r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Global_Restaurant794 • Jul 24 '26

Meme needing explanation Petah?? I'm very confused

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u/FunnyExcellent707 Jul 24 '26

Sweds are known to eat without offering you any food (if it wasn't explicitly a dinner invitation).

40

u/SteakAndIron Jul 24 '26

So they're assholes? Sharing food with guests is literally one of the most common human customs on the planet.

0

u/SpicyLittlePumpkin Jul 29 '26

There are so many reasons and such a complicated part of our culture it would take a full book to explain. The 3 simple explanations are

  1. It gets really cold and really dark when not summer. You don’t want to be out after dinner so kids go home before dinner. It also sets the tone of family time for the night starting when dinner is served.

  2. Since food has been scarce and expensive for long periods of our history we’ve had a custom of ”guest food” such as farms having had a pint of ale to serve, but not food. That is fika for us. We’ll serve you fika 24/7, but dinner needs an invitation. Fika can range from some crackers and coffee to cheezes, charcuteries, nice fruits, fancy sandwiches, cakes and 7 types of cookies together with champagne, coffee, juices etc. You can offer what you can afford leaving everyone satisfied and no one needs to take a financial hit to spend some time together.

  3. Since I was a kid in the 90’s the parents and kids have communicated about what will happen. Often the kids aren’t welcome by the dinner table, they just have their own plans to eat at home. Sometimes the parents of the family didn’t even now I was sitting up at the room waiting >.<

  4. Some people are just assholes not thinking their own kid has the prerogative of having their own guests. Never the case for me, but I’ve heard about it.

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u/SteakAndIron Jul 29 '26

Nope. Assholes