Fika
Now and then I am flooded with memories from farmors kitchen. I was sometimes allowed to participate when she baked for her "kaffekalas".
The Swedish word kaffekalas seemed a difficult one to translate, at first. It has quite a precise meaning, a civilised but usually somewhat informal gathering of family and/or friends where coffee and sweet things are served. Party doesn't seem to be a good enough word... But then I found the phrase "coffee klatch". It is borrowed from the German (a language which has a word for everything) kaffeeklatch. Sounds very close to kaffekalas doesn't it, and it literally means "informal gathering, especially one held over coffee for the purpose of conversation".
For my grandmother's coffee klatch, in keeping with Swedish etiquette and tradition, there had to be at least seven varieties of "småkakor" (cookies and biscuits), one type of sweet wheat bread and one cake. (The tradition of having seven types of småkakor probably stems way back to magical ideas of the power of the number seven.)
Grandmother's get togethers would have been for the sewing circle, the Red Cross committee, or perhaps the Ladies Housekeeping Society. The ladies arrived with their hats and purses. Grandmother told them how good of a helper I'd been in the kitchen. After shaking hands and curtsying for the women I was finally allowed to join Granddad in the kitchen and feast on those baked goods that had been rejected as imperfect in appearance, and thus unsuitable to serve to guests.
Slowly our customs changed and we started to invite people to "fika", a less formal or pretentious way of socialising. If I had held coffee klatches when my children were growing up, I would likely have been considered a real reactionary. Serving such unhealthy stuff! No, we held fika on sandwiches or perhaps ham and cheese baps. At best, a sponge cake might have been on offer, perhaps even a chocolate flavoured one! Serving småkakor or sweet buns would have been considered sacrilege.
But times change. Eventually the cookies and buns made a comeback. Nowadays you'll find both one or two småkakor at our gatherings. We even invite people over for "kaffe med dopp" (coffee with dip)! Often we will serve both cookies and cake and our famous cinnamon- and cardamom buns.
Fika in Sweden is simply a way of hanging out. We have frequent breaks for coffee at work and at home. Sitting down with something sweet, even if it is just a biscuit, turns it into a little space to converse and be at ease with each other. Most likely many conflicts and issues are diffused that way, very undramatically.
Long live the fika! Many of the recipes on this blog are excellent choices to make for your fika. And please comment, I would love to hear about your own fika favourites!
For my grandmother's coffee klatch, in keeping with Swedish etiquette and tradition, there had to be at least seven varieties of "småkakor" (cookies and biscuits), one type of sweet wheat bread and one cake. (The tradition of having seven types of småkakor probably stems way back to magical ideas of the power of the number seven.)
Grandmother's get togethers would have been for the sewing circle, the Red Cross committee, or perhaps the Ladies Housekeeping Society. The ladies arrived with their hats and purses. Grandmother told them how good of a helper I'd been in the kitchen. After shaking hands and curtsying for the women I was finally allowed to join Granddad in the kitchen and feast on those baked goods that had been rejected as imperfect in appearance, and thus unsuitable to serve to guests.
Slowly our customs changed and we started to invite people to "fika", a less formal or pretentious way of socialising. If I had held coffee klatches when my children were growing up, I would likely have been considered a real reactionary. Serving such unhealthy stuff! No, we held fika on sandwiches or perhaps ham and cheese baps. At best, a sponge cake might have been on offer, perhaps even a chocolate flavoured one! Serving småkakor or sweet buns would have been considered sacrilege.
But times change. Eventually the cookies and buns made a comeback. Nowadays you'll find both one or two småkakor at our gatherings. We even invite people over for "kaffe med dopp" (coffee with dip)! Often we will serve both cookies and cake and our famous cinnamon- and cardamom buns.
Fika in Sweden is simply a way of hanging out. We have frequent breaks for coffee at work and at home. Sitting down with something sweet, even if it is just a biscuit, turns it into a little space to converse and be at ease with each other. Most likely many conflicts and issues are diffused that way, very undramatically.
Long live the fika! Many of the recipes on this blog are excellent choices to make for your fika. And please comment, I would love to hear about your own fika favourites!
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