Swedish meatballs just one taste of Turkey's rich kofte culture
The Ottoman roots of Sweden's beloved meatballs has caused an amusing social media flurry and reminded the world of the incredibly diverse culinary heritage of Anatolia.
“Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century. Let's stick to the facts!” announced Sweden’s official Twitter account on April 28, starting a flurry that still continues after almost three weeks. At the time of writing, the tweet has racked up more than 8,000 retweets and 21,000 likes. The photo that accompanies it resembles the iconic menu item in the restaurants of IKEA, a Swedish furniture company with stores all over the world. It shows the round meatballs, known as kottbullar, under gravy, with lingonberries and mashed potatoes on the side.
Although the tweet attracted a flurry of comments from all over Europe and Turkey, food historians and gourmets have long been onto the link between the Turkish kofte and kottbullar.
