Sweden

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Sweden – a pocket guide
Swedish food
Swedish eating habits have changed a lot in the past ten
to twenty years. More and more people have begun to eat
more vegetarian food, and many new dishes have been
introduced by immigrants from other countries. Many
Swedes now spend their holidays abroad, especially around
the Mediterranean, and so have become aware of the
cuisines of other countries.
Nowadays, it’s not hard to find something for most tastes
at restaurants. There are pizza and kebab bars in almost all
larger towns. Swedes often eat pasta dishes at home, and
might have a Greek salad with tzatziki at a party.
Traditional Swedish dishes often contain pork, especially
Christmas fare. The Christmas ham is a smoked or lightly
salted loin of pork that is boiled or roasted, then coated
with eggs and mustard and browned.
Sausages, pork ribs, meatballs and liver spread are also
standard Christmas fare, as are various types of marinated
herring, red cabbage, sauerkraut, beetroot, apple sauce and
boiled pudding made of rice and milk.
Many families no longer prepare the vast servings of
Christmas food that were once the norm, but Christmas
ham and rice pudding still turn up on most tables. The
traditional Swedish Christmas buffet is served at many
restaurants during December.
Husmanskost – a stable meal
Everyday fare of traditional character is usually called
husmanskost, and is based on meat, fish and root vegetables.
Examples include meatballs, köttbullar, with boiled potatoes
and lingonberry jam, lightly salted pork, fläsklägg, with
root vegetable mash, pea soup with pork, ärtsoppa med fläsk,
fried Baltic herring, stekt strömming, with mashed potatoes,
fried cured Baltic herring, stekt salt sill, with boiled potatoes
and onion gravy, meat patties, pannbiff, with fried onions
Swedes
and traditions