Yes, Sweden definitely has a pizza culture. Pizza is likely the most famous takeaway and dine-in food around. Chinese, Indian, or hamburgers don’t even come close.
No, pizza in Sweden hasn’t been around forever and yes it arrived on our shores from migrant Italian workers. But, I’ll go into that a bit more down below. So, read on and find out the reason pizza is so huge here in this small Scandinavian country.
A culture you say!
According to Johanna T. Dwyer, in Reference Module in Food Science, 2021, “Food culture involves beliefs about food, foodways, culinary practices, and eating habits”.
We hit on all of those food culture points in our love of pizza in Sweden. Today there are over 4,700 pizza joints in Sweden and they are loved by most in our small country of 10.35 million souls. Yes, we have Pizza Hut, but only 20 locations. And yes, we have Dominos, but the 14 locations are struggling to gain acceptance in the Swedish pizza culture. Let’s put it into perspective, metropolitan New York City is said to be the pizza capital of the USA. Metro NYC has a population of just over 18 million souls and 1600 pizza joints or about 89 pizzerias per million souls. Sweden on the other hand has 454 pizzerias per million souls. See what I mean!
So what do these pizza joints look like? By far, most look similar to Långås Pizzeria on our West coast located in a town of the same name.
Here in our small town of Svalöv, we have three restaurant choices, Rondell Pizzeria (above), Kocken’s Pizzeria, or a not-so-good Asian takeaway/dine-in joint.
You’ll also find modern and very upscale pizza joints, like 18|89 Fast Fine Pizza in Stockholm (above).
18|89 is the number one pizza restaurant in Stockholm and number two in all of Sweden.
It is said in Sweden, that if a town doesn’t have at least one pizzeria it’s not a town.
For all of my readers who wish to learn more regarding the history of Pizza in Sweden, click the CLICK HERE button below.
CLICK HERE
The Pizza History
ASEA Metalworks Västerås, Sweden circa 1940 ( image is Public Domain)
After WWII unemployment in Italy was very high, but in Sweden, business was booming and they needed skilled labor. Thus in September of 1947, Sweden received its first large group of Italian workers. These 300 Italians from the area of Napoli came to the city of Västerås (near Stockholm) to work at the ASEA Metalworks (now ABB Group).
Image by Valerio Capello, via Wikimedia Commons
With them the Italian workers brought new flavors and dishes, (e.g. Neapolitan pizza).
In Västerås, they formed an “Italian Club” where many resided, and most came to socialize and make their beloved pizza (and other dishes). Just down from the club was the restaurant Sjöhagen which soon put pizza on its menu, but the locals turn up their noses, and pizza was removed from their menu. Over the next number of years, attempts were also made to serve pizza in other places in Sweden, but the Swedes were skeptical of the new, exotic dish that looked like a pancake with cheese on it. So, in short order, the pizza disappeared from the menus.
But, finally in 1968 pizza started to catch on in Sweden. This was due largely to Bengt Wedholm a celebrity restaurateur who began serving pizza at his Östergök restaurant at Östermalm in Stockholm. He installed a pizza oven and launched a pizza section in the restaurant, it was an instant success.
Shortly after, Giuseppe “Peppino” Sperandio, a prominent restaurateur in Stockholm considered turning his restaurant into a pizzeria. But, industry colleagues advised him not to do it and said that pizza was not for Sweden. But luckily, in 1969 he made up his mind that the market was ready for the pizzeria experience. He then took over the struggling restaurant Tessin at Gustav Adolfs Torg and opened Sweden’s first pure pizzeria, it was called “Pizzeria Piazza Opera”.
The decor was rustic and the restaurant had an open kitchen so guests could watch the bakers spin the dough and the pizzas cooking in the Italian ovens.
To keep dining costs down, Peppino started serving a free salad to guests while they waited for their pizza, thus Swedish pizza salad was born. Not to worry, we’ll get into the pizza salad in our next post. Peppino’s pizza salad is said to have been inspired by the Croatian salad Kupus Salata, which was common in northern Italy where he came from. To this day, if you order pizza from a pizzeria in Sweden, you’ll most likely get a free pizza salad.
