Fika: to have Coffee; The Ritual (Episode 1/6)

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Fika. I love trying to explain what fika is to my American friends.  I never seem to convey the experience accurately. Thankfully, Fabian Schmid has started a 6 part documentary on the Swedish art of fika.

Here is the first episode, covering the ritual of fika and what it is, and why it is so important.
Fika is probably one of the first words you want to learn when you go to Sweden, just so you can start to connect to others.

What has your experience been with the Swedish fika?

2 thoughts on “Fika: to have Coffee; The Ritual (Episode 1/6)”

  1. Wow, a 6 part documentary on fika! Fika is admittedly hard to define; I have tried many times. I guess you could say that it usually involves coffe (or tea in my case) but not always; it usually involves socializing with other people but not always, and it’s usually done at work, in a coffeehouse or at home – but not always. If I say I’m going for a fika with a friend, that means we’re going to a café where we’ll eat pastries, drink coffee and talk. For hours. If I go visit family or friends at their house, they will put whatever they have on the table so we can have a fika, and likewise, when someone comes to my house I will dig through the cupboards for some cookies and start making coffee (or, again, I prefer tea ;). If people are hiking, canoeing, skiing or just hanging out on a beach on a sunny day, they will surely have fika brought with them. There’s also “bakluckefika” for when you go driving for the whole day, take a break and open the trunk where you have coffee and something to eat. Use Google Image Search on that word and you’ll see what I mean! I think the main idea of fika is to take the time to hang out with other people. If at work, you grab a cup of coffee to keep your energy up, and head back to your desk with it – that’s not fika. If you sit down for a bit with your coffee and talk to your colleagues – that’s fika! And that’s something I do every day (but I drink tea) 🙂

    Reply
    • Great explanation of fika! I loved having a fika in the forest in the middle of picking mushrooms with friends.

      Reply

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