The local specialities: of the grand gastronomy (or near enough)

The IKEA meatballs: is this telling you something? Here is more or less what I knew of Swedish 'gastronomy' before I ventured to Scandinavia. I reassure you, this is not the only dish that you are able to try in Sweden. Here is the demonstration!

FIKA

One of the most important thinks for Swedish people is well and truly their unmissable little Fika moment! No, 'Fike' is not, as we could mistake it for the name of a gourmet, a dish, a sweet... Fika creates the moment that we spend on a coffee and/or a patisserie to have a break from work or studies. We can translate 'Fike' as 'goûter' in French, except for the slight difference, we have a Fika not once, not twice, but several times in the day! Feeling tired? Fika. Need a break from revision? Fika. Ten minutes break between two classes? Fika.

Fika is everywhere, and we fast become addicted to it!

The large history of love with cinammon

At the start of the year, I became used to ordering the duo Kanelbullar / black coffee! Kanelbullar is a swedish patisserie, flavoured with cinnamon and sprinkled with sugar pieces. I became addicted to it until I ate it everyday. Okay I confess to you that through seeing cinammon pretty much everywhere (Swedish people love it, go on understand why), from that moment even I was no longer capable to eat it. They even sell a limited edition cinammon Coca Cola (yes, I could hardly believe it at the start)! Currently, it's a black coffee and that's it! Fortunately, Swedish people love French cuisine and often the patisseries and cakes. It is usually possible to find loads of little French things in the shops (pain au chocolat, croissant, baguettes). Rumour has it, France is never far away!

These funny tubes of strange flavours

Here is one of the first things that called out to me in Sweden: Kaviar. No no, not 'Caviar' but 'Kaviar'. It's a foreign blue and yellow tube that we find in the fresh aisles of all the supermarkets. Caution, these strongly resemble a tube of toothpaste (even that, I would have had to suspect something).

A little boy smiling is drawn on it. Finding the tube quite appealing on the eye, and I did not suspect for a second what I could discover inside. Confidently, I hurried to buy it. Arriving in my apartment, I open the tube, no strange smell. In comfort, I started to spread the strange paste on a Wasa. I crunch inside and bad mistake! In other words, I would remember this taste for the rest of my life! I am trying to translate the ingredients on the back of the tube. It was fermented fish. However, nothing was predicting such a thing, especially not the little blond child drawn on the tube. You can find a photo of my (memorable) tasting a bit further down! It was not very good actually!

After this first experience, I did not want to risk trying other tubes on sale... The tastes are surprising: bacon, cheese and blood sausage... One can no longer stop them!

Sugar galore

Swedes love sugary things, above all sweets! There is a minimum of one or two aisles dedicated to confectionary in each supermarket (even the smallest ones). I learnt later on that this was from an old Swedish tradition. In fact, Saturday is children's day (contrary to Wednesday in France) and each Swedish child is allowed a packet of sweets of their choice for the occasion! Lover of confectionary, I only want to please myself! Be careful not to abuse it all the same!

"Dairy products are our friends for life"

Swedes could sing this advert word for word all day. The milk is more than their friend, it's their LIFE. We find it in all forms. I have never seen so many different kinds of milk! It's really impressive. Between Lättmjölk (milk for cooking), Mellanmjölk (high fat milk), Filmjölk (curdled milk, quite surprising). To avoid surprises, I always ordered the same carton of milk (milk that we can drink directly!). It would be necessary to try other flavours in the future (is this story going to finish like that of Kaviar?).

Healthy and balanced food

Despite all that you have read further up, Swedish people pay strong attention to their food (even if they agree with little treats, like all of us). They prioritise vegetables, fruits, salmon and eat very little meat which is very expensive elsewhere! Their salmon is excellent by the way!

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