In the early 1970s, pizzerias started popping up everywhere in Sweden. In 1973, Stockholm alone had 20 pizzerias. The pizzeria’s target market soon became the younger group (as it was in my hometown in the USA during that time). The fascinating thing to me is that back then most of the pizzerias’ guests were between 15 and 30 years old and women. As the pub world, was still a male domain, it became a place the ladies would dine and have a drink.
During this time, there were also many immigrants from Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Yugoslavia who started pizza restaurants with new pizza varieties based on inspirations from back home. Our classic kebab pizza, the second best-selling pizza in Sweden is a great example of this. The kebab pizza comes from the German-Turkish variant of the kebab. Today, many, if not most, pizzerias here are owned and operated by fine folks from that region.
In fact, New Year’s Day is National Pizza day in Sweden, with more pizza consumed on that day (good hangover food) than any other.
AND AS THEY SAY, “THE REST IS HISTORY”.
OK, I know this is not pizza. It’s just I promised in my last post to share what I first made on our restored breadboard. It was planned to be pizza, but “stuff happens” and it was my Saturday sourdough bread that claimed the honor.
Not to worry, pizza was next in line and our post next month will be all about Swedish-style pizza and cooking in the OONI pizza oven. So, stay tuned for next month for our, Pizza in the OONI, Swedish style… post. We’ll be making the number one and number two most popular pizzas in Sweden and sharing with you my experience and thoughts on the OONI pizza oven. No, it will not be a sponsored post. We don’t do those…
Now, for you, pizza makers, or others that want to see how they do over here have a look at the video above. This guy is good…
Wow. That’s a lot of pizza joints! Incredible. Great post!
Yes, it is Mimi. Thanks for stopping by and having a read…
Now that’s a lot of pizza joints per person ratio. Always hard work doing all the quality assurance pizza testing – we are on stand by if you need help. (smiling) . Can’t wait to see your Pizza in the OONI, Swedish style version. Stay well and take care
QA work in the kitchen falls on Chloe girl, however I do assist her as needed. Come on over and give a hand, Chloe could use a break.
Stay well and warm over your way…
You know its hard work but someone has to do it. So what time shall I pop over? LOL Hope you are doing well dear friend.
Those OONI pizza ovens get good reviews – did I mention before, the Jeffrey Steingarten story about removing the thermostat in his oven to get it hot enough to make “real” pizza at home? Of course it ended in disaster.
I’m looking forward to your next post!
…and you just reminded me that I worked (very briefy) at a pizzaria in Atlanta.
Great pizza story and safety tip regarding removing the thermostat. OONI is an excellent pizza cooker which you’ll see in my next post.
I never cooked in a pizzeria, but I put my way through two years of Uni delivering pizza…
Ron, now I’m hungry for pizza!
Well, I hope you got yourself a tummy-pleasing pizza. Thanks fro stopping by Angela…
And I truly believe the most pizza joints in Sweden (except the Huts and Domino’s) have to be much better than much of what’s in New York! By the way, we saw a Pizza Hut on Plaza Mayor in Madrid. Ugh.
David, it amazes me that Huts and Dominos even appeal to pizza eaters here. They are mostly in the big cities near universities. Pizza huts, Micky D, and such should be banned from being on famous squares, but that’s just my opinion…
I don’t remember seeing any pizza places when I visited Sweden. I think we were mostly in the country. Those pizzas look really good Ron and I am sorry I missed them.
Gerlinde, oh they were there. When you were at Kåseberga visiting Ales stenar and likely dining at Kåseberga Fisk, there was a very nice (and expensive) pizzeria just up from them.
No worries, you can get into the pizza when return…
The crust looks bomb!
Thanks…
More pizza places than in New York?! Who knew!
I visited Stockholm once, for a short trip, so was acutely on the look for Swedish cuisine, ignored pizzerias altogether.
Live and learn! 🙂
We love Stockholm, and what a great place to experience Swedish cuisine. On my first visit to Sweden (Lund), Eva took me to a Swedish hot dog stand. It was always the first thing we did when we visited. The second was to go to a pizzeria. But, when we visit Stockholm, we never think of pizza either…
you know i never thought of sweden and pizza in the same breath:=) Amazing to think how popular it is there. I hope it’s good quality. Good to see that the pizza chains are not getting much of a look in.
Sherry if you like Neopolitan thin-crust pizza, you’d love Swedish pizza. Eaten with a knife and fork, not in one hand…
I love pizza – sometimes. But pizza and Sweden never came together in my head!!
