Food & Drink

Traditionally, Swedish cuisine is simple in nature and also tasty and healthy. The diet consists of fish (especially herring and salmon), meat (especially reindeer and elk), and potatoes, as well as foraged berries and mushrooms. Meatballs and cinnamon rolls are popular, but there are other small farm inspired local dishes to share. Fermentation and smoking are traditional culinary techniques used to preserve foods for use over the cold winter months.

If you’re with a big group of people, ordering the smorgasbord, or experiencing this meal is a traditional Swedish buffet-style sitting you won’t want to miss. There are hot and cold dishes where everyone at the table can pick and choose what they want to eat. Meatballs, salmon, pies and salads are often a part of the mix as are other meats, cheeses, and breads.

Kottbullar are Swedish meatballs. Some serve meatballs with gravy, others prefer a lingonberry sauce, or an au jus. Recipes often call for the meatballs served with potato puree or boiled potatoes, and raw lingonberries.

A fresh salmon sandwich with cured gravlax salmon (salt, sugar, and dill) will always hit the spot with a cold beer on the side. Crayfish are red, bite-size freshwater or saltwater shellfish considered an August specialty, and there are many festivals in the month celebrating them.

Raggmunk are traditional Swedish potato pancakes fried in butter and served with pork and lingonberries and Jansson’s temptation is a rich casserole made from creamy potato and anchovies.

Don’t dare neglect your sweet tooth, for there is a Prinsesstarta waiting for you – this gorgeous round cake is a favourite Swedish dessert known as princess cake. Yellow sponge cake is filled with jam, vanilla custard, and whipped cream – a thin layer of green marzipan covers the whole cake. It’s a work-of-art cake.

Fika, the afternoon pastime, is not as fancy as the English high tea but it’s a good deal more relaxed. Order a coffee and pastry stuffed with cinnamon or cardamom, or for the ultimate Swedish sugar rush, a slice of the princess cake. This is a fixture in Swedish daily life, an important time to get away from work, and to nurture relationships and a healthy balance in life.

Kaffe (coffee), is a very popular drink in Sweden, and so is tea. Brannvin is a traditional Swedish vodka, and Swedish beers include pilsner (lagers) and lattol (light beer).