Maritza

Brand: Carletti

Cost: 3 for 10KR

Found at: ICA

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about the Scandinavian countries, it is that their relationship can best be described as a sibling rivalry. For the outside observer, they seem to be pretty similar, but in their own eyes, they could not be more different. In fact, the topic of Scandinavian differences is one of my favorite topics to bring up at parties because it takes almost no provocation for the Swedes hold court against their Nordic neighbors. The Norwegians are rich jerks who eat brown cheese, the Finns are lunatics that drink too much, and the Danes speak a language that sounds as if they are talking through a mouthful of beer. (The Swedes, of course, are perfect – not at all the arrogant, goody-two-shoes that those other countries might think they are). With very little goading, they will even get into the minutiae of who owned who when and what happened during which war – history runs deep and family never forgets.

Except, it seems when it comes to chocolate. There, at the checkout counter of the ICA supermarket, was a whole display of Danish chocolates right at children’s eye level. And what could be more Swedish in sensibility than gummy raspberry-flavored gelatin covered in smooth milk chocolate? The Scandinavian countries may talk smack but when it comes to the grocery store, they seem to conveniently forget their differences.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from this blog: food is the universal negotiator. Candy, doubly so.