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50 free Scandinavian Food trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Scandinavian food is what happens when long winters, short salt supplies and a lot of coastline meet. Herring was fermented in cans that still must not be opened indoors, cod was dried and soaked in lye, salmon was buried in sand, and whey was boiled down into a brown cheese that a Norwegian milkmaid turned into a national icon. Then Copenhagen chefs wrote a manifesto in 2004 and the region's restaurants became the most talked-about in the world. These 50 questions cover Sweden, Denmark and Norway with a few detours to Iceland and Finland: surströmming's third-Thursday-in-August premiere, smørrebrød on rugbrød, Jansson's temptation and its mistranslated sprats, flæskesteg on Christmas Eve, fårikål's feast day, semlor on Shrove Tuesday, kanelbullens dag, the crayfish party, akvavit and its snapsvisa, lefse, lingonberries and cloudberries, Noma and New Nordic Cuisine. The expert tier asks about Anne Hov, Oskar Davidsen, the 1939 World's Fair and the word that Danes use to trip up foreigners. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you miss. Play solo or print it for a Nordic dinner.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Surströmming is a fermented version of which fish?
Baltic herring
The smaller Baltic strömming is caught before spawning in April and May and fermented for at least six months.
Q 02Retailers traditionally release the year's surströmming on which day?
The third Thursday in August
A 1940s royal ordinance banned earlier sales to stop under-fermented fish reaching shops; the date stuck as the 'premiere'.
Q 03Lutefisk is dried whitefish cured in what?
Lye
It is rehydrated for days and takes on a gelatinous texture; the name literally means 'lye fish'.
Q 04Which fish is most commonly used for lutefisk?
Cod
Ling and burbot are used occasionally; it is served at Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish Christmas tables.
Q 05Smørrebrød is usually built on which bread?
Rugbrød
The dense dark sourdough rye is buttered before cold cuts, fish or cheese go on top.
Q 06What does 'smørrebrød' literally mean?
Butter and bread
The Swedish equivalent smörgås translates, oddly, as 'butter goose'.
Q 07Which Copenhagen restaurateur opened a smørrebrød restaurant with a famous long menu in the 1880s?
Oskar Davidsen
Henry Stryhn later popularised liver pâté by delivering it around the city by bicycle.
Q 08Gravlax is salmon cured with salt, sugar and which herb?
Dill
It is served with a mustard-dill sauce that Danes call rævesovs, 'fox sauce'.
Q 09The 'grav' in gravlax refers to what medieval practice?
Burying the fish in sand
Fishermen salted the salmon and fermented it above the high-tide line; the word means 'to dig'.
Q 10Swedish meatballs are traditionally served with jam made from which berry?
Lingonberry
The tart jam cuts through the cream gravy and mashed potatoes.
Q 11In which year did IKEA add Swedish meatballs to its store cafeterias?
1985
By 2022 it was serving over a billion meatballs a year worldwide.
Q 12In 2018, Sweden's official Twitter account claimed meatballs originated where?
Turkey
The claim, tied to King Charles XII's exile, was refuted by food historians and retracted.
Q 13What does the Swedish word köttbullar literally mean?
Meat buns
The term first appeared in Cajsa Warg's cookbook of 1755.
Q 14Why do Swedes traditionally eat pea soup on Thursdays?
Q 21Sweden's Cinnamon Roll Day, Kanelbullens dag, falls on which date?
4 October
Swedish kanelbulle dough typically includes cardamom, and the day has been promoted since 1999.
Q 22A semla is a cardamom bun filled with whipped cream and what?
Almond paste
In Finland a jam-filled version competes with the almond original, a debate as heated as pineapple on pizza.
Q 23Semlor are traditionally associated with which day?
Shrove Tuesday
In Sweden it is also called fettisdagsbulle, the 'Fat Tuesday bun'.
In which month are Swedish crayfish parties traditionally held?
Maids had the afternoon off
The yellow ärtsoppa is followed by thin pancakes; the armed forces still serve it to conscripts every Thursday.
Q 15What is the classic Swedish pea soup called?
Ärtsoppa
Kalops is a meat stew, raggmunk a potato pancake and pytt i panna a fried hash.
Q 16Jansson's temptation is a Swedish casserole of potatoes, onions, cream and what?
Pickled sprats
Swedes call the sprats 'ansjovis', which is why the dish is so often mistranslated as anchovies.
Q 17Smörgåsbord became known in the US at which event?
The 1939 New York World's Fair
It was served at the Swedish Pavilion's Three Crowns Restaurant.
Q 18What is the Swedish Christmas buffet called?
Julbord
Lutfisk, gravlax and meatballs are regulars; a lighter påskbuffé appears at Easter.
Q 19Swedish crispbread was traditionally baked as a round loaf with a hole for what reason?
To hang it on poles near the ceiling
Crispbreads were baked just twice a year and hung to dry, possibly also keeping rats away.
Q 20What is the Swedish coffee-and-cake break called?
Fika
Sweden ranks among the world's top coffee consumers per capita.
August
The harvest was legally limited to late summer for most of the 20th century; paper hats and moon lanterns are customary.
Q 25Under EU rules, akvavit's dominant flavour must come from caraway and/or which seed?
Dill
It is distilled from grain or potatoes and is typically 40% alcohol.
Q 26What is the best-known Swedish drinking song sung before a shot of akvavit?
Helan Går
Such songs are called snapsvisor; in Norway akvavit is sipped slowly and unchilled instead.
Q 27What do Danes call the pastry the rest of the world knows as 'Danish'?
Wienerbrød
It means 'Viennese bread'; in Austria the same pastry is a Kopenhagener.
Q 28Flæskesteg, a Danish national dish, is roast pork always served with what?
Crackling
It is the traditional Christmas Eve dinner, with boiled and caramelised potatoes.
Q 29Rødgrød med fløde is a Danish dessert of what?
Red berries thickened into a pudding
Its pronunciation is so hard for foreigners that Danes have used it as a shibboleth since the early 1900s.
Q 30Danish æbleskiver, eaten in December, are spherical cakes made with what?
A puffy pancake batter
Despite the name meaning 'apple slices', there are no apples in them.