One of the latest contributions to the Swedish language is the word “fredagsmys” (meaning something like Friday.. eh… cosiness). It’s simply the act of cuddling up in a sofa after a hard week, taking it easy, maybe watching tv, but above all stuffing oneself with sweets and snacks.
Nothing to be annoyed by from a sustainability point of view, one might think. Friday “cosers” at least aren’t flying off on weekend trips to New York. But now a new report (full version in English) commissioned by the Swedish Food Administration and conducted by the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology shows that this innocent pleasure does in fact cause more environmental harm than most of us had suspected.
The study has made life-cycle analysis of crisps, sweets and soft drinks produced in Sweden and consumed in the Scandinavian capitals. And the results show that sweets and crisps have a climate effect which is actually larger than for apples, milk and bread. For example one kilo of crisps cause emissions of 2,2 kilos of greenhouse gases, which is 20 times more than for one kilo of potatoes. Sweets are even worse : one bag of foam sweets means more emissions than one helping of pork!
The Swedish consumption of sweets, crisps and soft drinks cause about half a million tons of greenhouse gases, which represents 2,6 percent of the food consumption’s climate impact in Sweden.
- This might not seem so much, but considering that soft drinks and sweets are “empty calories” it is an unnecessary contribution to climate change , says Anna-Karin Johansson from the Swedish Food Administration.
Swedes now drink four times more soft drinks and eat twice as much sweets as in the 1960:s (an average of almost 88 liters of soft drinks and more than 15 kilos of chocolate per person and year)… so there are’nt only environmental reasons to make Friday traditions a bit greener.
But to be honest it’s hard to imagine a radical change here. What kind of Friday indulgence would a carrot be? For a middle way let me propose one of my personal favourites: the homemade Swedish classic Kladdkaka (“Sticky cake”). Not exactly full of fibers and vitamins, but easy to make, chocolaty and… wonderful.
KLADDKAKA
100 g melted butter
2 eggs
250 g sugar
2 tsp vanilla sugar
4 tbs cocoa powder
60 g wheatflour
Mix all the ingredients well and spread the mixture in a baking tin (preferably covered with oven paper, since this cake sticks easily) and bake in a 175 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream, ice cream or on its own.
