The Swedes take their ‘Fika break’ or ‘work break’ seriously. There’s at least one Fika break each day, and it’s more than grabbing a coffee and a short eat. It’s a culture that’s deeply ingrained. Employees are encouraged to take that break, move away from their workstations and meet people over a beverage and baked goodies.
Ikea, headquartered in Almhult, Sweden, celebrates this culture. To call their Fika break area a dining hall or a canteen would be doing it injustice.
It’s an all-welcoming, spacious section of the office, that speaks of the Scandinavian love for white interiors, with several low-hung lamps adding warmth to the long tables. The signs of change, skewed towards healthier offerings, are visible at the cafeteria in the Almhult Ikea store, and the sprawling restaurant inside Ikea Museum in Smaland village.
Almhult is often referred to as Ikea town, since it’s here that Ikea’s founder Ingvar Kamprad established the first store in 1958. Almhult municipality has a population of 17,000, and most inhabitants are directly or indirectly employed by the company.
The town houses the Ikea of Sweden offices, test lab, hotel, an Ikea store and a museum.
The Fika breaks were an opportunity to introduce the world media — that had gathered in Almhult for Democratic Design Days 2018 — to several Swedish specials. Quite a few of these, it was heartwarming to know, will make their way to the 1,000-seater Ikea bistro set to open in July in Hyderabad, abutting the first store. This will be the company’s largest bistro in the world, and serve a mix of Swedish and Indian cuisine.
Less sugar please
There was plenty of good coffee, tea and flavoured drinks to go around during the Fika break. In sync with the global shift towards consuming less sugar, Ikea doesn’t serve sugar-laden aerated drinks and instead offers Nordic fruit waters, with 50% less sugar.
The lingonberry-flavoured fruit water is a must-try. Lingonberries are partly-tart, partly-sweet and the fruit water has mild notes of the berries. The bistro will also have raspberry, lemon and pear-flavoured waters.
Swedes have a sweet tooth and love their cinnamon buns, cookies and chocolate balls. Too much sugar? Only if you eat them all at one go.
The cinnamon buns, a Swedish special, has butter and cinnamon-laced sugar rolled into the swirls of pastry puff. The hint of cinnamon works delicately on the palate.
These buns will be served in an in-house bakery in Hyderabad’s Ikea bistro, alongside fresh breads, dinner rolls, croissants, chocolate cakes, mango cakes and cheesecakes. Want more? Try their fresh fruit salad and gulab jamun . Four years of research in different cities in India has helped the company understand the local palate and include a sizeable Indian vegetarian selection, while also staying true to its Scandinavian origin.
Swedish meatballs and hot dogs top the list of iconic specials and are available in most Ikea cafeterias in the world. Now, veggie balls and veggie dogs also feature prominently on the menu. Ikea will steer clear of beef and pork for India, and bring in chicken, salmon and vegetarian variants of the meatballs. The platter of veggie balls, with stir-fried wholegrain rice and vegetables, looks deceptively small, but packs in the right amount of carbs, proteins and healthy fats for a wholesome meal.
Bite-sized helpings of the salmon balls served at a session in Almhult turned out to be a welcome surprise. The balls make use of the often-discarded portions of the salmon head and neck. It’s an exercise towards reducing food wastage, and the firm aims to cut wastage in its cafeterias by 50% by 2020.
This will be a priority in India as well, asserts Henrik Osterstrom, Country Manager-India, Ikea Food, “We are concerned that no food waste should go to landfills. We will have a system in place to measure the daily waste and try to minimise this over time. We will compost organic waste, send it back to farmers, so that it can be used to grow plants, thereby closing the food loop.”
Back to greens
Vegetarian inclusions in the menu is Ikea’s nod to the growing interest in plant-based food. At the design summit, a soy-based soft ice swirl was introduced. The texture is creamy with only a subtle flavour of soy. Dried berries and nuts are used for toppings.
The company is also toying with fruit-based and oat-based ice creams. Its popular vanilla-flavoured yoghurt ice cream will be available in India and more flavours will be added later.
Four years of research in different cities in India has helped the company understand the local palate and include a sizeable Indian vegetarian selection, while also staying true to its Scandinavian origin and global appeal.
Osterstrom calls it “the Swedish feel and Indian appeal. There will be a variety of starters, salads and desserts, and the Indian menu will include samosas , dal makhani and biryani ,” he emphasises.
Ikea is tight-lipped about its local food partners at this point. The company has its own kitchens for its cafeterias across the globe and Hyderabad will be no exception. The bistro is eager to serve carnivores, vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians.
(The writer was in Almhult, Sweden, for Democratic Design Days 2018 on invitation by Ikea.)
