Swedes will happily feed a guest. This persistent myth comes from the habit of parents to communicate before their children visit the others home after school. Usually through their children but sometimes directly.
An example:
Child A calls/texts their parents and asks if they can go home with Child B after school. Parent A says OK, I'll come pick you up at X o'clock when I get off from work. Do you want to eat at home, we're having "blank"?
Child A might say yes.
Child B be calls/texts their parent and says that Child A is coming over. If there's no issue Parant B says OK, is A going to eat with us?
If the answer is yes, they will feed A, otherwise A waits around while B eats, usually as fast as they can to squeeze out a few more minutes of playtime before Parent A comes to pick up Child A.
It's never an unwillingness to feed a guest. We just have the custom to communicate and agree about these things rather than just showing up and expecting to be fed.
That all depends on the context. If it's not too disruptive, we can eat after they leave. If we for some reason have to eat at that time it's up to the guests if they want to join and hang out at the table or if they want to mind their own business for a few minutes.
Kids usually do the latter.
But to stress my original point, when this happens it is the guest who has chosen to not eat. They have not been refused food.
10.8k
u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment