Fika
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Fika is a Swedish verb that roughly means "to drink coffee", usually accompanied by something sweet on the side.[1]
[edit] Definition
Fika is a social institution in Sweden; it means having a coffee with one's colleagues, friends, date, or family. The word has quite ambiguous connotations and can mean anything from taking a break from work or other activities, to going on a date. Swedes are among the heaviest consumers of coffee in the world[2] and this practice of taking a break for a coffee, typically with a cinnamon roll and/or some biscuits or cookies, or sometimes a smörgås on the side, is central to Swedish life[citation needed].
Although the word may in itself imply "taking a break from work", this is often emphasied using the word fikapaus ("fika pause") or fikarast ("fika break"), with kaffepaus and kafferast, respectively, as near synonyms. The shorter word fika may equally well mean having coffee with a friend at a café or konditori (a "patisserie-based coffeehouse").
Since the word implies drinking coffee, just having a smörgås or sandwich would not really be fika. Drinking tea, however, is also common, and young people may have lemonade, a soft drink, or milk, instead of coffee. However, in a strict sense, a genuine fika implies coffee[citation needed].
Fika is also combined in words such as fikabröd ("fika bread") which is a collective name for all kinds of biscuits, cookies, buns, etc that are traditionally eaten with coffee. Non sweetened breads are normally not included in this term (even though these may sometimes be consumed with coffee). Fika is also used as a noun, referring to fikabröd and coffee combined.
The word is an example of the back slang used in the 19th century, in which syllables of a word were reversed, deriving from fika from kaffi, an earlier variant of the Swedish word kaffe ("coffee").[3] From fika also comes the word fik (a colloquial term for "café") through a process of back-formation.[citation needed]
In northern Sweden and some rural areas, fika may mean coffee without any treats: Ta en kopp fika ("Have a cup of coffee")[citation needed].
There is also a Swedish record in fika where as many people as possible are gathered to fika. Kalmar were first to break a Swedish fika record. On June 6, 2007 2 620 people sat down together for a fika. During May-June 2009 Gevalia took the initiative to try to beat this record in a nationwide fika tour[4] in ten different cities. The previous Swedish record from Kalmar was beaten four times during Gevalia's fika tour, where Östersund were finally crowned as the new Swedish fika champions May 30, 2009 with 3 563 people.
[edit] References
- Martin, Jane Roland (2000). Coming of Age in the Academy: Rekindling Women's Hopes and Reforming the Academy. New York Routledge -Discusses the Swedish Fika on page 163
