The Dean of Lunds U and his innovative résumé

Some of you may or may not have heard about the recent controversy surrounding the Dean of Lund University. In short Per Eriksson, the Dean, has recently been accused in the newspaper Sydsvenskan of being elected dean on false premises. He is also being accused of being promoted to professor on false qualifications.

Per Eriksson was appointed Dean of Lund University in 2008 and was before that in charge of the stately run investment agency Vinnova and was the Dean of Blekinge Tekniska Högskola for 10 years before that. Eriksson attracted controversy from the start due to his previous involvement in the Pentecostal church and the fact that hörandeförsamlingen, an advisory body of students and staff at the university, suggested another man for the position.

The recent controversy stems from a background check on the résumé that Per Eriksson used to apply for promotion to the rank of professor as well as for the position of Dean of Lund University. Eriksson claims in his résumé that he was the head advisor on two dissertations and acted as assistant advisor for five research students. However, his name is not registered as head advisor for the two dissertations and the authors of the papers tell Sydsvenskan that he was very inspirational to their work but that he was not their head advisor. Furthermore Eriksson claims, in his résumé, to have three patents but the first one is expired, the second one never existed and the third one was approved after he applied for the position.

The university has now launched a probe into these allegations which will produce its findings sometime in December. We at the international secretariat believes that if the Dean can’t be trusted to tell the truth on his résumé he can’t be trusted with the care of the university nor to have the confidence of the students. So the next time you are caught cheating just tell the teacher that you just did an Eriksson.

New Language Cafe at Smålands

We're going to have a new language cafe at Smålands starting on Thursday, November 18th at 5pm. Come and practice a new language or help others with your own language! Our hope is that people can meet new people and make new friends. We'll have coffee, tea and snacks available. If enough people come then we can make this a regular event!

Here's our facebook event page. Sign up and tell us what language you'll be representing!!!

About our organizers: Lynn is a native English speaker and arguably fluent in Swedish. She arranges and teaches many evening language classes and has lots of training in education. Bo loves languages and speaks too many... Faroese, Swedish, Danish, French.... well, we could go on but we'll stop here.

Suspect for Racist Shootings Captured

The police have brought in a suspect for the spate of racist shootings during the last year. Here is an article from the BBC. We really hope that they've caught the right person! I'm sure a lot more details will be emerging soon.

Shooter in Malmö Targeting Immigrants?

It has been revealed in recent news reports that a shooter may be targeting people "with immigrant backgrounds" in Malmö. Immigrants have even been warned by the police to not go out at night and to exercise more caution. What the press is not reporting but what I am inferring is that these attacks are not directed against immigrants - they are directed against people with non-white skin color. The shooter has not been caught but it seems as though the shooter has no direct connections with the people he/she has attempted to kill.

People from Finland make up the largest group of immigrants in Sweden. Should they be staying indoors at night? No, the shooter seems to be going after the "wrong" kind of immigrants; the same kind of immigrants which are generalized by the Swedish media to represent all immigrants - those from the Middle East. As an immigrant myself, I am in all likelihood in no danger of being shot by this person. I have light skin. The shooter has had no contact with his/her victims so there's no way the shooter would know if he's shooting an immigrant or someone born in Sweden. It's time for the Swedish press and the police to realize that their own stereotypes about immigrants are leading to inaccurate information and the continuation of the stereotype of the immigrant as non-white. We deserve not to be painted in such broad terms - we come in a range of colors and backgrounds; simplifying such a broad group of people can only lead to trouble.


Note: Although the articles I linked to are written in English, the same terms (i.e., immigrant background) are used by the Swedish press

No End to Discrimination Against Foreigners by the National Agency for Higher Education

In the beginning of fall semester 2010, The National Agency for Higher Education (in Swedish, Högskoleverket) changed their admission rules. They create different evaluation categories for those who were applying based on Swedish high school grades, those who were applying based on the "högskoleprov" (a country-wide test), those who had previously studied at a "folkhögskola" and those that did not study high school in Sweden. Those with non-Swedish high school grades (excluding those who had studied at International Baccalaureate schools) were put into their own "evaluation category" and, in essence, had to "compete" with those in the other categories for acceptance spots. At least one-third of the spots were reserved for students applying with Swedish high school grades and another one-third was reserved for those who had taken the national exam.

