Swedish Meatballs: "We're Turkish!"

Buckle up, IKEA brunchers! Swedish meatballs, the national dish of Sweden, ain’t Swedish at all. According to the country’s official Twitter account (not the great @sweden operated by a different Swedish citizen each week, but @swedense), “Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century. Let’s stick to the facts!”

Apparently the King also brought coffee and stuffed cabbage to the Scandinavian country.

Everything is a delicious, delicious culturally appropriative lie!

This does make sense, you know, outside of the historical proof—if Sweden’s national dish was something indigenous to the region, it would probably be the world’s smelliest food, Surströmming, so really, it was deeply generous of Turkey—with all its delicious roasted meats, yogurts and eggplants—to let them have this one.

When reached for comment on the news, the Swedish Chef from the Muppets remarked, “Bork! Bork! European Nationalism! Bork!”