Sweden Highest Candy Consumption in the World

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Lördagsgodis in Sweden

Today is Saturday. And for kids throughout Sweden that means one thing. Lördagsgodis. Saturday candy. Americans have Saturday morning cartoons, Swedes have Saturday candy.

And this is engrained in just about every sugar craving kid under the age of 12. Hell, I remember when we first moved to the US trying to keep the Saturday candy tradition alive. That didn’t fly for too long, unfortunately. But at the same time, Swedish candy is just so much better than American candy.

Therein lies the origin of lördagsgodis. Saturday candy was invented so as to placate the masses. Because to deny children the sugary goodness of Swedish candy is damn near criminal, but to feed them as much as they want every day of the week results in a over-sugared, toothless, and eventually, very unhealthy population. So the Swedes decided that one day out of the week would be mandated as candy day. And what better day than Saturday? And so it stuck. Obviously. You can look it up.

Now just to be clear, plenty of candy gets eaten on other days of the week. Saturday is just the big one. But still, people make comments if kids are eating candy during the week. Just the other day, I walked by this very scenario playing out in front of me. An older woman was talking to a kid, maybe about 10 years old. I assumed the woman to be some sort of teacher, or maybe a coach. But to be honest, and kind of mean, judging from the kid’s physique he wasn’t taking part in too many athletic endeavors. Our young candidate for knubbiga barn was eating some candy. It was the middle of the week. And the teacher (we’re making a final assumption here) commented in surprise that he was eating candy… “och det är ju inte lördag,” “and it’s not Saturday!” This is a glorious country.

Welcome to Sweden. On a Saturday. Where kids everywhere celebrate by eating themselves sick with gummy goodness.

Swedish Candy. And Easter.

It’s almost Easter. I didn’t have to go work on Friday. I won’t have to go to work on Monday. Sweden might turn me into a religious man. Or at least someone that appreciates all of the religious holidays. But until then, I’ll be focusing on candy.

Because, in a stroke of genius that only parents can pull off, just a day after writing my post about Easter Advertisements in Stockholm, Sweden and my hint to have gummy bunnies sent to me, I received a package from home. With gummy bunnies. The best candy in the world. This is not debatable. Ever.

Sweden does have delicious candies though. Although, they deliver the candy in a bit of a different form during Easter. Instead of tiny little plastic eggs filled with candy, or candy hidden throughout the backyard, or candy in an Easter basket, the Swedes have cardboard Easter eggs filled with goodies. It works quite well, and seems to fit in with the Swedish approach to godis really. Just a big receptacle of different Swedish candy to choose from.

Since moving here I have developed a horrible sweet tooth. I blame the lösgodis completely. Lösgodis is something that I consider to be a Swedish phenomenon. Bins full of candy that you scoop out into a special bag. You get to create your own amazing mix of deliciousness. Especially on Saturdays. Lördagsgodis.

The same thing exists in the US. Not Saturday candy, but bins full of candy. But it’s just not the same. When I’m in the US, I don’t really eat that much candy. Mostly because I don’t ever think of the candy bins. I think of Snickers. And Twix. And all those chocolaty candy bars. I think that’s what the difference really is. Rather than having various candies to pick at, you have to finish off the whole candy bar. And that takes some sort of commitment.

Of course, Sweden has candy bars, but the country also offers all of those afraid of commitment an alternative. The candy bins. You can’t walk into a grocery store in Sweden without finding a wall full of candy bins. You can’t even walk into a convenience store without finding a wall full of candy bins.

The candy is sold by weight. Usually around the holidays you can get the goodies for a sales price. Sometimes as low as 49 SEK per kilo. That’s about five dollars for over two pounds of candy. The fact that there aren’t more fat people, or at least toothless people, in Sweden never ceases to amaze me.

At the wall you will have dozens of candy choices. A small bag will be provided. They’ll even provide a scoop to use. And that’s when it will hit you. The overwhelming choices that lie ahead. Luckily, there are a few important rules when buying candy in Sweden.

Stay away from the licorice. Seriously. Often times it is salty. And that’s not good for anyone.
Fill your bag with gummy candies. They are amazing. You can’t really go wrong with gummy candies.
Try to avoid buying candy late on a Saturday. The bins have been picked over by hundreds of little kids. What are left are the dregs of the candy wall.
In fact, try to avoid buying candy in the middle of the day on a Saturday. You’ll need to sharpen your elbows and fight off sugar-starved little kids. Unless you have no shame, it’s just not worth the crocodile tears of small Swedish children.
Buy your candy at a grocery store. Pressbyrån and 7-11 are expensive.
Now you know.

Welcome to Sweden. And Swedish candy.

It's just about the same in Norway, saturday is candytime.. And of cuorse, the Norwegian candy is WAY better than all that Swedish crap..