Local culinary traditions

Raw ingredients from mother nature are typical for West Sweden. Seafood and shellfish are popular along the Bohuslän coastline, and many feel that sitting on the edge of a dock on a sunny day, eating fresh shrimp right out of the bag from the fish monger is the high point of their holiday.

Dalsland has plenty of game, such as moose and deer, but even something as unusual as beaver. From the lakes come whitefish, pike and perch. Cultivated game fish is popular and is sold fresh and smoked. In the summer and autumn when the woods are full of wild mushrooms and berries, these, too, naturally end up on the dinner table.

Västergötland is about fish – smoked fish from the big lakes, Vänern and Vättern. To this we can add cheese making in Falköping. The area around the town has the highest cow population in Sweden.

Traditional provincial dishes include the Bohuslän äggost (egg cheese) – a heavy dish which is usually eaten as a dessert. In the past it was common for farmers to eat äggost for breakfast – and then with a side dish of pickled herring.