Hillary Eaton

When you think of island hopping, the Nordics don’t usually come to mind. But ask any Dane or Swede what makes the most idyllic Scandinavian summer and there’s no doubt they’ll paint you a picture of their favorite Nordic island complete with a small red cabin by the beach, late afternoon swims, and lazy alfresco dinners late into the summer’s midnight sun. From Sweden’s Stockholm archipelago — a scattering of 30,000 islands — to Denmark’s Bornholm in the far south, it’s the abundance of such unique nature that makes visiting these islands the trip of a lifetime.

Each region is unique in its beauty, and visitors can expect forests heaving under blankets of fern and moss, undergrowth thick with wild blueberries and chanterelle mushrooms, and spanning blonde fields of wheat or beach grass studded with poppies undulating in the breeze. Near the shores, intoxicatingly fragrant rosa rugosa beach roses sprout up between the jutting rocks into the sea alongside meadowsweet, juniper, and blackberries. In short, these islands are a forager’s utter summer paradise.

The cuisine of the region is just as compelling. Traditional Scandinavian smokehouses are scattered across the islands, known as rogeriet or rökeri, smoking everything from herring, mackerel, and eel, to salmon, prawns, and oysters over alder wood alongside traditional accompaniments of rye bread, egg yolk, chopped onion, radishes, and butter. Taken in alongside a pint from the local brewery, it’s the casual Scandinavian answer to the ultimate fish and chips shop.

Beyond the smokehouses, restaurants lean into the abundance of the land and sea with smørrebrød (rye bread topped with things like egg, roasted pork, or smoked salmon) on the more traditional side of things and simple seafood grilled over fire alongside locally grown or foraged ingredients.

On June 2, 2020, as Parisians sat down at cafes for the first time in months, people in Moscow still couldn’t leave their homes between curfews. Here, the divergent views of 17 cities around the world on the same day.

IfIf there’s one thing that the coronavirus pandemic has made crystal clear these last few months, it’s how thoroughly interconnected life on Earth has become.

We are now, without a doubt, a global civilization, and as many brands have so graciously reminded us lately, “We’re all in this together.” But the spread of COVID-19 has also had a profound way of spotlighting the differences: the ways in which each of our societies responds to crisis, the things we value, and how our governments support our vulnerable communities — or don’t.

The first days of June were an anxious time for much of the world. Just as protesters took to the streets across the U.S. to condemn racial violence and the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, cities across the globe were grasping for the first signs of life after months of COVID-19-related lockdown and quarantine, thanks to the easing of restrictions on bars and restaurants.

Virtually every major metropolis on earth spent the bulk of spring in some state of shutdown; our responses since have been less synchronous. On June 1 and 2, Paris and Melbourne began to allow dine-in seating, and Berlin reopened bars — prost! Elsewhere, life remained at a near standstill. Bogotá only began allowing carryout from restaurants on June 1, and taking so much as a walk in Moscow — let alone a bite — continues to require scheduling. Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo welcomed this June like every other before it, with little fanfare beyond the usual blooms and ripening market fruit; for them, the spread of COVID-19 is all but a terrifying memory.

The point is, despite the near-universal tragedy caused by the novel coronavirus, the look and feel of our experiences today is anything but uniform, and depends greatly on the place we call home. Last week, Eater asked an international team of photographers and writers to document daily life where it intersects with food and drink in 17 cities around the world on the very same day. What follows is something like a diary of eating on planet Earth on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. The resulting snapshots show our disparate realities as we edge ever closer to once again sharing a great meal, a stiff drink, and everyday life, together