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Outdoor eating

If you spend the weekend in nature – walking, fishing, picking mushrooms – what could be better to eat than the fresh ingredients found around you?

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Photo: Susanne Walström/imagebank.sweden.se

Outdoor eating

If you spend the weekend in nature – walking, fishing, picking mushrooms – what could be better to eat than the fresh ingredients found around you?

Forest to plate

Open space and forests make up large parts of Sweden, even around large metropolitan areas. And Swedes love to take advantage of this proximity to nature. Fresh air and exercise are not the only things that bring people outside; allemansrätten, or the right of public access, allows people to forage for food that is not protected or endangered.

Of course, there is hunting and fishing, a growing eco-tourism segment for Sweden, but also things you can gather without equipment or special training. Cloudberries (the gold of the marshlands), blueberries, lingonberries and raspberries are bountiful and easy to find, while mushrooms require more of a trained eye and knowledge. Chanterelles are the most sought-after, but the Swedish forests serve up all kinds of delicious fungi. It is also popular to pick herbs and nettles.

Even those who do not themselves collect ingredients from the forest will enjoy eating them. And there is no better place for it than outdoors: at a picnic, in a back garden or on a balcony.

Photo: Susanne Walström/imagebank.sweden.se

This text and recipe come from the Swedish Institute publication The Swedish Kitchen – from Fika to Cosy Friday. Order the printed publication from swedenbookshop.com.

This story is a part of the collection Welcome to the Swedish kitchen

Mealtimes and recipes from Sweden

Last updated: 16 May 2016

Liselotte Forslin, Rikard Lagerberg & Susanne Walström

Liselotte Forslin is a freelance food writer, food stylist and author of several cookbooks. ||| Rikard Lagerberg is a Swedish writer with roots in San Francisco, Stockholm and Sligo, who, after years of a typical Swedish diet, chose a vegetarian direction for himself in the 90s. ||| Susanne Walström is a photographer based in Sweden. Her personal documentary style has been applied to a multitude of subjects, including several books about food.