adapting food cultures
A "Fika" for the future
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Drawing on resilience theory, researchers propose two potential pathways for a more sustainable Fika to maintain the cherished culture. Photo by Canva
In Sweden, the daily ritual of Fika – a cherished pause to share coffee, pastries, and conversation – is more than just a coffee break. It’s a social institution. But as the climate crisis deepens, even the comforting traditions of Fika might need to evolve.
A new paper published in Sustainability Science argues that food cultures should be central to food systems transformation, particularly if they are based on unsustainable food products.
“Food cultures have an enormous, often overlooked influence on food systems,” says Anne Charlotte Bunge, lead-author of the study and PhD candidate at the Centre. “They can be linked to harmful consumption patterns, but they can also be powerful levers for change.”
Take Fika, for example. At face value, it seems a modest indulgence. But it is built on products like coffee, cocoa, and pastries made with palm oil – commodities associated with significant deforestation, carbon emissions, and labor rights concerns in producing countries. The paper outlines the environmental and socio-economic risks tied to these staple ingredients, raising difficult questions about whether beloved food rituals fit into a future where food systems must be rapidly decarbonized and made more equitable.
Thoughtful adaptation
Rather than proposing the elimination of such traditions, Bunge and her colleagues advocate for their thoughtful adaptation. Drawing on resilience theory, the researchers propose two potential pathways for a more sustainable Fika to maintain the culture: “less but better” and “innovated” Fika.
The “less but better” approach envisions a Fika featuring ethically sourced coffee, organic pastries, and reduced reliance on problematic ingredients like palm oil. The “innovated” pathway, meanwhile, imagines entirely new food products such as lab-grown coffee, that preserve the social essence of Fika while reducing its environmental footprint.
“These aren’t about taking away the pleasure of Fika,” adds Bunge. “They’re about imagining how the food culture can continue to bring people together in a way that aligns with necessary food systems transformations.”
A path forward
The study situates Fika within a broader conversation about how deeply ingrained food cultures can either obstruct or enable systemic transformation. By viewing individual foods within their cultural contexts – what the authors propose as a “food cultural lens” – policymakers and advocates could identify new strategies for promoting more sustainable diets in a cultural context.
The authors acknowledge that more research is needed to test these pathways in practice and to assess whether adapting food cultures can indeed leverage wider dietary shifts.
In an era when climate action often feels synonymous with having to give up something, the prospect of reinventing beloved rituals rather than abandoning them offers a hopeful – and potentially powerful – path forward.
“We’re not suggesting the end of Fika,” concludes Bunge, “We’re suggesting a Fika for the future aligned with societal targets.”
Bunge, A., Clark, M., & Gordon, L. (2025). “Fika in the Anthropocene”: Leveraging food systems transformations through food cultures. Sustainability Science, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-025-01680-0