney metal lapel pin, and a small tin of mints.
released a souvenir sheet featuring Jim Henson
and ten Muppets including the Swedish Chef in 2005.
Chef. The goal of the level was for the Swedish Chef to hit Rizzo and his rat friends with a frying pan because they were trying to steal food. An obstacle to avoid was chickens throwing eggs at the Swedish Chef.
(1984), Muppet*Vision 3D (1991) an attraction found at several Disney Parks, The Muppet Christmas Carol
(1992), Muppet Treasure Island
(1996), Muppets From Space
(1999), It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
(2002), Studio DC: Almost Live
(2008, a sketch for the cast of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
and an episode with Hannah Montana
star Jason Earles
and Cory in the House
s Jason Dolley
, the Popcorn (song) (2010), and The Muppets
(2011).
The Muppets
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...
that appeared on The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
. He was operated by Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
and Frank Oz
Frank Oz
Frank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...
simultaneously and is now puppeteered by Bill Barretta
Bill Barretta
Bill Barretta has been performing with the Muppets since 1991, when he performed the body of family father Earl Sinclair on Dinosaurs...
.
Character
A parody of television chefsCooking show
A TV cooking show is a television program that presents the preparation of food, in a kitchen on the studio set. The host of the show, often a celebrity chef, prepares one or more dishes over the course of the show, taking the viewing audience through the food's preparation showing all...
, the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Chef wears a toque blanche and has bushy eyebrows that completely obscure his eyes. He was one of the few Muppets to employ an actual puppeteer
Puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, such as a puppet, in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or...
's hands, originally Oz's, in the designs – that is, they were visible to the audience through his sleeves and facilitated handling food and utensils.
Nearly all Swedish Chef sketches begin with him in a kitchen, waving some utensils while singing his signature song in his typical mock Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
– a semi-comprehensible gibberish
Gibberish
Gibberish is a generic term in English for talking that sounds like speech, but carries no actual meaning. This meaning has also been extended to meaningless text or gobbledygook. The common theme in gibberish statements is a lack of literal sense, which can be described as a presence of nonsense...
mimicking Swedish phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
and prosody
Prosody (linguistics)
In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...
. The song's lyrics vary slightly from one episode to the next, but always end with "Börk, börk, börk!" as the Chef throws the utensils aside with a clatter that seems to startle him.
After this introduction, the Chef begins to prepare a recipe while giving a gibberish explanation of what he is doing. His commentary is spiced with the occasional English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
word to clue in the viewer to what he is attempting; for example, "Aweenda shmure da froog's legs." These hints are necessary as he frequently uses unorthodox culinary equipment (firearms, sports equipment, hand tools, etc.) to prepare his dishes. In the pilot episode of The Muppet Show, the Chef's commentary was supplemented by Chinese subtitles, but this was abandoned for all other episodes of the series. The sketch typically degenerates into a slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
finale where the ingredients or equipment get the better of him.
In one sketch, a misaimed explosive charge slightly damaged the face of the puppet. The Chef's face remained scarred through the rest of the season.
The Chef is referred to by name in one episode, in which Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
plays his uncle. Kaye reels off a very long name but adds, "But we call him Tom" – much to the Chef's amusement. In 2010, the Chef was seen wearing a wedding ring, implying that the character is married.
Computer translations
The Chef's gibberishGibberish
Gibberish is a generic term in English for talking that sounds like speech, but carries no actual meaning. This meaning has also been extended to meaningless text or gobbledygook. The common theme in gibberish statements is a lack of literal sense, which can be described as a presence of nonsense...
gained a life of its own with the creation of a Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
lex
Lex programming tool
Lex is a computer program that generates lexical analyzers . Lex is commonly used with the yacc parser generator. Lex, originally written by Mike Lesk and Eric Schmidt, is the standard lexical analyzer generator on many Unix systems, and a tool exhibiting its behavior is specified as part of the...
filter capable of converting standard English to "chefspeak" in 1992. The filter quickly became a staple of hacker culture
Hacker culture
A hacker is a member of the computer programmer subculture originated in the 1960s in the United States academia, in particular around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 's Tech Model Railroad Club and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory...
and eventually spread to the mainstream with "Swedish Chef" translators on several websites, most notably the Dialectizer ; there is a popular Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
add-on called "Börk Börk Börk!", which allows the selective "translation" of text from web pages of the user's choice. In 2003, Opera Software
Opera Software
Opera Software ASA is a Norwegian software company, primarily known for its Opera family of web browsers with over 220 million users worldwide. Opera Software is also involved in promoting Web standards through participation in the W3C. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway and is...
