Vad äter vi egentligen här i Sverige?
Avocado i sallad, råa morötter, palt -och lösviktsgodis….
Thais skriver om den svenska maten, och skillnader mot maten hemma i Brasilien.
Well, the food is different here in Sweden. The food is expensive here in Sweden, but the majority of the population receives good salaries. I talked with some Brazilians who live here in the country (some for 27 years, 10 years or just a few months) and they all said that the food is expensive here. Swedish people eats lots of potatoes, it can be produced here. Carrots, onions and all that can be placed in the salad. They include beans and avocado in the salad.
Oh, I have to do a paragraph only about the avocado. In Luleå I do not feel that much difference in the avocado, but here in Linköping much they eat avocado in the salad. And is salty! There is also the issue of ”Swedish clubs” with tortillas and guacamole … Here in Sweden it is popular to eat tacos, especially among young people on weekends. And Guacamole is avocado, salt, garlic and cream cheese… It’s very different!
Meat is expensive here. The salmon, for it is often cheaper than beef. So many times I ate salmon at dinner. Dinner is more important than lunch. And the time dinner is usually sooner than we had dinner in Brazil. In Sigtuna (when we are having gatherings with the exchange program) dinners are 18 hours. In Luleå was around 17:30, but sometimes I had dinner before 17 hours. Here in Linköping, the dinners are around 19 hours or later.
Eat lots of salad and a good part here is raw. I have lost count of how many times I ate raw carrots here …
I ate reindeer meat, elk and lamb dinners here.
Had lunch several times at the Max, which is a network of fast food from Sweden.
Here in supermarkets is an area that you buy candy in kilograms. I love these candies. I’ll miss that part of the supermarket when you return to Brazil.
Sometimes I ate rice here, but is not very common. The pasta is more common. They have macaroni salad (it is cold).
I can not stop talking about Kanelbullar! I learned to make them! This is the best cinnamon bread that I know and is the face of Sweden. Indeed, it is an informal symbols of the country. One of the most typical of Sweden is to have a Fika (sort of snack that can be done at any time) with Kanelbullar and coffee (without milk and sugar). A cake that can be eaten at birthday parties, weddings or a coffee shop and that is very famous in the whole country is Prinsesstårta (princess cake). And I love it!
They also have beef jerky here. It’s just reindeer. And I bought a piece in Jokkmokk, a city I visited and it lies within the Arctic Circle. Another typical Swedish food are köttbullar (meat balls) are like balls of ground beef, meatballs resemble, but are different. I tried Palt (who is a food of northern Sweden) and really enjoyed it. They are like balls of wheat dough (I think …) that you put butter and fried bacon.
Condensed milk is not famous here in Sweden. Until a few years ago, it was very difficult to find in supermarkets (people told me it). Nowadays you can find. But not many people know what is condensed milk and have never tasted! For me it was very different, because in Brazil the condensed milk is very popular. And, .. how to make Brigadeiro (a Brazilian dessert) without condensed milk? The answer is that they do not make Brigadeiro here. Not that they have another name for it is they do not do it.
I just discovered that sweet pizzas are (probably) from Brazil, here in Linköping. People had never heard of sweet pizzas here and they have difficulty to understand this as we eat dinner (or lunch can be too …) and not as a dessert. Well, but most young people who have experienced our sweet pizzas liked or liked very much. It was very interesting to see people’s reactions when experiencing the sweet pizzas.
Not surprisingly, they hardly eat cassava here. Then, in one of the nights we did on Brazil cassava chips. And I brought Paçoca (the kind we eat in my city, which is made with dried meat and cassava flour yellow, or is salty). Well, when the cassava and tack through the reactions were divided … I think half the people liked it and half did not like. Of course I miss the food of Brazil, such as rice and beans, steak with onions, galinhada, feijoada, Brigadeiro, Brazilian cakes, pastel, pies, pizza, candy… But, I know that I will miss the foods of Sweden when I return to my city.
Thaís Suelen Israel Ferreira
From Brazil
. Eating vegetables is one of the biggest challenge for me here in Sweden. Different kind of language is also a challenge for me, because we came from different countries. We have Portuguese, Spaniol, English, and Swedish languages. It’s very difficult to speak to each other. But still, we are working for our languages. Some of us are using the Google Translate to communicate to each other, like me and Brian from Costa Rica.
Foto: Magnus Aronson/IKON
