It’s surprising that Swedes aren’t more famous for the daily coffee + sweet break known as fika. This is not your morning caffeine hit; fika takes place at some point after the business of the day is underway. Fika can happen more than once. It can be taken alone or with friends. You can suggest meeting a colleague for fika, or perhaps a first date. You might cap a long walk or errands with a fika. The main thing is that you stop, you sit, you enjoy. Fika doesn’t happen with a to-go cup. Fika involves a ceramic cup and saucer and a pretty spot.
Everyday fika treats include apple cake with vanilla sauce, a cinnamon or cardamom bun, a chocolate ball dusted with coconut, a slice of strawberry cheesecake, and so many other varieties. The cream and almond paste semla is the traditional choice during the week before Lent.
Every museum and shop boasts about their onsite cafe, knowing that patrons need to be assured of a cozy place for a good fika during their visit. It’s not wrong to strategize your schedule to incorporate fika. You might stop for fika to gain steam for making a lunch decision. You might have fika to celebrate a successful dinner. Fika is the perfect answer when you’ve got 45 minutes before you board the train for home.
The strong traditions around both Swedish fika and English tea time make it normative in these nations, more than anywhere else I’ve traveled, to even enjoy these rituals by yourself. Fika is a daily joy, and in England, a cup of tea will set everything right, so whether you’re alone or with friends, it’s worthwhile. Last week as I headed to an outdoor table with a slice of rhubarb cake smothered in cream sauce and a hot cup of coffee the host said, “Have a good time!” which seemed appropriate, but also unique to the context. Does anyone say that when you are dining alone in the US? I don’t think so. But here they believe and understand that a good time can be had, and evidenced by the fact that you’ve chosen to make time for fika, you’re the type who’ll be having it.
Vegans Thrive Here
On the train from Oslo to Uppsala, I met a woman who makes vegan desserts. Vika started her own business three years ago, baking vegan cakes, making chocolates, and raw desserts. Now she is working from a cheerful commercial kitchen space and is preparing to launch her first cookbook this fall.
Check out the S-Foodies Healthy Desserts Lab website, including recipes. Or enjoy picture-pretty chocolates on her Instagram.
Later I attended a cake tasting with Vika, and learned about two new-to-me vegan ingredients. The first is aquafaba, the drained liquid from garbanzo beans. She explains how to use aquafaba instead of egg whites when whipping up a meringue.
The second vegan ingredient with a funny name is agar agar, a vegan gelatin substitute derived from algae. You can find it at Asian groceries or health food stores as a powder or string. Here’s a simple recipe for berry jelly candies from Viktoria. You can find more tutorials for using agar agar online.
Vegan and vegetarian options are popular in Swedish restaurants and cafes too—meat alternatives, grilled halloumi burgers, and falafel. You may have already tried IKEA’s tasty plant-based meatballs. I’m finding many Swedes my age were raised in vegan or vegetarian households, and others are making the switch now due to concerns about sustainability.
Probably Sweden’s biggest impact on the global vegan scene has been the invention of oat milk. Although Oatly was founded in the 1990s, it didn’t become cool until a new young CEO + marketing director paired up to take it to the next level. This 6-minute video tells the story:
It’s not abnormal for Swedes to choose shrimp or seafood over meat. Poke and sushi are popular in urban centers. Cafes seem to sell more shrimp sandwiches, räksmörgås, than ham and cheese. Caviar paste comes in tubes at the grocery store for spreading on crispbread and hard-boiled eggs.
I haven’t come across the notorious lutefisk or surströmming, though our neighbor says he loves the stinky stuff. More popular choices are pickled herring and salmon lox. Scandinavia is a good place to be into seafood.
Summer, Street Food, and Sweets
Rhubarb and strawberries are in season at roadside fruit stands, just like in the US. This act of Providence is understood to mean that these two are meant to be combined in the best pie flavor ever. Agree or disagree?
Foraging in the forest—in summer, for wild strawberries and blueberries, and in fall, for mushrooms—is an ideal way to spend leisure time.
Kebab pizza is available at any respectable pizzeria, and even in the freezer section at the grocery store. In Scandinavia, pizza always comes with Ranch sauce.
Halv Special. This is a hot dog on a bun, topped with mashed potatoes, then mustard and ketchup. A full special? Two hot dogs.
Apparently restricting candy-eating for Saturdays started in the 1950s as a national campaign to reduce cavities. Today Swedes are flexible about it, but it’s still the norm. Families choose their lördagsgodis “Saturday sweets” from the bulk bins at every grocery store.
Glass—ice cream—is everywhere and along with fika, it just might be your national summertime duty to partake. There’s no shame in neatly eating an ice cream bar on the commuter train.
Licorice ice cream with licorice flakes. Salty licorice robed in milk chocolate. A whole shop dedicated to licorice. Here for it!
I’m hoping the housemate who is celebrating her 5th birthday in a couple weeks will request a princesstårta—a sponge cake, vanilla cream, jam, and cream, covered with a layer of pale green marzipan and a pink marzipan rose.
Yes, specialty coffee, bubble tea, and micro brews are also popular in Swedish foodie circles and especially in Sweden’s second city, Göteburg.
Bake some Bullar
Why not try baking your own tasty cardamom buns for a leisurely summer fika?
#SwedishGate
A couple of weeks ago there was a storm brewing on social media about the tendency of Swedish families to not invite their children’s guests to eat dinner with them. We got some context on this from our friend Johanna, when she brought her daughter over for a play date. First, she said that this practice was most common when you lived next door to your friend; you’d take a break to run home to eat dinner with your family and come back. Second, if you did stay at your friend’s while they ate, this was a coveted chance to hang out for 10 minutes in your friend’s room and have free reign with the toys you liked best. Finally, it was out of consideration for your family’s dinner plans and dietary rules. For example, your friend’s mom might allow you to skip vegetables and double up on ice cream, while your mom was preparing a nutritious meal for you at home; they didn’t like to interfere with each family’s mealtime practices.
Looking forward to…
Midsummer is celebrated this coming Friday—here’s a two minute video about some of the key elements of a traditional midsummer party.
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Thomaida