– a Norwegian company – published a special "Börk" version of its internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
, which turned the MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
website into "Swedish." Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
offers "Bork, bork, bork!" as one among its choices for user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
language and Meebo
Meebo
Meebo is a social platform connecting users with their friends across the web. It began in 2005 as a browser based instant messaging program which supported multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat, Google Talk, CafeMom and...
and Guild Wars
Guild Wars
Guild Wars is an episodic series of online 3D fantasy role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Although often defined as an MMORPG the developers define it as a CORPG due to significant differences from the MMORPG genre. It provides two main modes of gameplay—a cooperative...
both offer "Börk!" as one of their language preferences. There also appeared a plethora of USENET
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
s named after the chef's speech, the first being "alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork", after which the repeated ending was incorporated into groups such as "alt.french.captain.borg.borg.borg
Jean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a Star Trek character portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
" and other groups following this pattern. This "börk filter" was used in the Darkwind MUD
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
as a curse, of sorts, when characters could be transformed into "little vikings" (to stay somewhat in theme) for a short duration.
The Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
company Trolltech, who develop the Qt Development Frameworks, used this "encheferization" for a more serious purpose – although the friendly rivalry between Norwegians and Swedes perhaps was its inspiration. They encouraged software development
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
testing departments to use an "encheferizer" as a plug-in for the part of their product that provided internationalization and localization
Internationalization and localization
In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...
. Whereas it could not be expected that a test team would know every language to which a product might be aimed, by translating the parts that were supposed to be internationalized through the encheferizer to produce a localized version for Swedish Chef speakers, testers could immediately spot mistakes in the internationalization – parts that had been missed – as anything that had not been localized (encheferized) would show up in the language of the original author of the text. All the same, a tester would be able to test the product functionally, as it takes little language skill, and no software, to be able to decheferize the text: its meaning is clear even when encheferized.
The generally longer encheferized text could also help with graphics testing because it could show up errors where, for example, not enough space had been left for languages that morphologically tend to use more characters than most, such as German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. While not perfect, and not intended to be, it stands as a good first stage to check an internationalization effort.
Inspiration
Some claim that the Swedish Chef was inspired by a real life chef. One example is Friedman Paul ErhardtFriedman Paul Erhardt
Friedemann Paul Erhardt was a German American pioneering early television chef. He was known as "Chef Tell" to his fans. He is widely regarded as one of the first chefs to enjoy widespread popularity on American television...
, a German American
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
television chef known as "Chef Tell". Another example is Lars "Kuprik" Bäckman
Lars Bäckman
Lars "Kuprik" Bäckman is a chef who lives in Leksand, Sweden.Bäckman was brought up in the Swedish town of Rättvik, where, as a child, he helped out in his parents' hotel...
, a real life Swedish chef. Bäckman claims that his rather unsuccessful appearance on an early edition of Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
caught the attention of Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
, who later bought the rights to the recording and created Bäckman's Muppet alter ego. Bäckman's Dalecarlian
Dalecarlian
Dalecarlian is a group of dialects or unofficial languages spoken in Dalecarlia, Sweden. The most prominent is Elfdalian.The group is as follows:*Old Swedish**Dalecarlian***Dalecarlian Dalecarlian (Dalmål in vernacular and Swedish) is a group of dialects or unofficial languages spoken in...
accent would explain the chef's strange pronunciation. Muppet writer Jerry Juhl
Jerry Juhl
Jerome Ravn "Jerry" Juhl was an American television and movie writer, best known for his work with Jim Henson's "Muppets".Juhl was born in St. Paul, Minnesota; his family moved to Menlo Park, California, when he was 14...
denied Bäckman's story and insisted the character had no real-world counterpart: "I wrote, rehearsed, rewrote, brainstormed, and giggled uncontrollably a thousand times with Jim Henson as we dealt with the Swedish Chef, and I never once heard him mention an actual Swedish chef..."
According to Brian Henson in one of his introductions for The Muppet Show, "Jim Henson had this tape that he used to play which was "How to Speak Mock Swedish". And he used to drive to work and I used to ride with him a lot. And he would drive to work trying to make a chicken sandwich in Mock Swedish or make a turkey casserole in Mock Swedish. It was the most ridiculous thing you had ever seen. And people at traffic lights used to stop and sort of look at him a little crazy. But that was the roots of the character that would eventually become the Swedish Chef."
