Hej hej! And welcome to my Fika Series!
If you are planning on coming over to Sweden, there are a few words you should know beforehand: tack (thank you), lagom (enough), personnummer (personal number), and perhaps most importantly, FIKA.
But what exactly is Fika? Well, Fika is a Swedish social ritual that involves drinking a hot beverage —usually coffee, although tea is also common—, accompanied by a sandwich, a bun, or other sweet bread. Fika can happen at any time; it can be in the morning, at lunch, after lunch, before dinner, after dinner, even at night before going to sleep!
Fika culture in Sweden is huuuuuge. It is that time of the day that you are able to take a break and catch up with family, friends or coworkers. It is so important, that some work places might even provide their workers with free coffee and bread for fika purposes! Also, you might find fika coupons on your local store, or fika combos of coffee + cinnamon bun in cafés or gas stations. Me and my boyfriend even got a coupon for a free bag of coffee and cinnamon buns from our local store as a “Welcome to Uppsala” present!
If you move to Sweden, is very likely that you will get invited for fika by your Swedish friends. I myself have been in several fika reunions, and based on my experience, I can say the following: forget about diets, and just embrace the high glucose and caffeine deliciousness that fika is!
After blabbing so much about fika I really want to have some right now so I’ll be leaving you. Hope you have a nice day!
Anna