One Kebab roll with pineapple and cheese, one Prosciutto with spicy seasoning and double crust and one Batman with french fries instead of meat.
These were the order of me and my friends at the local pizzeria growing up. The Swedish pizza culture is not shaming you for who you are in contrast to other food cultures where it would be collectively looked down on to mess with centuries old recipes and where there's a right and wrong way to eat, to cook and to serve food. Swedish pizza only has some decades of history and that's it's strength, anything goes! If you are a regular at a Swedish pizzeria and like a specific concoction that's not on the menu chances are good you'll end up with "Your Name Special" immortalized up on the wall.
We might be considered crude and unsophisticated brutes for it but in that case I'm rather a savage then judgemental and stuck up. With its lack of culinary rules and dictations the Swedish pizzeria is a true sanctuary that embraces the experimental and the weird, one might even say it encourages creativity and new traditions.
The pizzeria was early to break with the restaurant aesthetics of white table cloths and stiff ambience to signal that everyone was welcome. Here you might meet the struggling people of society, the alcoholics, the gambling addicts by the Jack Vegas machines, the unemployed, the outcasts but also the hard-working regular Joe's, the mother of 4 wanting to treat her family to a special Saturday out, the kids that are just learning that if you're willing to work there might be something to gain and asks if they can get a pizza if they help to fold 100 pizza boxes (true story). The Swedish pizzeria is an institution, a social structure and an important place, especially in smaller towns where other meeting points might be scarce.
The Swedish pizzeria is historically a melting pot of cultures. But most of all I see it as a safe space, an accepting freehaven.
You have your pizza in front of you, with pineapple and banana on it, I have mine, with béarnaise sauce, minced meat and a fried egg.
No one is in a position to judge anyone.
These were the order of me and my friends at the local pizzeria growing up. The Swedish pizza culture is not shaming you for who you are in contrast to other food cultures where it would be collectively looked down on to mess with centuries old recipes and where there's a right and wrong way to eat, to cook and to serve food. Swedish pizza only has some decades of history and that's it's strength, anything goes! If you are a regular at a Swedish pizzeria and like a specific concoction that's not on the menu chances are good you'll end up with "Your Name Special" immortalized up on the wall.
We might be considered crude and unsophisticated brutes for it but in that case I'm rather a savage then judgemental and stuck up. With its lack of culinary rules and dictations the Swedish pizzeria is a true sanctuary that embraces the experimental and the weird, one might even say it encourages creativity and new traditions.
The pizzeria was early to break with the restaurant aesthetics of white table cloths and stiff ambience to signal that everyone was welcome. Here you might meet the struggling people of society, the alcoholics, the gambling addicts by the Jack Vegas machines, the unemployed, the outcasts but also the hard-working regular Joe's, the mother of 4 wanting to treat her family to a special Saturday out, the kids that are just learning that if you're willing to work there might be something to gain and asks if they can get a pizza if they help to fold 100 pizza boxes (true story). The Swedish pizzeria is an institution, a social structure and an important place, especially in smaller towns where other meeting points might be scarce.
The Swedish pizzeria is historically a melting pot of cultures. But most of all I see it as a safe space, an accepting freehaven.
You have your pizza in front of you, with pineapple and banana on it, I have mine, with béarnaise sauce, minced meat and a fried egg.
No one is in a position to judge anyone.
Text by: Jonas Börjesson
