The American Ex-Pat’s Guide to Swedish Baked Goods and Deli Foods

Bröd: Bread. Swedes do not know how to bake bread. Most bread that you can buy in Sweden, whether in the grocery store or in a bakery, is only a tad tastier than cardboard. Sorry if you’ve had delicious bread in other European countries and assumed that Swedish bread would also be good. I recommend you bake your own at home.

Fralla (pl. frallor): A kind of small sandwich made with non-delicious, grainy, and usually stale bread, filled with a leaf or two of non-fresh lettuce, a slice of unexciting cheese, and sometimes with a piece of ham of dubious quality. There are usually no condiments or even butter on the fralla. Such sandwiches are often available in delis pre-wrapped in plastic, and usually available for around 15 kronor. The fralla is considered convenient to eat when one isn’t that hungry, doesn’t have much money to spend, and furthermore doesn’t have any sense of taste.

Kanelbulla (pl. kanelbullor): Although “kanelbulla” literally translates to “cinnamon bun,” the kanelbulla is nothing like the cinnamon bun as most Americans know it, and will most likely be an utter disappointment. Yes, it’s a bun, and yes, it has cinnamon in it, but the similarities end there. Kanelbullor are usually laced with cardamom and sold in most bakeries and grocery stores. Whether you buy it at a bakery or the grocery store, it will be surprisingly stale and non-fluffy. There is no frosting. Instead, it is sprinkled with huge rocks of sugar, which do nothing to improve the taste. Kanelbullor are often available at some bakeries in obscenely large sizes, suggesting that some people think that it’s nice to have even more of a bad thing.

Macka (pl. mackor): A subset of sandwiches, either open-faced or closed, with slices of bread. (For example, sandwiches made of baguette breads are not mackor.)

Paj: “Paj” is pronounced exactly as its English translation: pie. Swedes use “paj” to describe, for example, quiche and meat pies as well. Dessert pies are almost always served with an excess of one of the Holy Sauces of Swedish Cuisine: vanijlsås (vanilla sauce), which doesn’t have much of a taste and will leave you wondering why Swedes rave about it. Just nod politely and try to find your pie underneath the pool of vanijlsås as you eat it.

Semla (pl. semlor): Possibly the only Swedish baked good that is worth eating, it is also unfortunately only available at certain times of the year, between some time shortly after Christmas and Easter. It is a cardamom-spiced semolina bun with the insides scooped out and filled with whipped cream and almond paste.

Smörgås: A “smörgås” is usually translated as sandwich. Beware that most sandwiches served in delis are open-faced and need to be eaten on a plate with utensils, and as such are not convenient to eat on-the-go. Eating on-the-go is considered “un-Swedish” anyway. A popular kind of smörgås is a “räksmörgås,” an open-faced sandwich with some boiled egg, dill, cucumber slices, mayonnaise, and an obscene amount of small shrimp.

Smörgåstårta (pl. smörgåstårtor): “Smörgåstårta” literally translates to “sandwich-cake” and is an orgy of bread slices, a creme fraiche-based mixture (used as the “frosting”), cheese slices (which encase the sides of the cake), and usually a pile of shrimp, dill, and lemon slices on top. It is often served at special occasion brunches, despite being remarkably unremarkable in taste.