Delicious Foods From Sweden

Sweden is a country that prides itself on fresh and locally-sourced cuisine.

The people here, like most places, fuse foreign cuisine with their own so it really can be quite a unique dining experience.

This article will provide a short exploration of authentic Swedish foods — the ones you should try when you visit and the ones that Swedes eat regularly.

What Swedish Specialties Should You Try?

So, you’ve arrived in Sweden. Great job! Glad you made it safely.

But now you’re hungry and you want to sample something authentically Swedish.

But what should you try?

Well, there are a handful of foods that are unique to Sweden … so let’s add them to our list!

Cloudberries

Cloudberries are a wild berry native to the Swedish Lapland. Due to their color, they’re called “Swedish gold” by locals and are tart in taste. They’re often served with game, or made into jam.

Tunnbrödsrulle

Tunnbrödsrulle is a Swedish-stye extra-long hot dog, topped with shrimp salad and wrapped in flatbread. You can find them in practically any Swedish city at small stands as well as fast food restaurants.

Palt or Kroppkakor

Palt and Kroppkakor are regional potato dumplings. Kroppkakor is what they eat in Southern Sweden, Palt in the north.

They are both made by mixing mashed potatoes with flour. In the center is usually pork, although they can be meatless.

These dumplings are served with a hefty chunk of butter and lingonberries, and typically eaten with a glass of milk.

Västerbotten Cheese

Crumbly and flavorful Västerbotten cheese is the Parmesan of Sweden, and served at Nobel Prize dinners.

It can be shredded and used in pies.

It can also be sliced and served over a seed cracker or flatbread or in a delicious risotto.

Kalix Löjrom

Now this is caviar! Kalix löjrom is served on flatbread or toast points, along with sour cream and chopped red onions.

In Sweden, most caviar comes in tubes, but not Kalix löjrom.

Even if caviar makes you squeamish, you’ve got to try Kalix löjrom, a world-famous delicacy.

Reindeer

Sámi, the indigenous people of Lapland, raise reindeer in Sweden.

Their cuisine has influenced the many reindeer dishes served throughout the country.

You can try suovas, which is smoked reindeer-meat served with potatoes and lingonberries.

And guorppa is another Sámi delicacy of sausage, wrapped in a natural casing.

Reindeer is also made into sausage, and it can be dried. Both are common Swedish savory snacks.

If you should go up to Swedish Lapland, you can enjoy eating reindeer cooked over an outdoor grill.

Moose

Although moose can be eaten as a roast, it’s more common to eat moose sausage, or products with moose-meat (venison). Some restaurants in the north will serve a moose burger, or moose meatballs as their speciality.

Chanterelle Mushrooms

Chanterelles are often the feature in a sauce served with wild meat. These graceful fungi are delicious and full of Vitamin D, essential in a land where there can be 24 hours of darkness in late fall.

Coffee Cheese

Coffee cheese is a firm, white cheese that is cubed up like a sugar cube.

Surströmming

This is the stinky fermented fish that’s so toxic to the nose that it’s not allowed on an airplane.

While this is certainly a YouTube-worthy food, it’s not essential to try. There are too many other culinary treasures that don’t involve plugging your nose.

A Comedian Opens the Surströmming Can

One comedian, one freshly opened can, and the exact moment the smell hits.