“Fika is a concept, a state of mind, an attitude and an important part of Swedish culture.”

Sweden, much like many other European countries, has the tradition of Fika as an opportunity to pause in the middle of the day to meet with friends or colleagues to share a cup of coffee and a small treat. What a wonderful idea, but who has time for that?

In the United States we have this mentality of “grinding” and “hustling” and it’s almost as though we all brag about it. I remember trying to tell my coworker to stop complaining about working ten days in a row because I worked fifteen days in a row and 4 of those days were 16-hour work days. Why on earth is that something worth bragging about?! Friends would tell me, “I don’t know how you do it!” Do what? Have no social life, no sleep, and poor mental health? Yes, it’s very impressive. But for some reason I was proud of it.

Many cultures around the world share things similar to Fika. In Italy, it is called Abbiocco, but instead of taking time for food and drink, they take a nap. Similar to Siesta, which is practiced in Spain.

The fact is: your job will not remember you when you die. And your boss probably doesn’t care about what you do outside of work. That’s why we all deserve to take time for ourselves to pause and be present. Not only does this relieve stress but it’s also a time to connect with others and focus on the relationships and activities you truly value.

Grinding and hustling is an ideal fueled by capitalism and it only benefits the 1%. So take time for yourself and remember that it’s okay to slow down, in fact it’s better.

And regardless of the mental health perks, taking a coffee break in the middle of the day with a treat is not something you need to tell me to do twice and statistics show that practices such as fika actually help people to be more productive throughout the rest of the day, instead of experiencing burn out as the clock reaches 5:00pm.

If I’ve convinced you to try slowing down then let me tell you a little more about fika. It’s important to mention that Fika is both a noun and a verb. You could say “Shall we go for a fika?” or “Do you want to Fika later?” The photos above are a few Fikas that I had when I spent two weeks traveling from Copenhagen to Stockholm a year and a half ago. Those knotted treats are called cardamom buns and I had been wanting to recreate them ever since I left! Happy to say I finally pulled it off.

As much as I would love to share my own recipe, that will have to wait. For now I used this one and they turned out perfect!

The one adjustment I made is, similarly to my Cinnamon Rolls recipe, to double the filling! It overflows throughout the bun and caramelizes on the bottom and it is, oh, so delicious! Trust me.

Once done and fresh out of the oven, I got to sit down with my roommate and made some espresso in my stove top Moka pot. We talked about our upcoming moves and just had a wonderful chance to slow down together.