- [Narrator] When you think of Sweden, what comes to mind?
Ikea, Abba?
Maybe those delicious cinnamon rolls?
But what about these?
Swedish meatballs.
Right?
Well, maybe not.
Welcome to the meatball mystery.
Let's cut straight to the chase.
It's hard to make the Swedes angry, but on one fateful day,
something happened that fired up the whole country.
This tweet was sent from the official
Sweden Twitter account:
Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe
from King Charles XII brought back from Turkey
in the early 18th century.
Let's stick to the facts.
Yikes.
Did you catch that?
The tweet said that Swedish meatballs
actually come from Turkey.
As you can imagine, the tweet went viral.
Swedes were up in arms.
It was picked up all around the world.
- The Swedish government has admitted
Swedish meatballs are actually Turkish.
What?
- No, that's not a fact.
The fact is really interesting.
Since we don't have any facts from that period.
- [Narrator] Wait, who are you?
- My name is Richard Tellström.
I'm a food historian.
- [Narrator] OK, here's what we know.
In the 1700s, Swedish King Charles XXII lost a battle
in the Great Northern War.
He was forced to flee to the Ottoman Empire
where for several years he negotiated his return.
The controversial tweets suggested that he brought back
a local Turkish meat dish called koftas.
- However, there is no documented interests
from him in food.
No mentioning of the meatballs there.
They are not Turkish because we can't follow
the original meatballs in the world.
There is no zero meatball where everything started.
Most likely, origin of the meatball is a development
in parallel ways-
in parallel food cultures.
Therefore, meatballs are very different all over the world,
but they exist all over the world.
- [Narrator] Today it's one of Sweden's most popular dishes.
Traditionally served with mashed potatoes, a brown gravy,
and a sweet lingonberry sauce.
Mm-mm.
- [Richard] Food gives us an example of how we are connected
when it comes to culture.
Food is a sort of cultural network.
- [Narrator] So take pride in your meatballs, Sweden.
And so should Turkey, China, Italy,
and every meatball rolling country.
Because if there's one thing the world can agree on,
it's that meatballs are delicious.