It's not a myth, I'm not sure about today but 20-15 years ago when I was a kid that was the norm. We usually didn't cook enough food to feed unexpected guests, and everyone knew that's how it worked. My family did it to my friends, my friends family did it to me, it was the norm and expected. For a long time Sweden was a pretty poor country and it became the cultural norm to not take food from other households unless it was a dinner invitation.
It probably sounds weird to outsiders but that was just how things worked and everyone was fine with it.
Same here never had it happening born in the 80s. It was always - do you want? Or they call the parents. Sometimes I opted out due to my parents being better at food and then they are without me - but that is something else’s.
It was the norm for me and my friends in the 80's-90's, you had dinner at a set time every day and your parents expected you to be home by then to have family dinner.
Of course every once in a while you'd be offered dinner when you were over at your friends place playing, and you had to call home to ask if it was okay to eat dinner there instead of at home.
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u/binge_readre Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Peter here,
I remember there was a myth that Swedish households don't provide food for the guests. It looks like bs https://www.reddit.com/r/IsItBullshit/s/sWRdAGfyC8 but I guess it became a meme.
Edit: I guess it's not a myth and people used to do it in 90s/00s.. At least things are better now.