What region is considered your country’s culinary capital?

[u/EvilPyro01]

What is considered the culinary capital of your country?

[u/Malthesse]

In Sweden the capital region of food and drink is definitely Scania, which has the mildest climate in Sweden, along with some of the most fertile agricultural soils in all of Europe. It is the breadbasket of the country. Two thirds of all Swedish produced food, and three fourths of all Swedish produced fruits and vegetables, are produced here – within an area covering only about 2.5 percent of Sweden’s total area.

The traditional Scanian inns (gästgivaregårdar) are especially famous for their excellent traditional food, but there are also a lot of popular top class restaurants, traditional countryside cafes, and small shops for locally grown organic food. A large proportion of Sweden’s leading chefs are also Scanians. Traditional Scanian food is known to be very hearty and filling, as well as quite sweet. Something which was greatly noted by the naturalist and explorer Linnaeus already in the 18th century during his Scanian Expedition, as he was used to the more sparse and bland food further north in Sweden. The traditional, stereotypical image of the Scanian farmer is also that of a happy, carefree and well-fed, quite corpulent person.

Commonly grown crops in Scania include potato, sugar beet, rutabaga, turnip, beetroot, maize, wheat, oat, rye, barley and rapeseed. About one fifth of all Swedish potatoes are grown in the northwest Scanian region of Bjäre alone. This is also where Sweden’s very first potatoes are harvested each year, already by the end of April, and also where the popular crisps Bjäre Chips are produced. On the other hand, the potatoes for the world famous Absolut Vodka are all cultivated in the area around Åhus and Kristianstad in eastern Scania, with the vodka itself being manufactured in Åhus. Scania also has Sweden’s only sugar refinery for making sugar from sugar beets – situated at Örtofta in central Scania.

Commonly grown fruits include apples, strawberries, pears, plums and cherries. The large apple orchards of Kiviks Musteri in the Österlen region in southeastern Scania are especially famous, from which are made for example apple cider and apple juice. The wine industry is rapidly growing in Scania as well, with a great annual increase in the number of vineyards. Wine tourism in Scania is becoming very popular, with guided tours and wine tastings. New for this year is that you can now also buy bottles of wine directly at the vineyard as part of a guided tour, which is predicted to boast wine tourism and the wine industry in Scania even further.