The other day, I woke up with Twitter notifications from all over the world after I tweeted about #Swedengate.
#Swedengate is now trending on social media after someone threw light upon a Swedish phenomenon where we don’t let our kids’ friends eat with us if they are in our home.
Instead, we let them sit in our kids’ rooms while the rest of us eat dinner.
As a kid growing up in Sweden in the late 90’s, this happened to me quite often.
Crash Bandicoot all by myself
Me and a friend would sit in my friends’ room and play Crash Bandicoot on Playstation.
Suddenly, you could hear one of my friends’ parents shout “dinner’s ready!” and my friend would say “I’ll be back soon” and then go out to eat with the rest of the family.
I identify myself as an introvert. And I personally loved that twenty minutes of silence alone in my friends’ room, playing Crash Bandicoot all by myself.
I believe many swedes would agree with me on this subject. We are very introvert and we really do appreciate a moment of silence. The ones that don’t identify as introverts – don’t come @ me.
A defining moment
Come to think about it, there actually was one time I was offered dinner at a friend’s house. This is a very strong and defining moment in childhood.
It was a very strange experience, and I was not at all comfortable.
My friend’s family were going on holiday, and they were eating all their leftovers since they didn’t want to leave anything in the fridge while going away. So, they offered me a seat at their table.
It was a very strange experience, and I was not at all comfortable.
First, they had big mushrooms in their pasta Bolognese. Not nice. Very bad actually.
Second, the food wasn’t heated enough. And it scarred me. Ever since that day, I can’t eat other peoples’ food. It changed me.
The problems with Swedish food
And last but not least, swedes are not good at cooking. I’ve seen swedes post their cooking on Facebook.
And trust me, it is not a nice experience.
In the autumn, we eat goose. It’s not a nice bird to eat.
I don’t have any kids, but if I’d found out that my kids were served anything similar to that, I would be mad.
But there are more problems.
It’s not just that we are bad at cooking. We eat very strange things.
I’m from the southern parts of Sweden. And in the autumn, we eat goose. It’s not a nice bird to eat.
But that’s not enough. Prior to eating the goose, we eat a soup made of the gooses’ blood called “svartsoppa”.
And for dessert, we eat eggs that we spritz on a stick. It’s called “spettkaka” and it tastes like cardboard boxes. My grandma actually worked in a factory where they made spettkaka.
Swedish culture and Ålaladåb
We eat eels put in jelly. It’s called “ålaladåb”. Fun to say, not so fun to eat.
I don’t trust other people with food, and neither should you. And as I’ve pointed out, I have my reasons not to trust other people with food.
And other people shouldn’t trust me when it comes to cooking. It is out of respect we don’t serve other kids our food.
And plus. Every child in Sweden appreciate twenty minutes of silence. Some alone time. It’s very enjoyable.
It is we who are right in this matter.
That is the truth.
