Special to Road Trips for Foodies
By Visit Sweden

To highlight healthy and natural food available in nature, Sweden, together with four Swedish Michelin-starred chefs, is launching The Edible Country – a 100-million-acre-DIY gourmet restaurant. The restaurant, with a menu created from ingredients found in Swedish nature, is free of charge and open for reservations.

In this new global initiative, Sweden is showing the world how easy and accessible healthy food can be. The Edible Country consists of a nine-course menu that visitors can prepare and cook themselves – in the wild. It is co-created by Swedish Michelin-starred chefs Titti Qvarnström, Niklas Ekstedt, Jacob Holmström and Anton Bjuhr.

As part of the initiative, seven handmade wooden tables have been placed across the country with ready-to-use kitchen kits and cooking tools. The tables are bookable between May and September online here or here. And if they are fully booked, it is still possible to visit The Edible Country and prepare the dishes at any other preferred location in Swedish nature.

“Sweden is 96 percent uninhabited and yet easily accessible for everyone. Our nature is filled with edible ingredients and we want to invite the world to enjoy them, and at the same time wind down in nature like us Swedes do. By using our star chefs’ menu, this new and innovative DIY culinary experience makes it possible for visitors to explore and transform nature into gourmet food themselves,” says Jennie Skogsborn Missuna, Chief Experience Officer at Visit Sweden.

Highly processed foods have become everyday food for people all over the world, with healthy alternatives often perceived as complicated and inaccessible. With The Edible Country, Sweden proves how natural and healthy food can be just as tasty and easy to make as anything else, with ingredients available in nature.

“For me, Swedish nature has always been my biggest source of inspiration when cooking. The hours I have spent in the forest have turned into the realization that cooking outdoors, with the ingredients right in front of me, is the core of Swedish cuisine. The Edible Country is a symbol of how easy, close and uncomplicated food can and should be,” says Niklas Ekstedt.

The dishes on the menu vary depending on the season, so the ingredients can be found in nature almost all year round. Among the dishes is forest broth with poached perch and broiled herb butter, and freshly smoked char with chanterelles and wood sorrel. This and much more is found in The Edible Country, which is now open for reservations.

“At Bookatable we help diners find great restaurants to create memorable dining experiences, so we are absolutely delighted to help with this innovative idea. Discovering a new restaurant is always exciting, but getting to forage for food in Sweden’s beautiful countryside and then cook a dish created by a Michelin-starred chef is an opportunity not to be missed. My only advice would be to book up quickly!” says Michel Cassius, CEO Bookatable by Michelin.

The Edible Country is an initiative from Sweden to highlight the natural and healthy pantry that Swedish nature has to offer. Created by four of Sweden’s top chefs, a menu designed around Sweden’s natural produce has been made available for everyone to enjoy. Along with the menu comes instructions on where to find the ingredients and how to properly cook them. The Edible Country is representative of the whole country of Sweden, with its varied landscapes and beautiful scenery.

The seven tables are placed in Skåne, West Sweden, Lapland, Jämtland, Småland, Stockholm archipelago and Värmland. The initiative is an open invitation to experience the Swedish close-to-nature lifestyle and take pleasure in the natural pantry that Sweden has to offer.

(Photos courtesy of Visit Sweden)