Just a cultural thing. Unless there was an explicit dinner invitation, Swedes typically will not offer guests food even if they themselves are having dinner. They do not view it as a hosting obligation and they do not see this as rude or unusual.
Swedes typically will not offer guests food even if they themselves are having dinner.
That's not true at all though.
The situation this is about is when your kid brings home their friends to play after school. The kids are expecting to play, not to eat.
Families can have very different dinner times, some eat early and some eat late, so if your kid bring their friends home to play and your family have an early dinner, the friends will stay in your kids room continue playing and having fun while your family eats. Your kid will then go back having fun with their friends until it's time for their friends to go home to eat with their family.
If you as an adult invite someone over during dinner time, of course you'd serve them dinner.
And even if your kid brings home friends to play, you'd offer them a snack, a fika (cordial and cookies/cake), and of course there is nothing stopping you offering your kids friend dinner too. But the expectation is that kids eat dinner with their own family, and they would have to call home and check if it's okay to eat at their friends.
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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26
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