Since I’ve come to Sweden, people have been subtly sympathetic about the food options available all the way up here in Scandinavia. Moving from a famed foodie paradise, as Taiwan is – to almost any place would be seen as a downgrade; much less Sweden. Although NOMA in Copenhagen has taken the top spots for world’s best restaurant for years now, and tales of Nordic inventiveness have been taking the “fine dining” scene by storm, Swedish cuisine that hasn’t been made readily accessible around the world in the way that Italian, Spanish, and even British cuisine has. I do see reasons why – besides having relatively limited varieties in say, cheeses and meats, there is instead a huge range of cold seafood concoctions (mackerel in mayonnaise, fish roe squeezed out of a tube) that even the most enthusiastic sashimi-lovers (yes!) would refuse to adapt into their diet. The Swedish knäckebröd, large round circles of cracker-bread – are a common sight at meal-time here. It looks – and tastes – like cardboard lightly baked in the oven for a few hours.

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And yet, I still remain a relatively content foodie, living here – thought my wallet is certainly crying out to be fed. Sweden has amazing dairy. I could go on and on about this. After years of paying out 150 NT for a tiny tub of sour cream in Taipei, can you blame me when I go to the local ICA (the main grocery store chain here) and see rows and rows of yogurts, and creams, arranged by fat percentage? The milk, or mjölk – here is a standard 3% fat; only mellanmjolk is a 1.5%.

The Swedes also love their candy and sweets. Sweet fact- it’s a national tradition that children are only allowed to eat candy on Saturdays. There are several of these nation-wide eating habits that almost every Swedish family has taken part in, which I find to be random, but quirky. There’s taco Friday (the Swedes are super into tacos – random!), pizza Sundays (where everyone is too lazy to cook so pizza sales skyrocket) and the aforementioned candy on Saturdays.

Not so sweet fact – honestly, most of Swedish adaptations of well, any cuisine besides their own – is pretty shite. It’s like they take every bold, flavorful cuisine and just make it totally bland. Tacos, pizza, Chinese food, falafel – nothing is safe, nothing is sacred. I’ve vowed to never succumb to eating Chinese food in Sweden, no matter how desperate I get. And at $20 USD / bowl for noodles that I could slurp down for $3 in Taiwan – is that so ridiculous of a pact?

Swedish foods I love – kanelbullar. Um – blueberries? Seriously, this might be the end of this list.

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Swedish university students cook for themselves. Many of my corridor-mates, even the 18-year olds on their first venture out from home, can be found in our communal kitchen on Sunday nights bulk preparing their meals for the week. It’s perhaps a skill borne out of financial, rather than health, consciousness. You are able to buy cheaper meals at the “student nations” –but  most people seem to cook for themselves. Although Sweden is famed for being extraordinarily expensive, I’ve found that groceries don’t run more than $30-35 USD a week / if you don’t buy any meat, that is.