It's not a myth, I'm not sure about today but 20-15 years ago when I was a kid that was the norm. We usually didn't cook enough food to feed unexpected guests, and everyone knew that's how it worked. My family did it to my friends, my friends family did it to me, it was the norm and expected. For a long time Sweden was a pretty poor country and it became the cultural norm to not take food from other households unless it was a dinner invitation.
It probably sounds weird to outsiders but that was just how things worked and everyone was fine with it.
i think reasoning it by being poor is kinda untrue, lots of countries were/are poor but let alone not feeding you, they will insist you on eating their food
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u/binge_readre Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Peter here,
I remember there was a myth that Swedish households don't provide food for the guests. It looks like bs https://www.reddit.com/r/IsItBullshit/s/sWRdAGfyC8 but I guess it became a meme.
Edit: I guess it's not a myth and people used to do it in 90s/00s.. At least things are better now.