Sweden Makes Startling Admission: Meatballs Are Turkish
The seemingly unsolicited tweet made international waves in the gravy.
Image: AlxeyPnferov/Getty Images
The nation of Sweden has a Twitter account. The nation of Sweden’s Twitter account is entertaining. The nation of Sweden’s Twitter account likes to tweet about Abba, Zlatan and the Swiss flag. And, of course, the nation of Sweden’s Twitter account sometimes makes an oopsies.
Like at the end of April, when it hopped online and tweeted out to the world that Swedish meatballs are Turkish, and not actually Swedish.
“Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century,” the account tweeted on April 29th. “Let's stick to the facts!”
Um, what?
The Sweden.se Twitter account operates in English and is managed by the Swedish Institute, which is tasked with promoting “interest and trust in Sweden around the world.” The seemingly unsolicited Tweet seems, however, to have done the exact opposite, shaking both Swedes and Ikea fans to the core.
“My whole life was a lie…” wrote one Swedish user in a tweet.
According to the New York Times, the Turkish media seized the opportunity to point out that King Charles XII had also brought coffee and stuffed cabbage back to Sweden with him. If you’ve ever read Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, you know just how darn important that is.
The jury is out on whether or not this viral news really even matters. While we at Genius Kitchen will continue to make Swedish meatballs (because yum), we certainly appreciate the nation of Sweden’s Twitter account’s candor all the same.
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