Swedish Culture (Part 5) - Food and Nature

Foods and nature

           

            Swedes are open mind to accept new cultures live together in their country; however they also preserve their culture.  Some eating habits and traditions can be found nationwide. But there are many others found only in certain localities. How, for example, a special type of cheese produced and consumed only in the cities to the border with Finland. Both in Sweden and in Finland is possible to find this cheese that is sold in small cubes and people put into the cup of coffee, after have drunk the coffee, have eaten the cheese which will be softened.

            Practically in all Sweden is possible to find people in a Fika (like a snack), eating Kanelbullar (cinnamon rolls) with a big cup of coffee, generally without sugar and milk (but there is the disposal of those who want). These cinnamon rolls (small breads) are typical of the country and appreciated for a big part of population. They are one of the touristic symbols of the country and, in consequence, very consumed for tourists too. There is no way to go to Sweden in order to know the culture and not experiment one. Besides to cinnamon, there is other ingredient that makes human olfaction recognizes them, it is the cardamom.

Kanelbullar (cinnamon rolls)

              Prinsesstårta (princess cake) is a typical cake from Sweden and much appreciated especially at birthdays, weddings, baptisms and other festivities. Originally made with green topping, round and with edible flowers. Nowadays it is possible to find with other colors and shapes, including cupcake. It is certainly one of the jewels of Swedish cuisine.

Princess Cake

            Dinner is the most important meal of the day, in second position is breakfast and lastly the lunch. Sometimes, people do not have the custom to have lunch, they just have a snack in this time of the day. Since the majority of the work schedules starts around 8 a.m. and finishes around 17 p.m., with three intervals. One for Fika, generally 10 a.m.; other for lunch, which is around one hour; and, the last one, for other Fika, generally 15 p.m. Rules of the country regulate that, in general, people should work eight hours every day. Of course, there are some professions require other schedules, like policemen and doctors in hospitals.  

Fika

            No doubt, feeding the country is based on potatoes. There are potatoes is the majority of dinners. There are a lot of dishes made of just accompanied with potatoes. Generally, foods are raw in salads. They eat a variety of beans in salad. Meats are little consumed, the most common are beef, reindeer, moose, fish and salmon.

Always potatos!

            Due to country climate, a big part of foods are imported, especially in winter. So, in supermarkets are showed below the name of the products, their origin. For instance: bananas from Costa Rica, olives from Greece and lemons from Brazil. Although the high per capita income, food is the most expensive area in Sweden, because of it, the shopping is moderate.

            Swedes are very worried about keeping their health in a good condition, because of this so much cares in food and practice sports in a regular way.

            The Swedish people have a special relationship with sun and nature. The relationship with sun is because of they have very long winters and some days are almost completely dark. Therefore, if it is a sunny day, even temperatures below 10°C, it is possible to see Swedes (especially those who lives in the north) taking “sunbathe” worn with jackets.

Sweden

There is a law which allows walking through the forest without you need an authorization to enter. In a practice way, people are free to walk through the forest and make a Fika without need authorizations, but they need to preserve the place, of course. This is a way that government has found to guarantee what Swedes like so much: walk in the open air.

Due to the influences of pagan religions, until today, Swedes preserve the respect for nature and conserve a good part of their forests.

Swedish humor also is influenced by seasons. So, spring is considered, for a lot of people, the happiest season in the year, since plants are bearing again, flowers start to blossom, animals appear – especially the birds – and people are going to have all summer with a lot of sunny hours to have fun.

In summer happen big parties outside and it is possible, for example, enjoying beaches in the West Coast, which are warmer than the East Coast. The biggest and most important popular party is Midsommar (summer solstice, or midsummer), that is celebrated nationwide with typical food, dances and folk music.

In autumn, landscape starts to change and takes an orange tone and when Swedes see plants “are dying”, they start to be sad, downcast. In winter, especially in the north part of the country, life becomes harder, due to darkness, the amount of snow and cold. Of course, there are winter sports and activities. But, the majority of Swedes prefer summer. 

Winter in Sweden