Swedish Food – Cuisine With A Scandinavian Flavor

Husmanskost - potatoes, minced meat with cabbage, berry jam


Swedish food is pure, nutritious and tasty. Fish is one of the main ingredients of Swedish cuisine. There is plenty of choice if you want to eat out in Stockholm.

Italy? Pasta and pizza.

Japan? Sushi.

Spain? Paella.

And Sweden?

Well, Swedish cuisine put itself on the world map with smörgåsbord.

It’s a buffet with warm and cold dishes: fish, meat, potatoes, vegetables, prepared in different ways. You should eat these small dishes one after the other.

Although world famous AND delicious, you won’t see many Swedes eat smörgåsbord every day. It takes a lot of time to prepare it. And eating smörgåsbord in Stockholm restaurants can be horribly expensive.

Herring, cod, salmon and shellfish are very popular.

One of the biggest hits of Swedish cuisine is gravad lax. This is salmon with sugar, salt and dill. It is best eaten with a sweet and sour mustard sauce.

It’s quite unusual for most foreigners to eat fish with sugar, but Swedes like it, and if well prepared, it is indeed irresistible.

Husmanskost is the Swedish food for the common man – or the average Svensson, as they say.

Potatoes with meat or fish, berries, mushrooms or a creamy sauce: husmanskost is simple, nutritious and tasty.

Meatballs have become famous even outside the country (thank you, Ikea!). Here is a popular Swedish meatball recipe.

Rather special for foreign taste buds, but very Scandinavian are elk and reindeer.

Elk steaks are delicious, but you won’t find them in every restaurant.

Thin bread rolls - tunnbröd they call it - with smoked reindeer meat make a terrific lunch or snack.

Dairy products and freshly picked mushrooms are local kitchen favorites as well.

The national contribution to the world of fast food is called korv med bröd, which is nothing but a hot dog.

Although Swedes like to eat healthy salads, vegetables are not a traditional ingredient of Swedish cuisine.

The extreme climate and rocky soil limit agriculture. Most vegetables are therefore imported. Prices for vegetables in shops are therefore high.

Cakes and cookies are eaten with coffee, the most popular of drinks in Sweden.

Due to government regulations Swedish food is pure and of very high quality. The only country in the world with equally strict regulations is the Netherlands.

You can eat very well in Sweden, but you don’t have to limit yourself to Swedish food. There are all kinds of restaurants in Stockholm.

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