Merchandising
The first Swedish Chef merchandise item was a ceramic coffee mug produced by Kilncraft in the UK in 1978. It was part of a series of 12 featuring various Muppet Show characters, and featured coloured line drawings on either a white or beige ceramic cup.In 1980, Jones New York offered a small collection of blue and yellow Swedish Chef kitchen linens including an apron, pot holders, and toaster cover. Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002....
linens in pink were also available.
From 1988 to 1989, the Swedish Chef had his own short-lived breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal
A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
for sale in grocery store
Grocery store
A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
s, called "Cröonchy Stars
Cröonchy Stars
Cröonchy Stars was a breakfast cereal by Post Cereals of North America. The cereal was released in 1988, and discontinued about a year later, though it made a brief return in 1992. The box featured the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show, who described the cereal as "cinnamonnamony"...
." Cröonchy Stars brought with it a small variety of Swedish Chef items, most notably a stuffed Chef doll complete with non-removable wooden rolling pin and spoon. There was also a coffee mug bearing a picture of the Chef and the logos of Post Cereal and Cröonchy Stars.
In 2000, German company Igel released a large (35 cm) plush Swedish Chef as part of the second wave of its stuffed Muppets line. In addition, there was a life-sized version available measuring nearly five feet tall. Though expensive, the huge Chef proved popular enough with collectors that the line was expanded the following year with five-foot plush versions of Kermit
Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
, Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002....
, Gonzo the Great
Gonzo the Great
Gonzo the Great is a puppet character, one of Jim Henson's Muppets. He was developed and performed by Dave Goelz. The character made his first appearance in a 1970 Christmas special entitled "The Great Santa Claus Switch". Known as a "Whatever" , he is considered one of The Frackles...
, Animal
Animal (Muppet)
Animal is the primitive man and crazed drummer of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, the fictional band from The Muppet Show. He is one of the Muppets originally created by Michael K...
, Statler and Waldorf.
Also in 2000, UK food chain Little Chef
Little Chef
Little Chef is a chain of roadside restaurants in the United Kingdom, founded in 1958 and owned by the UK private equity group RCapital. Little Chef's previous owners were The People's Restaurant Group Ltd., a company belonging to British catering entrepreneurs Simon Heath and Lawrence Wosskow,...
released a small toy car called Swedish Chef's Sporty Sponge (the Chef riding a cake on wheels) as part of line of promotional Muppet Corgi cars.
2002 was celebrated as the 25th anniversary of The Muppet Show, which brought a flurry of new Muppet toys and collectibles. Included in this was a line of action figures from Palisades Toys, which would run through 2005 and grow to include many dozens of figures. Palisades' Swedish Chef items include:
- A large and very detailed Swedish Kitchen playset, with a very realistic miniature kitchen and over 40 accessories including many cooking tools and odd items such as a saw and tennis racket.
- The first Swedish Chef action figure, included with the Swedish Kitchen playset, has a blue striped shirt and plaid pants.
- "Culinary Catastrophe" Chef, an exclusive figure sold at the 2003 San Diego comic Convention, includes the lobster banditos from the show and their guns. The body of the Chef has a different paint job so it appears to be splattered with food, and his clothing colours are different.
- Classic Swedish Chef has plainer clothing colours than the earlier Kitchen version and comes with several accessories including his gun and a basketball hoop.
- Santa Swedish Chef, an eBayEBayeBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
exclusive item for the 2004 Christmas season, is dressed as Santa Claus and includes a holiday wreath and lights. - A small non-articulated PVC figure featuring Chef holding a spoon and a live chicken in a pot.
In 2003, Sideshow Collectibles offered a Swedish Chef bust statue as part of the third wave of its line of Muppet busts. Other modern Swedish Chef items include yet another plush doll (this time a smaller 18" one), a Disney metal lapel pin, and a small tin of mints.
Stamp
The United States Postal ServiceUnited States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
released a souvenir sheet featuring Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
and ten Muppets including the Swedish Chef in 2005.
Video game
A Muppets game for Nintendo Game Boy Advance was released and one of the levels featured the SwedishChef. The goal of the level was for the Swedish Chef to hit Rizzo and his rat friends with a frying pan because they were trying to steal food. An obstacle to avoid was chickens throwing eggs at the Swedish Chef.
