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Swedish Foodways

Svensk mat

National

The food of Sweden, which spans about 1,600 km of latitude and therefore is not one climate or one kitchen: rye and barley before wheat; potatoes since the 18th century; pork, beef and โ€” in the north โ€” reindeer and game; freshwater and Baltic fish, above all herring in every state of cure; dairy in quantity, sour and sweet; forest berries and mushrooms gathered on a scale seen almost nowhere else in Europe; crispbread; and a calendar of festivals that each carry a specific and non-negotiable menu.

Atlas โ€” where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Swedes community documented

Languages: Swedish

What is recorded

  • Swedish foodways are recorded as a first-class national system within Scandinavian and then Nordic foodways. Sรกmi foodways are a separate root and are never modelled as a branch of Swedish foodways; the relationship is a typed edge. documented
  • Meatballs, fika and New Nordic cooking are each one part of Swedish foodways and none of them is Swedish food as such. Sweden spans about 1,600 km of latitude and its regional kitchens differ accordingly. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • part of Scandinavian Foodways documented
  • related to Baltic Foodways documented

    The Swedish Empire held Estonia and Livonia, and Baltic German and Swedish manor cooking met there; Estoniaโ€™s coastal Swedes are part of that story.

  • related to Baltic Sea Foodways documented
  • related to Danish Foodways documented

    A shared cold table and herring tradition, and Skรฅne, Danish until 1658.

  • related to Estonian Foodways documented
  • related to Finnish Foodways documented

    Finland was part of Sweden until 1809; Finnish is a Swedish minority language and Swedish an official language of Finland. The kitchens overlap heavily. โš  FINLAND IS NORDIC AND NOT SCANDINAVIAN.

  • related to German Foodways documented

    Hanseatic control of Baltic trade, and German influence on brewing, baking and the towns.

  • related to Icelandic Foodways possible

    Nordic institutional kinship rather than close culinary relationship.

  • related to Norwegian Foodways documented

    A union from 1814 to 1905, a long land border, and Jรคmtland and Hรคrjedalen Norwegian until 1645.

  • related to Sรกmi Foodways documented

    Contact and coexistence in the north, and a legal framework reserving reindeer husbandry to Sรกmi โ€” NOT containment. Sรกmi foodways are a root in this corpus.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

  • influenced Hanseatic Trade Foodways documented
  • originates from Swedish-American Foodways documented
  • related to Danish Foodways documented

    A shared cold table, a shared herring tradition, and Scania โ€” Danish until 1658 โ€” where the food is still recognisably of both.

  • related to Danish Herring Foodways documented
  • related to Finnish Foodways documented

    Long-documented exchange; Finnish cuisine is Nordic and is not Scandinavian.

  • related to Lutefisk documented

    Lutfisk is kept in Sweden and Finland on the same Christmas logic.

  • related to Norwegian Foodways documented

    A union from 1814 to 1905 and the longest land border in the region.

  • related to Smรธrrebrรธd documented

    The smรถrgรฅsbord and the smรธrrebrรธd are related but distinct forms and are not merged here.

Regional cuisines

Dishes

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.