Studying in Sweden- An American Perspective: FOOD!!!!

Dear readers,

I haven't posted anything in a while. I hope that Easter break was as good for you guys as it was for me. I hung out with friends and partied and of course also thought about my future. Soon I will be done with my Master's degree and will have to decide what to do for the next months and years to come. Such decisions take lots of time and thinking.

Finally the time has come for me to write my last blog on what it's like to study in Sweden from an American perspective. This time I will write about Swedish food.

Well, there are two ways of looking at Swedish food. If you're a food connoisseur and a real lover of Italian, Japanese, French and Spanish food, in other words really gourmet style food, then Swedish food is not very satisfying. If however, you prefer simple and filling foods, you've come to the right place.

Swedish food tends to be very basic in my opinion. Lots of meat and lots of potatoes, bread, crackers, cheese, milk, rather heavy things. There are many different types of breads and milk products you can find in a Swedish supermarket. Many Swedes eat bread and cheese for breakfast including a variety of cold cuts. A good food many people eat in Sweden is fish. Many Swedes eat dishes made with salmon and other types of fish such as cod, flounder and halibut. So there ARE some very good things to choose from.

An interesting Swedish dairy product is "Filmjölk". Basically it's a type of rotten milk. I know this sounds really weird, but it's actually quite good. Filmjölk is actually fermented with a type of Lactobacillus or bacteria naturally found in raw milk products. Give it a try when you're here with your breakfast cereal! It's very healthy and I promise you, you won't get sick! ;-)

Another thing very common here in Sweden is hamburgers and a deal of (pretty healthy) fast foods. So it's sort of like home! :-D

Despite my opinion on Swedish food not being the best in the world, Swedish pastries ARE among the best in the world! You will find a great variety of cakes, cookies, sweets and candies here in Sweden, and they're all very tasty and professionally made if bought from an up-scale pastry store.

I personally prefer to cook here and not go out very much. Going out is sort of expensive and I consider myself a pretty good cook. I certainly satisfy myself when I make my own dishes. Don't expect to cook with gas stoves here, as all stoves are electrical here.

My overall opinion: Swedish food is ok, meaning average. It's not the best in the world and other countries have much better track records when it comes to variety and tastiness of food (for example France or Spain), but I promise you, you will get by without any problems. And if you ever get too sick of Swedish food, there are always the world-class pastries or the occasional ethnic restaurant in Stockholm to lighten up your days!

That's all for now folks! Take care and look for my next blog on Sunday!

Julian