Sweden's great contribution to international eating is the smorgasbord, literally a “bread-and-butter table” but actually a sumptuous feast of three courses. The first course is herring—filleted, pickled, baked, jellied, stewed, or prepared in many other different ways. Cold meats constitute the second course, whereas the third course is made up of Swedish meatballs and other hot dishes.

Fish is a mainstay of the Scandinavian diet. It is prepared in many different ways; a favourite appetizer is gravlax, salmon marinated in salt and dill and accompanied by a mustard sauce. Swedish pancakes are popular and are served with lingonberries or fruit preserves.

Danish open sandwiches, called smørrebrød, became popular all over the world. Among the many fine dishes in these northern European countries are nyponsoppe (a Swedish soup prepared with rose hips, almonds, and whipped cream), vorshmack (ground meat, herring, and onion cooked Finnish style), “Jansson's Temptation” (a Swedish potato and anchovy casserole), frikadeller (a Danish mixed ground meat hamburger, sautéed in butter), kalakukko (a Finnish bird-shaped pie stuffed with fish), sandkage (Danish sand cake), and krumkage (a Norwegian Christmas cookie). Aquavit is the favourite grain or potato spirit of many in Scandinavia.