The book aims to give an 800-year overview of our Swedish food culture, from the moment we leave our mothers' breasts and eat the first piece of cultural food. There we start a lifelong food cultural process to be part of the group we want to be part of. Like all food culture in the world, the food and drink in our glasses tells us about the people and the values we like and want to share. A raw material cannot become a food until it has received our stamp of approval. Behind every dish and flavor there is a cultural and historical background. This book aims to provide the reader interested in food and history with that background, a food-historical "laundry line of ideas" stretching from the 13th century to our own time, where we can hang the right food expression in the right place and also ponder from which laundry basket we picked the food expression - from New York, London, Paris or more exotic places. Food culture can and should be approached in the same way that other cultural historians have tried to understand literature, music, art, theater, fashion. We are all part of a food culture, perhaps several. There is no individual food culture - it is always collective. The harsh conditions of our climate have deeply influenced our food culture. It is based on raw materials from a relatively short growing season that must last the whole year. Over time, technological developments, such as the iron stove, and food culture ideals have pushed against each other and food culture has been built up with eating habits and food choices from cultures that Swedes look up to.