Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [24]
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SWEDISH SIPPING
Coffee is Sweden’s unofficial national drink, with an ever-increasing number of cafes ditching the percolated stuff for Italian-style espresso. Tea is also readily available. Saft is cordial commonly made from lingonberries, blueberries and elderflowers.
While the number of wine buffs is increasing, Sweden remains a predominantly beer-drinking nation. Öl (beer) is ranked by alcohol content; the stronger the beer, the higher its price and, generally speaking, the more flavour it has. Light beers (lättöl; less than 2.25%) and ‘folk’ beers (folköl; 2.25% to 3.5%) account for about two-thirds of all beer sold in Sweden; these can be bought in supermarkets. Medium-strength beer (mellanöl; 3.5% to 4.5%) and strong beer (starköl; over 4.5%) can be bought only at outlets of the state-owned alcohol store, Systembolaget, or in bars and restaurants.
Swedes generally drink strong beer on special occasions – partly because the everyday beer produced by mass breweries like Falcon, Åbro, Pripps and Spendrups is entirely unremarkable. There are a few good microbrews available in taverns (look for Jämtlands brewery’s very good Fallen Angel bitter; Tärnö’s Nils Oscar range is good, too), and the major producers also tend to bring out decent speciality beers on a limited scale. The large breweries also produce a wide range of drinks from cider to light and dark lagers, porter and stout. Pear and apple ciders are also common, frequently in light-alcohol or alcohol-free versions. Local megabrew lagers, such as Spendrups, Pripps or Falcon, cost anywhere from Skr40 to Skr58 a pint, and imported beer or mixed drinks can be twice that.
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Pick up the gorgeous cookbook Längtans Mat quavit (Very Swedish), by Annica Triberg, for a brilliant introduction to Swedish classics, not to mention photos that look good enough to eat.
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Wines and spirits can be bought only at Systembolaget. Sweden’s trademark spirit, brännvin, also called aquavit and drunk as snaps, is a fiery and strongly flavoured drink that’s usually distilled from potatoes and spiced with herbs.
As for the bottom line: the legal drinking age in Sweden is 18 years, although many bars and restaurants impose significantly higher age limits.
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THE EATING LOW-DOWN
Most Swedes start the day with coffee and a frukost (breakfast) of cornflakes or muesli with filmjölk (cultured milk) or fruit-flavoured yoghurt. Hotels and hostels offer breakfast buffets of several types of bread, pastries, crispbread and/or rolls, with pålägg (toppings) including butter, sliced cheese, boiled eggs, sliced meat, liver pâté, Kalles caviar (an iconic caviar spread), pickled herring, sliced cucumber and marmalade.
A hearty lunch has long been a mainstay of the workforce, with cafes and restaurants usually serving a weekday lunch special (or a choice of several) called dagens rätt at a fixed price (typically Skr65 to Skr95) between 11.30am and 2pm Monday to Friday. It’s a practice originally supported and subsidised by the Swedish government with the goal of keeping workers happy and efficient, and it’s still one of the most economical ways to sample top-quality Swedish cooking. The dagens rätt usually includes a main course, salad, beverage, bread and butter, and coffee.
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Swedish icon Ikea sells a whopping 150 million meatballs a year worldwide.
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For a lighter lunch yet, head to a konditori, where staples include pastries and the delectable smörgås (open sandwich), an artfully arranged creation usually filled with greens, shrimp or salmon, roe, boiled egg and mustard-dill sauce.
Street snacks are the cheapest, quickest way to fill up in Sweden, particularly in cities but also on beaches, along motorways and in many camping areas. A snack kiosk with a grill is known as a gatukök – literally, street kitchen. In the world of Swedish street food, hot dogs reign supreme – the basic model is called a grillad korv med bröd, grilled