What to Eat in Sweden in 2026: The Best Food and Drink

Swedish food is anchored by fermentation, the sea, and the forest in a cuisine that the New Nordic moment made internationally visible but which had been quietly excellent for centuries. Surströmming (fermented Baltic herring, the famously malodorous tinned fish opened outdoors by legal necessity in many countries) is the Swedish food extreme, eaten with flat bread, new potatoes, red onion, and sour cream by people who grew up with it and described as biological warfare by those who didn't. The midsommar table — fresh gravlax, new potatoes with dill, pickled herring in half a dozen preparations, Janssons frestelse (anchovy and potato gratin), and strawberries with cream — is the Swedish food memory that midsummer cooking exists to recreate. The smörgåsbord format (the buffet of cold dishes, warm dishes, and desserts served in sequence) is a Swedish invention of the 19th century. Aquavit (caraway and dill flavoured spirit), crispy knäckebröd rye crispbread, and the Swedish fika culture (coffee and a cinnamon bun, twice daily, as a social institution) are the specific Swedish food identities. No rush.