Cecilia, I also love pizza and would eat it all the time if my doctor allowed it…
Gosh Ron, who knew? But I am not too suprised because pizza is such a comfort food isn’t it, and in this day and age where ‘food traditions’ can travel so much more easily abroad, and quicklier too, a friendly food like pizza just had to make it way into Sweden too.
Josephine, you’re spot on about pizza being a comfort food. I also love how food travels and evolves into local cultures.
I had no idea that Sweden had so many pizzerias! 3-4x the number as NYC!? I feel like you can’t walk a block in the City without passing at least 2 pizza shops. I can’t imagine what it must be like over there! But I do know that I’m not complaining – I love pizza! 2 of the restaurants in your town are pizza joints, too. Hilarious! Again, not complaining. 🙂 And that kebab pizza sounds super interesting. Now you’ve got me wondering about the #1 pizza over there. Guess I’ll just have to wait until the next post…
To be honest David, they are mostly in the rural small towns in Sweden. But, every large city has its share as well. Lund, with a population of 80,000, has around twenty that I can name. Kebab pizza is my new fav, I never thought it sounded good until I tried it when I made some for the upcoming post. Maybe it’s the sauce, but more on this soon…
Ah, yes, the kupus salata! We serve it often, especially with backyard BBQs. It’s a staple item on restaurants’ menus, and it goes great with holiday roasts. And no, I don’t have the recipe on my blog (yet).
Such an informative post. I love learning about different food cultures and look forward to your pizza recipes next!
You know pizza here without pizza sallad is just not right. To be honest, we most often buy it from our local pizzeria. It’s cheaper than making it ourselves and is very tasty. I do hope to see your recipe for kupus salata soon…
I loved the history Ron, thank you. There are endless variations of pizza around the world. I am surprised there isn’t a pizza with that pizza salad on top. I remember having a lunch dish in Rome that was a thin crispy pizza crust with salad piled on top. I think that if I had to choose only one food to live on (because of the number of ways to serve it) it would be pizza. Unfortunately I don’t think my body would be too happy, but my taste buds would rejoice.
Hi Liz, I’ve seen several people putting the pizza salad on top of their pizza, one being Eva’s step-brother. I’ve tried it but it’s not my fav. Like you, I could eat pizza daily. Thanks for taking the time to have a read…
It’s interesting to see how prejudices are easily broken using several simple numbers. We should do that often to get right perspective on so many things…..
So true and I think food has served to bring cultures together since the beginning of time. Thanks for stopping by…
Pizza in some form is beloved everywhere because you can do so much with it. I need to get back into making my own and stay away from the pizza joints for a quick meal. I envy you with your special oven – it really makes anything you create a masterpiece. Looking forward to more posts and the fun you and your wife are having. What does Chloe think?
Judi, making pizza is fun and a great family cooking experience. But, we’ve been known to order the quick and easy takeaway pizza on occasion. The pizza oven is a fun outdoor kitchen toy indeed, but a good convection oven and pizza stone can do a mighty good job as well.
Chloe loves pizza, but isn’t to fond of the noise the OONI makes when it’s cooking…
I don’t like pizza hut or dominos. Or most of those other so called “pizza restaurants” they’re not real. Give me a local pizza place, like the ones you have in the pictures. Or home made. That’s much better in my humble opinion. Thanks for making me hungry for pizza Ron. Ha ha!
Hi Neil, I’m glad I made your pizza hungry. I hope you’ve had a great pizza to satisfy your pizza craving…
I really miss Swedish pizza
Hi Claes,
You know, I can sympathize with you as when we lived in the US my Swedish wife (and me) missed it too. When we visited, it was always the second meal dining out that we had for visits, the first was a hot dog.
I hope you read my upcoming post on making Swedish pizza so you can create your own at home…
I had no idea that Swedes were that into pizza! And I have to say, at least judging from the photos here, it looks like the real deal. Looking forward to those future posts…
Thanks Frank, as in America we owe our look of pizza to the Italian immigrants. Take care…
Well, I’m sorry that you have Domino’s and Pizza Hut, but the rest of these pizzas sound delicious!
Jeff, I think you’d find many pizzas here that you like. Thanks for stopping by…
Definitely delicious with the Swedish optioned cheeses.
Thanks for having a read…