"Invited to dinner - 1

They take the paper off a bunch of flowers before they ring the doorbell of their hosts for the evening. It’s rather like unwrapping a Christmas present before you give it to someone. Nobody ever knows where to put the paper once they’ve screwed it up. Usually the hostess end up taking it. A bunch of pretty flowers in one hand and a soggy, screwed up piece of wrapping paper in the other.

Invited to dinner - 2

The person sitting next to you at the dinner table will offer you a lump of butter on a wooden knife. It is not some ancient superstitious Viking ritual whereby the knife has to be passed once round the table. It’s quite simply the height of politeness to offer your neighbor some butter on a knife. What you do if there’s not enough butter on the knife or if there is some left over, goodness knows. But there’s no need to pass it on to the next person as he’s busy handing butter to someone else.

Invited to dinner - 3

Swedes are very polite guests. They show much appreciation for the food. They guess the ingredients, enquire how it was cooked, wonder where the ingredients were bought and ask how long it needed in the oven. In fact, most guests ask for the recipe and this is the greatest of compliments. They eat and mutter ’This was good’ which is rather strange as they are still eating it."