Sweden is a country far away from the Philippines but we Filipinos are more than familiar with IKEA, H&M, and hey, isn’t the 90s band, Roxette and more recently, musician Avicii, from Sweden too" Sweden-based Therese Endriga Wigforss gives us a crash course on the food of her adopted country in this light-hearted piece. – Lori
When I first moved to Sweden, my friends joked that there was no way in hell my chatterbox personality would mesh well with this notoriously reserved culture. Why couldn?t I have married a man from Argentina, or perhaps Brazil" Did I even like the food in IKEA" they joked.
Four years and countless cultural clashes later, I second their motion. Swedes and Filipinos are polar opposites in so many ways. Theirs is a culture that values independence; we move as a pack. Families here can go weeks, sometimes months without seeing each other; that?s not something that would ever happen in Manila without serious sulking (tampo). Filipinos thrill to drama and hyperbole; here, people have actually been known to say ?Why did you say you loved that cake" Don?t you mean you just like it"? (That?s a direct quote.) We love to promise the moon, and Swedes would be more likely to warn you not to expect anything so you don?t get disappointed. This is most likely because theirs is a culture that has had to endure difficulty and famine due to harsh weather conditions; and thus became used to preparing for the worst. They are maste...