The name "Viking" was first used by foreign authors in the 11th century AD. Its origin is probably the Swedish word for bay, "vik". This shows the close connection between the people and the sea, of which they were totally dependent for their livelihood. The Vikings main occupation was farming and trade. The Viking expeditions were mostly trade expeditions that sometimes degenerated to looting. The Vikings started the Swedish food culture by brining lots of exotic spices back from the journeys from southern Europe.

Traditional Swedish cooking cannot be compared French or Italian cuisine. Swedish food used to be simple and satisfying since it was meant to feed the hungry farmers. Swedish cuisine today has become a world leading cuisine and has experienced unparalleled success recently. Swedish chefs and restaurateurs have received international acclaim for their innovation, winning many impressive prizes in the increasingly popular international culinary competitions. Sweden has the last years, year after year won the World championship in cooking. For culinary expertise, Sweden now ranks among the most creative and progressive countries in the world. Some is due to that in the last few decades immigrants from all over the world which represent 1/9 of the Swedish population have enriched the food culture and therefore influenced the traditional cooking with inspirations from all over the world. Sweden also hosts the world’s most famous banquette – The Nobel banquet dinner, after the Nobel Prize awards. The Nobel Banquet is an event many would give a fortune to attend but only a lucky few are aloud to enjoy.

The region where Ola comes from has since the old days been considered to be a region of food. Due to that Sweden’s most southern region provide a large portion of the food to Sweden since it is mostly farmland. The region is home to several of Sweden’s top chefs, offering an exciting gastronomic balance between tradition and innovation. The Skåne food traditions and culture has also been shaped by being so close to both Denmark and Germany. You can see how the North German salt mines and the exotic species easily found its way to the Skåne harbors. In general you can say that this is why the food often uses more spices and sugar or salt, than other European cuisines.

Most of the Swedish traditions are something that most Swedish people consider to be very important and hold very dearly. The food is very much connected with the history of being a farming country. Meat was scarce and the diet was changed by the seasons, and the people only made special food for special occasions. That is why many dishes keep occurring on several celebrations or only on a specific event Midsummer is perhaps the Swedish greatest festival. Herring, meatballs and fresh potatoes are almost compulsory dishes, and usually a lot of snaps are served too. Christmas, crayfish party, and Easter have their own traditional dishes.

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