10 things to know about Swedish food

2. Pickled herring – centre of the smorgasbord

You might swap meatballs (köttbullar) for mini sausages (prinskorvar) or pick cured salmon (gravlax) rather than smoked, but your smorgasbord wouldn’t be complete without pickled herring (sill). This fishy favourite remains the basis of every typical Swedish buffet.

Swedes have been pickling since the Middle Ages, mainly as a way of preserving the fish for storage and transportation. Pickled herring comes in a variety of flavours – mustard, onion, garlic and dill, to name a few. People often eat it with boiled potatoes, sour cream, chopped chives, sharp hard cheese, sometimes boiled eggs and, of course, crispbread.

3. Crispbread – what’s your favourite topping?

In addition to bread and butter, you’ll often find a type of crispbread (knäckebröd) served alongside your main meal. This is what the Swedes tend to reach for. Once considered poor man’s food, Swedes have baked crispbread for over 500 years. Crispbread can last for at least a year if stored properly, and remains among the most versatile edible products.

Crispbread comes in various shapes, thicknesses and flavours, with entire store shelves devoted to it. People top it with anything from sliced boiled eggs with tube caviar (breakfast), to ham, cheese and cucumber slices (lunch), to just plain butter as a side dish (dinner).

4. Räksmörgås and other open sandwiches

When you order a sandwich, don’t be surprised if it involves just a single slice of bread, the typical Swedish smörgås. The Swedish concept of open sandwiches dates back to the 1400s when people used thick slabs of bread as plates.

In Sweden, the shrimp sandwich (räksmörgås or räkmacka) remains the option fit for a king. Piled high with a mix of boiled egg slices, lettuce, tomato and cucumber, Swedes often top this seafood snack with creamy romsås – crème fraîche blended with dill sprigs and roe.

Shrimp sandwiches are such an integral part of Swedish culture, they have inspired a popular saying: ‘glida in på en räkmacka’ (literally ‘glide in on a shrimp sandwich,’ but roughly corresponding to the expression ‘get a free ride’), meaning to get an advantage without having done anything to deserve it.

5. Pea soup and pancakes

Many Swedes grow up eating pea soup and pancakes (ärtsoppa och pannkakor) every Thursday. The Swedish Armed Forces have upheld this tradition since World War II.

While its true origins are widely debated – from Catholics not eating meat on Fridays, thus filling up on pea soup on Thursdays, to pea soup being very easy to prepare by maid servants who would work half-days on Thursdays – the tradition has well and truly stuck.

Most traditional lunch restaurants serve pea soup and pancakes with lingonberry jam or any kind of jam (sylt) on Thursdays.

6. Prinsesstårta – a royal indulgence

Colouring the window displays of bakeries throughout Sweden is the all-time favourite green princess cake (prinsesstårta), topped with a bright pink sugar rose. This cake comprises layers of yellow sponge cake lined with jam and vanilla custard, and is finished off with a heavy topping of whipped cream. It is then carefully sealed with a thin layer of sugary sweet green marzipan.

A relatively recent addition to Sweden’s culinary history, princess cake debuted in the 1920s, courtesy of Jenny Åkerström. She was a teacher to King Gustav V’s brother Prince Carl Bernadotte’s daughters – Princesses Margaretha, Märtha and Astrid – who loved it so much that they inspired its name.

This cake shows up on many holidays in Sweden, but it's also often used to mark milestones in people’s lives.

These days, the princess cake comes in a variety of colours – from the classic green to yellow for Easter, red at Christmas, orange for Halloween and white for weddings.

7. The calendar of sweet delights

Cinnamon buns

In Sweden, people can always find a good excuse to tuck into something sweet – so much so that specific calendar days are designated to the celebration of particular sugary specialties. Cinnamon Bun Day (Kanelbullens dag) is celebrated on 4 October.

Semlor

Semlor have a special place on Shrove Tuesday or ‘Fat Tuesday’ (fettisdagen) as the Swedes call it – the day before Ash Wednesday (askonsdagen), the first day of Lent. This is the peak day to eat semlor, buns filled with cream and almond paste.

Waffles and a king's cake

On 25 March, people consume waffles (våfflor), and on 6 November Swedes crave creamy sponge cakes decorated with chocolate or marzipan silhouettes of King Gustav II Adolf (Gustav Adolfs-bakelse). The latter is in memory of the Swedish monarch who was killed on this day in 1632 at the Battle of Lützen.

8. Crazy for crayfish

Crayfish parties (kräftskivor) are popular in August, when Swedes spend warm summer evenings in gardens or on balconies feasting on these shellfish. People have the choice between the red bite-sized freshwater shellfish or the saltwater kind (then called langoustine or, funnily enough, Norway lobster).

In the 1500s, only Sweden’s upper-class citizens and aristocracy ate crayfish, but these shellfish have now long been a national delicacy enjoyed by all. Mass importation has significantly brought down the price over the centuries.

9. There’s something fishy about surströmming

Every culture has at least one culinary speciality that makes both locals and visitors cringe. From late August to early September, some devoted people uphold a stinky tradition in Sweden, particularly in the northern part of the country. This is when cans of fermented sour Baltic herring (surströmming) are opened and enjoyed – by some, at least.

People have traded this 'delicacy' ever since the 16th century. The opening of the cans preferably takes place outdoors owing to the overpowering, unpleasant smell, which many compare with rotten eggs and raw sewage. The suströmming premiere takes place on the third Thursday of August every year.

10. Lördagsgodis (Saturday sweets)

The average Swedish family, with two adults and two children, eats 1.2 kilos of sweets per week – most of it on Saturday, sweets day. Upheld mostly to protect people’s teeth and prevent dental cavities, the once-a-week tradition of lördagsgodis is historically linked to dubious medical practices.

In the 1940s and 1950s, a very debatable experiment involving sweets took place at Vipeholm Mental Hospital in Lund. Patients were fed large amounts of sweets to intentionally cause tooth decay, as part of a series of human experiments for research purposes. Based on findings from 1957 of the direct relationship between sweets and tooth decay, the Medical Board suggested Swedes eat sweets only once a week – an unwritten rule that many families still stick to.