The candy aisle at the Daglivs grocery in Stockholm.
Sweden has a candy fixation. For a country that has generally thin (and good-looking) people, it’s amazing how much candy is eaten here. There’s even a day set aside for buying and eating candy – Saturday. It’s called Lördagsgodis or Saturday candies and every child knows that on Lördag or Saturday, tradition says that he or she gets to go to the store and fill a paper bag of candy with their favorite godis or sweets.
Every Swedish grocery has these bins, convenience stores and movie theaters have them and there are even entire stores filled with only candies. In a grocery, it’s likely that you will find an entire aisle filled with these bins stacked several rows high and filled with all sorts of candy. There are salty/sweet candies, sour candies, gummy or jelly candies, licorice, marshmallow and hard candies. And of course, there are chocolates.
Best of all in my mind, you can pick and mix all sorts of candies together. You go up to the bins, pick up a paper bag and a scoop and then fill your bag with whatever you like. There’s no need to use separate bags for different types of candy – you put them all together, get the bag weighed and pay by the weight. It’s a pretty easy system.
And yeah, I know this is Food Friday, but somehow, Saturday candies seem like a perfect fit.
The "fried egg" candies caught my eye, but I have to say that I wasn't tempted to try them.
Gummy candies.
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We have all those sweets over here too – but unlike in Sweden it is getting harder and harder to find them as many of the shops that sold them have gone out of business, one large chain in particular. But the eggs are actually really nice! Friday after school was our time for sweet buying, and I am glad that my children had that tradition in our area before our favourite sweet shop closed.
Hi Jane, Thanks for sharing how it works in the UK. We have them in the US too, but they seem to be a much bigger deal here. They are somehow an institution.
What a fun tradition! Though it could get me in serious trouble …
So true Bryn. But luckily for me, this is one tradition that I have not adopted. I am happy to just admire it.
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