14-Day Sweden
Itinerary

Köttbullar (Swedish Meatballs)

Sweden's most globally famous dish and its most misunderstood — small, perfectly round balls of minced pork and beef, breadcrumbs soaked in cream, onion and allspice, pan-fried in butter and simmered in a cream gravy of pan drippings and beef stock; served with lingonberry jam, pickled cucumber and boiled or mashed potato; IKEA serves 150 million annually but the best are made on Sundays in Swedish kitchens.

Smörgåsbord

Sweden's greatest culinary tradition — a multi-course spread in which all dishes appear simultaneously on the table: pickled herring in multiple preparations (dill, mustard, onion), gravlax, Janssons frestelse, meatballs, prinskorv sausages, Jansson's temptation, pâté, cheese, crispbread and aquavit; the art of navigating the smörgåsbord in the correct order (herring first) is a Swedish social skill.

Kanelbullar (Cinnamon Buns)

Sweden's most beloved daily pleasure — a soft, cardamom-scented yeasted dough rolled out with cinnamon and sugar butter, formed into tight spirals, proved until doubled, then baked until the tops are a deep amber; pearl sugar is scattered before baking; Sweden celebrates Kanelbullens Dag (Cinnamon Bun Day) on 4 October; consumed with a cup of filtered coffee at every Swedish fika.

Surströmming

Sweden's most notorious fermented food and the world's most pungent canned product — Baltic herring fermented in a low-salt brine for months until the can bulges from the gas; opened outdoors (legally required in many apartment buildings); the smell is overwhelming; but eaten on tunnbröd flatbread with cream, onion and potato by northern Swedes who consider it a seasonal delicacy.

Gravlax

Sweden's most refined cured fish — Atlantic salmon fillets buried for 48 hours under a mixture of salt, sugar, white pepper and enormous quantities of fresh dill until the flesh turns translucent and deeply flavoured; sliced paper-thin with a slanted knife and served on rye crispbread with a mustard-dill (hovmästarsås) sauce; the Swedish table's most elegant beginning.