Appearances
Besides appearances in the The Muppets, the chef also appears in The Muppets Take ManhattanThe Muppets Take Manhattan
The Muppets Take Manhattan is the third of a series of live-action musical feature films starring Jim Henson's Muppets, and also the final film before Henson's death. This film was produced by Henson Associates and TriStar Pictures, and was filmed on location in New York City during the summer of...
(1984), Muppet*Vision 3D (1991) an attraction found at several Disney Parks, The Muppet Christmas Carol
The Muppet Christmas Carol
The Muppet Christmas Carol is a 1992 musical comedy film adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, starring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, directed by Brian Henson, produced by The Jim Henson Company, and released by Walt Disney Pictures...
(1992), Muppet Treasure Island
Muppet Treasure Island
Muppet Treasure Island is a 1996 American musical film based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. It is the fifth feature film to star The Muppets and was directed by Jim Henson's son Brian Henson....
(1996), Muppets From Space
Muppets from Space
Muppets from Space is a 1999 science fiction comedy film and the sixth feature film to star The Muppets, and the first since the death of Muppets creator Jim Henson to have an original Muppet-focused plot. The film was directed by Tim Hill, produced by Jim Henson Pictures, and released to theaters...
(1999), It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie is a 2002 television film that aired on NBC on November 29, 2002. The film is directed by Kirk Thatcher, written by Tom Martin and Jim Lewis and stars the Muppets and was filmed at Lionsgate Studios. The film revolves a plot similar to "It's A Wonderful...
(2002), Studio DC: Almost Live
Studio DC: Almost Live
Studio DC: Almost Live is a special for the Disney Channel. The special is a half-hour variety show that features both the Muppets and Disney Channel stars performing comedy sketches and musical numbers together. The style is similar to that of the original Muppet Show in that it features mayhem...
(2008, a sketch for the cast of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody is an American sitcom created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series premiered on Disney Channel on March 18, 2005 with 4 million viewers, making it the most successful premiere for Disney Channel in 2005. It was one of their first five shows available on the...
and an episode with Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana is an American television series, which debuted on March 24, 2006 on the Disney Channel. The series focuses on a girl who lives a double life as an average teenage school girl named Miley Stewart by day and a famous pop singer named Hannah Montana by night, concealing her real...
star Jason Earles
Jason Earles
Jason Daniel Earles is an American actor, known for his role as Jackson Stewart on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana and his role as Sensei Rudy in his new Disney XD series Kickin' It.-Personal life and philanthropy:...
and Cory in the House
Cory in the House
Cory in the House is an American television sitcom, which aired on the Disney Channel from January 12, 2007 to September 12, 2008 and was a spin-off from the Disney show That's So Raven. The show focuses on Cory Baxter, who moved from San Francisco, California to Washington, D.C., after Victor...
s Jason Dolley
Jason Dolley
Jason Scott Dolley , is an American actor and musician, best known for his roles on different Disney Channel projects. These include Newton "Newt" Livingston III on Cory in the House, Virgil Fox in Minutemen, Connor Kennedy in Read It and Weep and Pete Ivey in Hatching Pete...
, the Popcorn (song) (2010), and The Muppets
The Muppets (film)
The Muppets is a 2011 American musical and comedy film, and the first Muppets theatrical release in 12 years, as well as the first Disney-produced Muppets film since 1996's Muppet Treasure Island...
(2011).
In popular culture
- The Swedish Chef has been impersonated on Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
by Andy SambergAndy SambergDavid Andrew "Andy" Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live...
. - The language of the Swedish Chef has been lampooned on Robot ChickenRobot ChickenRobot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
as the chef observes various people and things, all ending in 'ork' to agree with his rhyming scheme, 'börk'. Some of these things included BjorkBjörkBjörk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
, a SporkSporkA spork or a foon is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with three or four fork tines. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manufactured since the late 19th century; patents for spork-like designs date back to at least 1874,...
, PorkPorkPork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
, an OrcOrcAn orc is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as fierce and combative, with grotesque features and often black, grey or greenish skin. This mythology has its origins in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien....
, MorkMork and MindyMork & Mindy is an American science fiction sitcom broadcast from 1978 until 1982 on ABC. The series starred Robin Williams as Mork, an alien who comes to Earth from the planet Ork in a small, one-man egg-shaped spaceship. Pam Dawber co-starred as Mindy McConnell, his human friend and roommate...
