# Swedish People Dont Feed Their Guests Swedengate > #SwedenGate is a 2022 viral debate originating from a Reddit story about being left out of dinner at a Swedish friend's house, spawning international memes and cultural backlash. **Swedish People Don't Feed Their Guests**, known online as **#SwedenGate**, was a viral internet debate that erupted in late May 2022 after a Reddit user shared a childhood memory of being left alone in a room while their Swedish friend's family ate dinner. The story spread to Twitter where it sparked international outrage, thousands of memes, and a broader reckoning with Swedish cultural norms, eventually expanding into discussions about the country's history with colonialism and racism[1][2]. ## Origin On May 25th, 2022, Reddit user u/sebastian25525 posted a thread in r/AskReddit asking: "What is the weirdest thing you had to do at someone else's house because of their culture/religion?"[5] The next day, user u/Wowimatard replied with a story about visiting a Swedish friend's home as a child and being told to wait in the bedroom while the family ate dinner. Another user, u/TeaRaveler, shared a similar account of being excluded from breakfast at a friend's house. The replies collected over 30,700 and 13,800 upvotes respectively within five days[5]. Later on May 26th, Afghan-Canadian Twitter user @SamQari posted a screenshot of the Reddit comments with the caption: "Not here to judge, but I don't understand this. How're you going to eat without inviting your friend?"[3] The tweet picked up 21,200 retweets, 27,600 quote tweets, and 127,300 likes in its first five days[5]. - **Platform:** Reddit (r/AskReddit thread), Twitter (viral spread) - **Creator:** u/sebastian25525 (original Reddit thread), u/Wowimatard (viral comment), @SamQari (viral tweet) - **Date:** 2022 ## Overview #SwedenGate centers on the revelation that many Swedish households do not offer food to visiting children during family mealtimes. Instead, the guest child is expected to wait in another room until the family finishes eating. While Swedes largely viewed this as a normal cultural practice rooted in respect for other families' dinner plans, people from virtually every other culture found it baffling, rude, or even cruel[7][3]. The resulting online firestorm produced a wave of memes, cultural hot takes, and a cascade of deeper criticisms aimed at Sweden's self-image as a progressive utopia. ## How It Spread Though posted on May 26th, the conversation didn't fully ignite until May 28th, when Swedish Twitter users began confirming the practice was real and even defending it as normal[5]. The casual tone of these defenses only added fuel, and non-Swedish users responded with a mix of disbelief and mockery. On May 28th, Twitter user @sighyam posted what appears to be the earliest viral meme based on the controversy, a video caption that pulled 6,900 retweets and 45,400 likes in three days[5]. By May 29th, Gambian-Swedish author and activist Lovette Jallow created a thread sharing her own experience: "Laughing at twitter finding out that Swedish people will not feed strangers. As a kid growing up here we knew to just go home around dinner time. On the flipside, my mom would feed Swedish kids though"[9]. Her first tweet gathered over 5,000 retweets and 58,800 likes before she set her account to private[5]. Swedish pop star Zara Larsson added her voice on both Twitter and TikTok, calling it "Peak Swedish culture" and recounting how friends would routinely leave her in their rooms during dinner: "A lot of families would [do that], and it wouldn't be a strange thing. It's so rude... but it's definitely Swedish culture"[3][4]. Instagram user @LoverofGeography created a color-coded map of Europe showing which countries were most and least likely to feed houseguests. Scandinavian countries were marked red ("very unlikely to give you food"), while Mediterranean nations like Italy, Spain, and Greece were labeled green ("almost always")[8][7]. The map went viral in its own right, adding another layer of content to the debate. Within days, the hashtag #SwedenGate trended globally on Twitter, and the conversation broadened far beyond dinner etiquette[2]. ## How to Use #SwedenGate memes typically follow a few common patterns: 1. **Scenario jokes**: Set up a situation where someone visits a Swedish household and describe the absurdity of waiting in a room while the family eats. Often framed as a child's confused perspective. 2. **Cultural comparison**: Contrast Swedish hospitality with another culture's approach. "In [my country], we force-feed guests until they beg to leave. In Sweden, they make you sit in the hallway." 3. **The map format**: Reference or remix the European hospitality map, often adding exaggerated labels or new categories. 4. **Sweden reaction**: Screenshot real Swedish people defending the practice with deadpan sincerity and present it as comedy. 