“What is the weirdest thing you had to do at someone’s house because of their culture or religion?” This is the title of an article posted on the online community Reddit. The writer wanted to know about the distinctive episodes that people experienced due to different cultures or religions. One netizen commented that when he was a child, he visited a friend’s house in Sweden and had an experience of waiting in a room alone at dinner time without being served. And this comment went viral all over the world.
The comment writer experienced ‘Sweden Gate,’ a culture in which the Swedish do not offer meals to guests who do not promise to visit their homes. Sweden Gate has become a hot topic worldwide because it is the opposite of universal culture. In most countries, people serve meals to guests who come to their homes.
Sweden has a geographical background for this culture. Northern Europe has a cold climate, so food was scarce in the past. Therefore, developing a culture of serving meals to guests was difficult. Furthermore, the Swedish are very independent. In Sweden, providing meals to a child without parental permission may be considered an act of disregarding the parents’ abilities. These geographical and cultural characteristics have led to the creation of Sweden Gate.
But people ignore this background and accuse the Swedish of being cold-hearted and unfriendly. People who experienced Sweden Gate uploaded the story on various social media sites causing Sweden’s reputation to deteriorate. It has even been argued that Swedes decide whether to serve meals based on race because all those claiming to have never experienced Sweden Gate are white. This is a dangerous argument that treats Swedes as racist. Among white people, there was a person who experienced Sweden Gate. Most Swedes only serve meals to guests who have made appointments in advance, regardless of race or age.
Culture can appear differently depending on one’s background and perspective. According to Swedish explanations, the Swedish generally consider scheduled meals polite. In other words, the Swedish think an unscheduled meal is impolite. We should seek to understand and respect other cultures rather than criticize them.
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