Fika

Fika is perhaps my favorite activity and definitely the one I miss the most in the American workplace. It is both a noun and a verb that refers to the act of sitting down with a cup of coffee or tea and something to eat - fruit, cake, cookies, what have you. This process is repeated several times during the day so the next fika break (“fikarast”) is never far away. When people get bored at work, they take a fika break. When you want to hang out with a friend and it is too early to drink, you go out for a fika. When you visit your grandmother, the first thing she is going to do is offer you fika. The public’s love affair with it in combination with strong unions has led to a law stating that all employees must get five minutes off for every hour that they work. Thus, there is enough time for at least two or three fika breaks during the workday.