, QuarkQuark (Star Trek)Quark is a fictional character in the American television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The character, which was played by Armin Shimerman, was depicted as a member of an extraterrestrial race known as the Ferengi, who are stereotypically ultra-capitalist and only motivated by...
, ZorkZorkZork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
, and a dorkNerdNerd is a derogatory slang term for an intelligent but socially awkward and obsessive person who spends time on unpopular or obscure pursuits, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Nerds are considered to be awkward, shy, and unattractive...
. - The Swedish Chef's song has been humorously misconstrued as a "scathing editorial" against former Supreme Court nomineeRobert Bork Supreme Court nominationThe Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination refers to the 1987 nomination by President Ronald Reagan of Judge Robert Bork to serve as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The U.S. Senate rejected his nomination.-Nomination:...
Robert BorkRobert BorkRobert Heron Bork is an American legal scholar who has advocated the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork formerly served as Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
by Stephen ColbertStephen ColbertStephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
's political commentator characterStephen Colbert (character)The Reverend / Sir / Dr. / Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A., brain-child of Google, is the persona of political satirist Stephen Colbert, as portrayed on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Described as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot", the character is a self-obsessed right-wing...
on The Colbert Report. - He also appears in season 5, episode 11 of Family GuyFamily GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, "The Tan Aquatic with Steve ZissouThe Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou"The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou" is the eleventh episode of season five of Family Guy, which originally aired on February 18, 2007. After discovering Chris is being tormented by a bully, Peter goes to the bully's house to speak with him, but ends up beating him up...
". - The GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
search engine can be translated into multiple languages, one of them comically including "Bork, bork, bork!" under the word Google. - The Swedish Chef also appears in The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
Episode The Food WifeThe Food Wife"The Food Wife" is the fifth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 13, 2011, and was seen by around 7.5 million people during this broadcast. In the episode, Homer feels left out when Marge, Bart,...
The Swedish Chef and Scandinavian Languages
- A guide to learning Swedish by Urban Sikeborg states that special care should be given to pronunciation, otherwise "...you might end up sounding disquietingly like the Swedish Chef in The Muppet Show."
- In the German synchronization of the Muppet Show, the Swedish Chef is actually Danish and his song is "SmørrebrødSmørrebrødSmørrebrød usually consists of a piece of buttered rye bread , a dense, dark brown bread. Pålæg , the topping, then among others can refer to commercial or homemade cold cuts, pieces of meat or fish, cheese or spreads...
, Smørrebrød røm, pøm, pøm, pøm". However, in the Swedish edition, he is still Swedish. - During a meeting with members of the Danish Football AssociationDanish Football AssociationThe Danish Football Association is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national teams. It is based in the city of Brøndby and is a founding member of both FIFA...
, the EnglishEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
association football player Paul GascoignePaul GascoignePaul John Gascoigne , commonly referred to as Gazza, is a retired English professional footballer.Playing in the position of midfield, Gascoigne's career included spells at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough, Everton and Gansu Tianma, where he scored at least a goal...
claimed to speak DanishDanish languageDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
and proceeded to impersonate the Swedish Chef.
See also
- Jive filterJive filterJive, also known as the Jive Filter, is a novelty computer program that converts plain English to a comic dialect known as "jive", a parody of African American Vernacular English. Some versions of the filter were adapted to parody other forms of English speech, such as valspeak, cockney, geordie,...
- Swedish cuisine
- Cröonchy StarsCröonchy StarsCröonchy Stars was a breakfast cereal by Post Cereals of North America. The cereal was released in 1988, and discontinued about a year later, though it made a brief return in 1992. The box featured the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show, who described the cereal as "cinnamonnamony"...
External links
- alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork, the USENET newsgroup for discussing the Chef.
- Veekipedia, zee free-a incyclupedeea - Wikipedia's Swedish Chef page translated into Swedish Chef.
- GNU Talk Filters converts ordinary English text into text that mimics a stereotyped or otherwise humorous dialect including Swedish chef.
- http://www30.meebo.com/index-bk.html"Bork!" language setting on MeeboMeeboMeebo is a social platform connecting users with their friends across the web. It began in 2005 as a browser based instant messaging program which supported multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat, Google Talk, CafeMom and...
] - Bork, Bork, Bork! Mozilla FirefoxMozilla FirefoxMozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
add-on - Translate pages to Bork and bork (block) unwanted things. - Google "Bork! Bork! Bork!" interface
- Sweedish Chef Translator Visual Basic Source