5. **Escalation jokes**: Start with the food issue and escalate into increasingly absurd accusations about Swedish culture. ## Cultural Impact #SwedenGate was covered by NPR, Newsweek, Euronews, Slate, The Independent, Today.com, The New York Times, and numerous other international outlets within the first two weeks of its emergence[4][8][3][1]. Swedish domestic media treated it as a major cultural event, with television panels, newspaper op-eds, and podcast episodes dedicated to dissecting what the controversy said about Swedish identity[3]. The debate forced a genuine national conversation in Sweden about cultural norms that most Swedes had never questioned. Stockholm-based law student Mariam told Euronews that "#SwedenGate acted as a kind of epiphany that shed light on her childhood," saying it was through social media that she realized the practice was "something very normalised that many Swedes experienced, especially as kids"[3]. The controversy also became a case study in how a single Reddit comment can spiral into a geopolitical discourse. What began as a quirky anecdote about dinner etiquette turned into a referendum on Swedish colonialism, the treatment of the Sámi people, workplace discrimination, and the country's complicated relationship with its own progressive self-image[2][8]. Sweden's official government Twitter account was compelled to respond directly, an unusual step that showed how seriously the country's institutions took the viral criticism[3]. ## Fun Facts - Professor Tellström admitted he personally spent time waiting in friends' rooms as a child, and noted that the experience had a small upside: "You could look at the things. You could look at a magazine. You could see how they were living in this room"[4]. - The Slate author reported that when living in Sweden, they couldn't afford fresh herbs due to sky-high food prices, which some commentators cited as a contributing factor to the stingy hosting culture[1]. - A Norwegian friend of the Slate author explained the practice as Swedes not wanting to create social obligation: if you feed someone, you're implicitly asking to be fed at their house later. Swedes would even try to pay back drinks immediately by bank transfer[1]. - Sweden's official Twitter account cited kafferep, an old custom involving seven specific types of biscuits, as evidence of Swedish hospitality traditions[3]. - Zara Larsson closed her response with: "We might not serve food, but we do be serving looks"[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is #SwedenGate? #SwedenGate is a viral internet debate from May 2022 about the Swedish cultural practice of not feeding houseguests, especially children visiting for playdates[2][7]. ### Where did #SwedenGate come from? It started with a May 25, 2022 Reddit thread in r/AskReddit where users shared stories of being left in a room while their Swedish friend's family ate dinner. Twitter user @SamQari screenshotted the comments, and the resulting tweet went viral[5][3]. ### What does #SwedenGate mean? The hashtag frames Sweden's guest-feeding customs as a scandal (in the tradition of "-gate" suffix naming), though it expanded to cover broader criticisms of Swedish culture, history, and race relations[2][8]. ### How do you use #SwedenGate memes? Most #SwedenGate memes involve joking about the absurdity of sitting alone in a friend's bedroom while their family eats, or contrasting Swedish hospitality with more generous cultures[5][7]. ### Is #SwedenGate still popular? The peak of #SwedenGate was late May to early June 2022. It still gets referenced in online discussions about cultural differences and Scandinavian social norms, but active meme production has slowed significantly since its initial viral window[3][1]. ### Why don't Swedish people feed their guests? Cultural explanations include Swedish egalitarianism (not wanting to create social imbalance), respect for other families' dinner plans, historical food scarcity during long Nordic winters, and a deep cultural emphasis on independence[4][6][1]. ### Did Sweden officially respond to #SwedenGate? Yes. Sweden's official Twitter account posted a rebuttal stating that "the idea of Swedes not offering refreshments to their guests is not a true reflection of how we go about things," citing traditions like fika and Midsummer celebrations[3]. ### Who is Lovette Jallow in the #SwedenGate debate? Lovette Jallow is a Gambian-born Swedish author and activist whose tweets about growing up knowing to "just go home around dinner time" went viral with over 58,800 likes. She also highlighted the racist harassment Black and brown Swedes faced when they spoke up during the debate[9][2]. ### Is the practice of not feeding guests still common in Sweden? Food culture historian Richard Tellström and other commentators noted it was far more common in previous generations and is declining among younger Swedish families[4][3]. ### How did #SwedenGate expand beyond food? The debate quickly broadened into discussions about Sweden's colonial history, treatment of the Sámi indigenous population, workplace discrimination, and contemporary racism, with users sharing studies and historical examples[2][8]. ### What is fika and how does it relate to #SwedenGate? Fika is a Swedish tradition of sharing coffee, pastries, and conversation. It was cited by Sweden's official account and others as counter-evidence to the claim that Swedes are inhospitable[3]. ## References 1. [Swedengate explained: The Reddit scandal that's upending Sweden.]() 2. [#Swedengate: Twitter Debates Swedish Custom of Not Feeding Houseguests]() 3. [How a nondescript tweet sparked a huge debate on Swedish hospitality | Euronews]() 4. [Swedish People Don't Feed Their Guests / #SwedenGate - Know Your Meme]() 5. [List of Internet phenomena]() 6. [#SwedenGate alleges the Swedes don't feed other people's children on playdates : NPR]() 7. [The Swedish resistance to feeding guests may not actually be as rude as it seems - Upworthy]() 8. [What is #Swedengate? How the internet turned on Sweden for not feeding house guests | The Independent]() 9. [From Dinner Guests to Colonialism: How #Swedengate Took Over the Internet - Newsweek]() 10. [Lovette🏳️‍🌈 on Twitter: "Laughing at twitter finding out that Swedish people will not feed strangers 😂😂 as a kid growing up here we knew to just go home around dinner time. On the flipside my mom would feed Swedish kids though." / Twitter]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/swedish-people-dont-feed-their-guests-swedengate Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library