Is it true that everyone in Sweden prepares and eats the exact same meal every single Thursday Evening?
Why is this done? What is the significance of this meal??
Thanks.
No, no, no. There’s nothing special about dinner.
It’s Thursday lunch that’s traditional.
I don’t know why, but for some reason it’s very traditional to serve pea soup with pancakes for Thursday lunch. And with this one would drink punsch (A very sweet arrak-based liqueur).
This tradition is not, however, very strong nowadays, although most army canteens still serve it (minus the punsch though).
I would guess that the number of Swedes having peasoup for thursday lunch is somewhere around 1% (if not lower).
I don’t know where the tradition comes from, but maybe someone else can enlighten us?
does arrak = aquavit ?
IMHO I would say 1% is a little low guess Popup, loads of lunch restaurants serve it on thursdays as one of the alternatives, and traditional “home-cooked” food is getting to be very trendy again (haha, thanks to Tina). I had pancakes last thursday, passed on the pea-soup with ham tho, it makes me fart. 
The next question is of course, does everyone in Sweden eat chicken on Fridays…
Not at all.
There are several beverages that go under that name (or similar names), but the arrak used to make Swedish punch (the spelling varies) has a strong vanilla flavour.
The final drink is very sweet, and has an alcohol content of 20-30%. It is a very important part of this Thursday routine!
For an interresting exposition of the various beverages that go under the name or arak (simillar to a word which can mean both sweet and sweat in various arabic dialects), look at this thread, but filter out the Eva-Luna vs Collounsbury fight.
Thanks.
The English word Thursday is derived from the Norse word meaning ‘Thor’s day’.
Does the tradition have something to do with Thor?
My WAG is the army.
And the punsch, I must point out, is served hot.
Everyone knows Thor LOVED pea soup…
How do you think he made that rumbling thundering when he swung his mighty hammer!? :eek: 
I asked somewhere else and got this:
“Pea soup was eaten on Thursdays during the catholic medieval times as a counterweight to Wednesdays and Fridays that were days for fasting and only fish was allowed.”
http://www.livsmedelssverige.org/faq/matkultur.htm
This page (in swedish) says the tradition is from the middle ages when Sweden was catholic and wednesday and friday were fasting days and you were only allowed to eat fish. So on thursday you ate pea soup. I haven’t heard this explanation, or any explanation, before.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gunnar_jonson/rtsoppa.htm
This page tells you in english how to make your own traditional swedish pea soup.
You are aware, of course, that ärtsoppa is commonly reffered to as fjärtsoppa (I don’t think a translation is required)? 
“Pea soup was eaten on Thursdays during the catholic medieval times as a counterweight to Wednesdays and Fridays that were days for fasting and only fish was allowed.”
Is pea soup considered some sort of heavy meal, that would counter the two other fast days? Or a terribly opulent meal? I mean, I like pea soup, and it’s good on cold winter days, but I don’t quite follow the logic here. (Not that religious dietary practices ever require logic …)
toadspittle: Usually there is pork in Swedish pea soup. I believe that pork was a bit expensive for the mainstream worker. Just a guess though.
I have spent time in Sweden on company business. The cafe at our plant always has pea soup and pancakes on Thursday, but they also serve many other items as well. If you like pea soup, I can recomond the Volvo factory cafe’s version.