This is mostly a historic thing.

Kids and adults alike today in Scandinavia eat candy whenever they like it.

Popular stuff today include

- extra large energy drinks (65 cl)

- candy tasting vapes and snus

Interesting how well known Sweden seems to be in the world for its population; many countries with way more people but not popular like Sweden. I learned Swedish because I think its cool. Would love to learn other languages with even more speakers but Sweden has so much media and resources it's so easy.

The same concept exists in Danish (lørdagsslik), and I had no idea it had such a dark history. 1959 is surprisingly recent for conducting medical experiments on people without their informed consent - one of the most horrifying things imaginable, in my opinion.

Big in denmark too. My parents always used it as a way to regulate our candy-intake, by postponing all candy until the weekend, so i’m surprised to read the intention was sort of the opposite.

I’d also note that Scandinavia is big on “hygge” and being home (unlike countries with warmer climates) and weekend snacks and sweets are an obvious way to make the experience comfy.

This is one of the things I never understood about Nordic countries.

Most of the people are so considerate about what they eat, good ingredients, nice compositions, making it look pretty as well..

..and then they proceed to shove great amounts of that chemical sugary shit down their throats !

Iceland has this too, Laugardagsnammi :)

Go to Hagkaup or Samkaup on a Saturday (or just after midnight on Friday night, where you'll usually bump into a gaggle of teenagers in their pajama bottoms, out on a candy run) and get yourself a massive bag of pick'n'mix for half price. It's one of the few things I miss about Iceland.

the pick n mix bars can get pretty huge: https://yummy-iceland.blogspot.com/2025/06/nammidagur.html

I remember as a kid, I'd get 100 kronur (probably about $3 USD in today's money) on Saturday morning and go to the store to buy sweets. You'd meticulously choose which items to put in the bag to make sure you got the best value for money :)

Here is an article in Norwegian that goes a bit deeper into the grotesque history behind the tradition of saturday sweets:

https://www.nrk.no/kultur/xl/lordagsgodt-er-typisk-norsk-og-...

The intention was to prevent tooth decay by regulating candy intake. But it turns out that mandating a special weekly(!) day for candy consumption had the opposite effect. Children are naturally interested in things that are forbidden from them, and so when the restrictions are lifted they tend to eat large amounts of candy. Furthermore, restrictions and rules are not a good way of teaching moderation. Practices like Saturday candy facilitate an unhealthy relationship with food, which is why it's not longer a recommendation in Finland -- I'm not sure about the other Nordics.

I too used to eat this. Some of the traditional candies aren't so sweet, but they're sweet enough and these days sugar is for the loon, so you can't really eat candy.

I guess I still eat pastries though, including prinsessbakelse.

When I grew up (Norway), the portions were quite small. And we didn't have that big of a selection.

If you go to the super market today in Norway, you'll likely find tens to hundreds of different flavors. Same in Sweden and Denmark. Interestingly enough, I don't think this kind of candy ("smågodt", which you buy by the weight) is too popular elsewhere? At least I haven't seen it too much in convenience stores when I've been traveling or living abroad. In Norway it is ubiquitous, almost everywhere you go shopping.

Also, inflation has really hit chocolate hard here. One small bar of chocolate will easily cost 30-40 NOK, which is equivalent to around €3-€4. The big bars can cost up to €6! But he smågodt / pick'n mix prices have remained quite stable. So a lot of people will just buy chocolate off those. Much, much cheaper.

> ... patients of Vipeholm Hospital for the intellectually disabled in Lund, Sweden, were unknowingly fed large amounts of sweets to see whether a high-sugar diet would cause tooth decay.

Nice.