Vegan food in Sweden

How time flies! I’ve haven’t posted for nearly two months, but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up writing, cooking or researching. A holiday always seems to throw my organisational good intentions off track, no matter how hard I plan. Once I’ve sorted out social media for my paid work and the charity that I volunteer for, there’s never enough time left. Something has to give. A three-week trip to Scandinavia was followed immediately upon my return by a week in the kitchen preparing for the Twilight Open Day. I hadn’t baked ahead this time, so there were no cakes waiting in the freezer – that’s a mistake I won’t make before the next one in July. Anyway, all is back to normal now and I’ve finally downloaded the blog posts I wrote while we were away, off the laptop.

Prior to our visit to Sweden I’d laboured under the misapprehension that the cost of food in Scandinavia was exorbitant. I’d read warnings on various forums that it was necessary to pack your campervan larder in Germany and avoid eating out at all costs. It was with this advice in mind that I made sure my pantry in the floor locker was well-stocked before we crossed the border. One factor we found that adds to the perception of cost is that Sweden has not adopted the Euro. The Swedish Kroner (called ‘crown’, current exchange rate 9.73SEK = €1) produces alarming figures like 309 kr for a small basket of shopping. Once we’d got our heads around the figures we found that the quickest and easiest rough conversion was to shift the decimal point one step to the left.

 

After a few days in Sweden the stocks of fresh produce were starting to dwindle and we needed some more bottled water (a story in itself), so there was no alternative than to track down the nearest Swedish supermarket. I was also curious to check out the range of vegetarian and vegan food on offer. At a tiny co-op store in a beach-side village near Malmo I was able to buy a bag of frozen Quorn pieces so the prospects for a larger shop looked good. Google maps directed us to the large ICA supermarket on the outskirts of Ystad. The floor area of the entire supermarket was not much bigger than our local Intermarche, but they’d managed to pack in a huge range of goods.

 

The first thing that impressed me was the quality and selection of fresh fruit and vegetables. Similar to Germany, there was a whole chilled cabinet dedicated to vegetarian and vegan cheese and ‘meats’: bacon, chorizo, steaks, burgers, schnitzels, and various vegan cheese and spreads. Of course, I fell for the marketing of the packaging on the Jeezly vegan products – made locally in Malmo – which feature a cartoon mouse in various guises. The freezer cabinet was also impressive, vegetarian and vegan food occupied an entire full-size supermarket freezer. There was an extensive range of Quorn products, plus a Swedish 100% vegan range ‘Anamama’ that included falafels, sausages, vegan soya lardons and ready meals. In addition, the selection of yoghurts, cream and ice cream had plenty of choice for vegans.

The one thing that surprised me more than the extensive range of products, was the prices. I’d been expecting the prices to be significantly more than back at home, but the type of foodstuffs that we usually eat, which we often have to search out or do without in France, were not only available but at comparable prices to those at home and in Germany and the Netherlands. You’d probably notice a difference if you were used to Tesco’s buy one get one free, or Asda’s yellow labels, or if you hunt out the so-called bargains (I’ve never found any) at Leader Price or Noz in France. But, on a like-for-like basis I found the Swedish supermarkets to be streets ahead of France on range and quality.

Of course, there is one well-known exception – alcohol. This was one category where we didn’t make any purchases, primarily because we didn’t come across anywhere selling anything to take-away with an alcohol level above 3.5%. In Sweden, the only place to buy alcohol is at a state-run government-owned liquor store called a systembolaget or at restaurants and bars. There are about 430 of these system shops in Sweden, where the age limit of 20 is enforced with ID requirements and the restricted opening hours are off-putting. Unfortunately, we never found an open shop while we were in Sweden so didn’t manage a visit, probably a good thing. It’s no wonder that the Swedes drive over to Denmark to stock up on booze, or buy online.

Being vegetarian going on vegan we rarely eat out in France. We’re not too keen on the five courses of tinned vegetables, meat paté, long lunches even if they are only €12 a head. We’re much fonder of snacking and the Swedes, it seems, are also a nation of snackers. Like Germany, there are a plethora of frites shacks, fish stalls, rokeri and pizza outlets, plus a spot of rivalry between Burger King and MacDonald’s. I still didn’t get to try out a Swedish MacDonald’s, which is reputed to have two different vegan offerings. Café culture really comes into its own there with Konditori selling fabulous sticky cinnamon pastries and cakes oozing with fresh cream. There’s usually a range of open sandwiches or  smorgsta with some fillings that are bound to appeal to vegetarians and vegans.

In Ystad, we found, by chance, a fabulous delicatessen selling pre-prepared salads, pies, fish dishes, bread and cakes. I’d been fighting the urge to indulge in fish and chips – being on the coast you’re never far from a café, restaurant or rokeri stand from where the tempting smell of fresh frying wafts. Fortunately though, when I did finally plan to give in to temptation it was a Monday and all the eateries were closed. Damn. Then, down near the harbour we followed a couple of old chaps into an unprepossessing brick building that looked nothing from the outside. Inside was a sea of sparking stainless steel and glass cabinets full of food. While the old guys ordered some type of local fish pie and flirted with the assistant, we admired the choice of take-away delicacies.

For 245 kr (about €25) we bought two huge tubs of pasta salad (freshly made for us, as we’d requested veggie), another equally large tub of pasta salad in a zingy Dijon and dill dressing, two huge hunks of foccaia bread and a bottle of ‘special’ lemonade that turned out to have been made in France! I suppose this did not really count as eating out as we took our haul back to the van, but we made three decent meals out of our purchases, so it wasn’t as expensive as first appeared. Elsewhere, we noticed that ‘modern light lunches’ – pizza, pasta, salads, smorgasbord – main courses are all around or under 100kr, that’s about 10 euro or £8–9, so not too exorbitant. For example, a goats cheese salad in my favourite Limoges restaurant is €10.50. Of course, the bill will start to stack up once you start adding fancy drinks (lemonade anyone?), desserts and coffees, but if you follow the lead of the locals then eating out isn’t out of the question.

The Swedish veggie freezer - food we can only dream about