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CANDY

Sweet tooth: Why are the Swedes obsessed with candy?

In this guest blog post, American Kevin Buckley sinks his teeth into one of Sweden's most peculiar traditions: lördagsgodis.

Published: 23 January 2017 12:17 CET
Sweet tooth: Why are the Swedes obsessed with candy?
Candy, or 'godis' in Swedish. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB scanpix/TT

After living in Stockholm for a year and a half, one thing has become crystal clear to me: Swedes are born with an insatiable sweet tooth. Swedes take their sweets seriously… very seriously. In fact, their confectionery consumption is a rich part of their culture.

First of all, there is the most quintessential Swedish experience of fika. This is a quick break taken during the day to enjoy a coffee and a small sweet treat.

In 2016, the average Swede ate 23.1 pounds of candy according to this article, making Sweden the country with the 7th highest per capita candy consumption (say that five times fast).

This does not surprise me at all. American readers may know of the little candy stores in US malls where you grab a shovel, fill a bag full of candy, and weigh it? Every store, gas station, movie theatre and you-name-it in Sweden has one of these. One day, I was talking to my Swedish landlord who is currently living in America. I asked him how the States were treating him and if he missed home. He replied simply: “I miss the candy.”

Beware: Swedes also have an obsession for salty liquorice, so proceed with caution!

Most of this candy is eaten on one special day of the week: lördagsgodis or Candy Saturday. Possibly in an attempt to remain lagom – enjoying just enough without over indulging – Swedes limit the majority of their candy consumption to Saturdays. This seems to cause children and adults alike to anticipate and appreciate lördagsgodis even more.

READ ALSO: Seven delicious food dates in Sweden


Kevin and JoEllen Buckley in front of a traditional Swedish Dala Horse. Photo: Private

Lördagsgodis is not the only special day associated with a sweet treat. Swedes have a few calendar days throughout the year when one MUST enjoy a certain Swedish pastry. Coming up soon is my wife JoEllen's favourite: Semla Day, celebrated on Fat Tuesday. Imagine a mini bread bowl of soup, but sweet and filled with whipped cream and almond paste and topped with powdered sugar.

During the darkest week of the year, Sweden celebrates St Lucia. This day is filled with music that allows Swedes to commiserate in the darkness while looking forward to the bright days to come. On St Lucia everyone must eat a few luciabullar. Though these pastries are not very sweet they are flavoured with saffron and two raisins.

Most importantly, there is kanelbullens dag, Cinnamon Bun Day, on October 4th, celebrated since the time after World War One when rationed food started to make its way back into Swedish homes.

The kanelbullar are definitely the most beloved pastry in Sweden; supposedly the average Swede eats 316 of these a year. Appropriately, the first kanelbullar I ever had was on kanelbullens dag and it was an eye-opening experience. Instead of being covered in icing, these rolls are sprinkled with sugar crystals and jam packed with cinnamon. YUM!

So the next time you are at the mall and see one of the little candy stores, consider picking out a few colourful treats and enjoy them on Saturday!

Kevin and JoEllen Buckley moved from Nashville, Tennessee, to Stockholm two years ago. Read their blog here. Do you want to write a guest blog post for The Local? E-mail [email protected].

FOOD AND DRINK

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

Should you tip in Sweden? Habits are changing fast thanks to new technology and a hard-pressed restaurant trade, writes James Savage.

Published: 5 April 2024 13:59 CEST
OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits. 

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user). 

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

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