Why Do Swedish People Love Liquorice?

On Drottninggatan, Julia found a confectionary shop and stepped into it. In this shop, there were a lot of colourful candies and chocolates lined up in transparent plastic cases. The customers could put sweets in a small paper bag using small shovels and pay at the cashier according to the weight. Julia’s eyes were shining with joy.

‘There’s liquorice here, and there, and everywhere! This is such a nice place!’

She put several different sorts of candies and jellies into a paper bag. I peeped into the bag to find all of them were black. It meant the flavour of these were all liquorice!

‘Last time, Anna (her Swedish friend) and I emptied a bag of liquorice candies in one night. It was delicious but difficult to get in London,’ she said delightfully.

As soon as we went out, Julia put a candy in her mouth. I picked the smallest one and put it in my mouth suspiciously. Salty! The candy was not covered with sugar, but salt. After the first shock, the inside of my mouth was overwhelmed by an indescribable taste. My wife said liquorice was made by unrefined sugar, but if you put it in your mouth unprepared, you would spit it out. When I was a child, we had a snack called ‘Su-kombu’ . (kelp, a kind of seaweed, marinated by sweet sour vinegar). When I should compare the unique taste of liquorice with something else, this ‘Su-kombu’ would be the closest. ‘It tastes good, doesn’t it? Do you like it?’ asked Julia.

’I have only very favorite food, a little favorite food, normal favorite food.’

I answered and it was the truth. I can eat and enjoy everything. Even if a food gives me a bad impression initially, I am always able to get used to it. But there are some exceptions.

‘And how about this?’ she asked again.

‘I hate it,’ I answered.

I do not know why Swedish people seem to love this strange taste. Every confectionary shop has a liquorice corner; there are some stalls specialized only for liquorice. There are not only candies, but also chewing gums, ice creams and lots of other things with this flavour. I can not understand how the tongues of Swedish people are feeling.

We came out of Drottninggatan, crossed Helgeandsholmen, a small island with the parliament house and stepped into the old city of Gamla Stan, an island with a royal palace. Now the street we were walking on was getting narrower and covered with stone pavement. The shops on the both side of the street were much smaller than the ones on Drottninggatan. My wife said the narrow street and its atmosphere reminded her Marburg in Germany where we used to live. I was thinking exactly the same thing, when she said that.

At the end of the street, Julia bought a ‘dream catcher’ for her younger sister from a young man in an American Indian costume. The dream catcher was an ornament made by tree branches and bird feather. The young man said it should catch nightmares and bring us only happy dreams.