August just came and passed. In Sweden, August means end of vacations (the minimum four week ones that almost everyone takes), darker nights and....kräftskiva, or crayfish parties. This is more than a meal. This is more than a party. It's an important tradition signifying the start of crayfish season. And it's fun. More

Note: Roger Magnusson first appeared on A Hamburger Today with a review of Sweden's most popular burger chain, Max. Now he's back with another Swedish fast food report, this time about Günter's, a hot dog stand in his home of Stockholm. Gunter behind the counter with a Kabanoss served in a French bread roll (fralla in Swedish) with hot sauce, mustard, and sauerkraut. [Photos: Roger Magnusson] In Sweden, hot dogs are a typical fast food dish. We have all kinds, from the ordinary dog with only bread to a half special, a normal grilled hot dog topped with mashed potatoes and a mayo-based shrimp salad (räksallad in Swedish). In Stockholm, we have a lot hot dog stands, or korvkiosks. But... More

Alan Richman, "GQ" magazine food writer. Visiting Sweden? Hope to impress a Swede? Just want to appear worldly and stylish? The French Culinary Institute's Cooking Issues blog has been posting an ongoing series of photos it calls the Skål!/Skoal! Project that can school you in one small social custom. The series includes such food-world luminaries as Jeffrey Steingarten, Harold McGee, Wylie Dufresne, and Alan Richman (above), who has perhaps the most extreme skål to date. More pix after the jump.... More

These advertisements might be meant to encourage Swedes to wake up from their absurd dreams with coffee from McDonalds. They might simply be the product of a deranged mind. Either way, Sweden could evidently use the caffeine. Video after the jump.... More

Photograph by Sarah Brooks Much like most big cities here in the U.S., the streets of Stockholm are littered with stands selling their version of the hot dog. They call them "French hot dogs" or korv (from korvar, the Swedish word for "sausage"), and it is essentially a sausage stuffed into a French bread roll. Most stands in the city serve a generic-looking hot dog version, but for a real homemade sandwich, there's only one korv stand to visit—Östermalms Korvspecialist.... More