Fika: The Swedish Word for Coffee Time with Friends, Accompanied with Sweets
Coffee, pastries, friends and cozy atmosphere
Let’s have a fika!
When you tell it to your Swedish friends, you can be sure it will bring a warm smile to their faces. It's short and unassuming, yet it's an invitation to grab delightful bites from life, what makes the experience of living genuinely enjoyable.
Earlier, in my Sobremesa post, I talked about the Mediterranean culture's natural tendency to socialize. However, it seems that the situation is not different in the northern countries. So, can we actually call socializing a human need? Because friendship or social approval is one of the few extremely necessary things a human being would like to have in life.
When we can't find a person or have restricted access to one, we make friendships out of other things. Even though we are wallflowers, we make friends with ourselves out of loneliness. Sometimes we become bookworms and make friends with the heroes in the novels. There are those who make friends with their pets. In short, friendship is extremely necessary. Beyond being necessary, it feels really good.
Fika means "coffee break with friends" in Swedish culture. It is derived from the Old Swedish word "kaffi", which means coffee. The syllables in kaf-fi changed places, and when the letter f was deleted, Fika appeared.
Fika is very common in Swedish culture. In the business world, taking a break for Fika in the morning or afternoon is very much the norm. Along with coffee or tea, Fikabröd, or Sweden's famous patisserie products, such as Cinnamon Rolls, are eaten in the company of chat.
Fika is not done alone. You do not have Fika when you drink coffee and eat cake by yourself. Fika also means socializing, chatting, laughing, and exchanging ideas.
As a person who has made many business trips to Sweden and is familiar with the culture, I also attended Fikas in Swedish offices. In the office, there is a small, cozy kitchen, a nice smell of coffee, and sometimes people chat in small groups at small tables with coffee cups in their hands and small patisserie products. It's good to relax and chat after a long meeting, but it's also an opportunity to get to know each other.
I remember the Stockholm days. I went on very cold days and also in spring. Stockholm is always beautiful. I'll never forget the wonderful time we had in Gamla Stan, the old city, the lovely walks in the snow through the Christmas-decorated shops, and diving into the cozy patisserie shops that invited us inside with their exquisite showcases and smelling the delicious aroma of coffee.
Fika is beautiful. It's short and unassuming, yet it's an invitation to grab delicious bites from life, which makes the experience of living genuinely delightful.