A Brit In Sweden

1. Lingon goes with everything.

Lingonsylt (or lingon berry jam to the untrained) is a sweet, and I must say delicious, jam that goes with savory meals. The easiest way to describe it is that it’s something similar to cranberry sauce. We have it with köttbullar (meatballs), fläskfilé (pork steak fillet), ugnspannkaka (a savory pancake dish) and basically anything you feel like. It’s epic.

2. So does Ketchup, apparently?

This one, however, nej nej nej nej nej! I’ve never had the most loving relationship towards ketchup but the Swedes seem to have a sloppy one with too much PDA for my tastes. Pasta is the main victim that comes to mind. Picture a beautifully simple carbonara. Made with love. A few grinds of black pepper on top to finish…and then slit the throat of a bottle of ketchup and hang it from the ceiling by a rope Game of Thrones style. Yup. Another Red Wedding incident. Travesty.

3. Knäckebröd (Crispbread). Ohhh yes. Now what to have on it…?

I used to look for an excuse to munch down a pile of crackers and cheese. Now I can have it for breakfast every day if I want! Knäckebröd (or crispbread) is a staple part of the everyday breakfast and you can bring it to life with so many different toppings. I live by Leksands Knäckebröd. My favourite is to play it simple with some strong cheddar (ost), butter (smör) and maybe a little gerkin (gurka) every so often. Nom.

4. Open faced sandwiches (Now who’s idea was this?!?)

I am a Brit who was brought up on rather plain and uninspiring cheese sandwiches in my packed lunches. The simple utility of having two slices of bread to hold my fillings is all I need to lead me to look questionably at an open face sandwich. A single slice of bread with a stack of fillings that a chef/architect combo (I can only assume) has made may look appealing at first, but in my head I’m picturing how lovely it would look down the front of my shirt…

5. Pastries are everyone’s best friend.

The fact that there are so many pastry centred holidays really demonstrates this countries love and knowledge of sweet delights. Kanelbullensdag  (cinnamon bun day), semlor on fettisdagen (Fat Tuesday), lussekatter  (saffron buns) on advent and generally the concept of “fika” – simply described: sharing coffee and pastries with friends. So. Much. Yummy. For. My. Tummy.

There’s some really amazing foods and food practices to try here. And I’ve not even mentioned Kebabpizza! Åhhhh. That can be for another time. There’s also some that seem rather strange to me. But everything is always worth trying once. And with that sentiment I shall leave this here. If I’ve missed something that I shouldn’t have, maybe it’s on my other post 5 More Things You Need To Know About Swedish Food. Otherwise, let me know in the comments below!

Vi ses! God I want kebabpizza now…