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How to Fika Like a Swedish Death Cleaner, and How it Differs from American Coffee Breaks
This tradition is more meaningful than simply popping into the break room at work for a fresh dose of caffeine, or swinging through Starbucks on your way to somewhere else.
Peacock's original docuseries The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning is largely about introducing viewers to the title custom — a form of decluttering that encourages people to shed possessions they no longer need in order to make space for an enjoyable life, and to avoid headaches for their loved ones after they're gone. But Swedish Death Cleaning isn't the only Scandinavian ritual viewers get a look at on the show.
In each episode, after they've met their client and gotten to know their lifestyle and what's holding them back, the show's resident Death Cleaners — Ella Engström (the organizer), Johan Svenson (the designer), and Katarina Blom (the psychologist) — break for something known as fika.
What is fika?
As explained on The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, fika is sort of like an American coffee break, but this tradition is more meaningful than simply popping into the break room at work for a fresh dose of caffeine, or swinging through Starbucks on your way to somewhere else. As viewers can tell from watching the Death Cleaners go through the ritual, fika is both more involved and more relaxed than a typical American coffee break and marks a time to reset and reconnect with colleagues, friends, and family members.
"I think the Fika tradition is super ingrained in our Swedish bones," Blom told Style & Living. "We all agree that it's so important with those micro breaks in order to reflect and get a fresh perspective on things but also to integrate all the new information that resurfaces when you go through your house in this way.
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"It's important to decompress," she adds, "And the best way to decompress is actually together with others just laughing and maybe talking about something completely different in order to gain some new energy and then have a new go at it."
So, why is this slightly more elaborate version of the coffee break called "fika?" According to Sweden's official website for tourism and travel, the word originates as an inverted form of "kaffi," the old Swedish spelling for "coffee."
The beverage was introduced to Swedes in the 18th century, and the nation has since adopted it to such a degree that Sweden is one of the world's most prolific coffee consumers. Over time, their enjoyment of the beverage became a culturally ingrained ritual, to the point that "fika" is now both a noun and a verb, in the same way that Americans might use the word "brunch."
Over the last several centuries, the arrival of patisseries in the country meant greater access to many varieties of baked goods, which are also an important part of fika. These days, fika has become so important to Swedes that it's often included in employment contracts, so staffers can take time out of their workday to enjoy coffee and pastries with their colleagues as a matter of office policy.
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Plus, as Sweden's tourism site notes, Sweden has Right of Public Access as a matter of national law, which means that as long as you're not disturbing nature around you, you are free to roam around just about anywhere you'd like. That means that fika can happen anywhere from a cafe to a mountaintop.
As demonstrated in The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning — where the crew seems to plunk down a few chairs and tiny tables outside of wherever they're currently filming to give the cleaners some time to assess things — fika is not a particularly fussy affair. But it's quite well-established and even ritualistic within Swedish culture.
The point is not to spend time staging an elaborate spread of baked goods and coffee — though cakes, cookies, and cinnamon buns are all traditional accompaniments for fika — but to make a point of sitting back with a hot beverage and a snack and enjoy the company of others.
Svenson, the designer on the show, explained how fika helped him on earlier jobs he had.
"I remember actually helping out some men changing the roof tiles in the countryside," he told Style & Living. "And when you're young, you want to do everything so quickly, but they knew that doing things methodically, that's when you keep the energy, you do everything right and correct, you keep to the process. So you do it slow and then you have a fika and then you work again. So it's a bit of having that pace that's almost otherworldly today when everything is supposed to be so efficient and people are stressing to [get to] their yoga classes to relax."
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The Death Cleaners use the moment within the series as a way to discuss what they've learned about their client so far, share a laugh or two about their approach, and consider various potential paths forward. It's all about quality time and how you spend it with the people you care about, whether that means a Sunday afternoon picnic with your family, or catching up with an old friend.
The tradition of fika has also been catching on with viewers. Engström, who helps the subjects on each episode get organized, says the Death Cleaners have heard from fans who have started taking fika breaks.
"And I have also gotten messages from professional organizers in the U.S. that say, 'Now, my clients even offer me a coffee break, a fika break,'" Engström shared.
Bravo is set to air three episodes of the series on Thursday nights, beginning with “What Lies Beneath” — about how one man struggles to clean out his parents’ belongings that he’s been storing in his basement since their deaths — on August 17 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. It'll be followed by “Confessions of a Lounge Singer” on August 24, and “F*ck Cancer” on August 31, in the same time slot.
Additional reporting by Brian Silliman
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning is now streaming on Peacock.