What this meant was that foreigners could easily denied acceptance (regardless of their grades) if enough people with Swedish high school grades and those who had taken the national exam applied. I myself was denied acceptance on the basis of my non-Swedish high school grades. When I found out the reason for this (because it was not clear from the application results, which only stated that I was placed in "Reserve group 2"), I became so upset that I considered leaving Sweden. I was being punished for learning Swedish and applying for a course in which few other non-Swedish people applied. My grades, which couldn't be reckoned with, were never considered. My application was never considered... because I had not studied at a Swedish high school. And it happened to many others too.

Not surprisingly, studera.nu does not have any information about the new acceptance rules in English. Here it is in Swedish.

Swedish people who had graduated high school before 2003 were also punished because the new rules assigned extra points to those who had studied languages starting from 2003. This meant that sought-after programs were shut out to older students. The Swedish press focused mostly on this aspect of discrimination in their coverage of the new admission rules. This was not deemed discrimination - just indirect discrimination. Lund University admirably decided to change their admission rules to admit the foreign students who had been denied admission because they had not studied high school in Sweden - let's give a big applause to them! Other colleges and universities did not follow suit, unfortunately.

I reported this to the Discrimination Ombudsman. I expect it to be a lengthy process. So far all I've gotten is an acceptance of my report and a copy of a questionnaire sent to the college in which I applied to with a deadline in the middle of September. I can only hope that the government will step up and put a stop to this discrimination and that my report will hurry this along.

In the meantime, I can only wonder... what were they thinking?

Tuition Fees - Just How Much Are We Looking At?

Lund University has released information in Swedish about what kind of costs non-European students will be looking at. This update states that most fees will be between 90,000 and 140,000 SEK per year while other programs (especially in the arts) will run up to between 190,000 and 400,000 SEK per year. The program for pilots will cost students about one million crowns per year. I wish I was making this stuff up. These fees do not, of course, include housing or anything else. As of yet, there is no guarantee for housing.

Malmö Högskola has listed their tuition fees clearly in English. Want to study Interaction Design (what the hell is that?) - better be prepared to hand over 320,000 SEK. And let's not forget the application fee at studera.nu is now 900 SEK.

We've already stated why we're opposed to tuition fees for non-European students. Now we're going to just sit back and watch this whole thing crash and burn - there's no way anyone with any sense at all would pay that much for an education that is of questionable quality. We expect to see many programs go under because of this. How exactly can a university justify charging so much when they can't meet students' housing and other needs? What exactly will happen when some hapless rich students pays the tuition and can't find anywhere to live?

Finding Work

Many international students come to Lund with the idea that they can find a part-time job to earn some extra money. In many cases, these students never end up finding work. Why?

1. Unless you have specialized skills (largely IT), you have to be able to speak at least some Swedish if not fluent Swedish. You may think that Swedish isn't required of you, but your employer probably truly believes that Swedish is a necessary skill for a cleaner or dishwasher.

2. The economy sucks. Youth unemployment is very high right now and although lots of different political parties talk about giving people opportunities, there has been very little improvement in regards to the situation many young people face.

3. Employers discriminate against foreigners. I used to have a non-Swedish last name. Then I changed my name to a Swedish last name. I applied for the same job I had applied for 3 months previously with the same qualifications and suddenly I got a phone call asking about an interview. Coincidence? I find it hard to believe. Now why would employers discriminate against foreigners? Many employers may suspect that an applicant doesn't speak "good enough" Swedish, claim that they've had bad experiences with other foreigners or have a myriad of other stupid reasons. None of them actually hold up when examined closely. Unfortunately there's very little you can do about this if you don't want to change your name.

4. Many foreigners don't have contacts in Sweden and networking and contacts are the key to finding a job. Unfair as it is, Sweden is not a meritocracy. It doesn't matter how many years you've worked at a pub if there's another candidate that knows someone that knows the pub owner. Go out and spread the word that you're looking for a job. Talk to anyone that might have contacts. Meet new people! And when applying for a job, if possible then try to speak with the person in charge of hiring so that they feel like they know you!

Good luck!
If you do get hired for a job, you will most likely fill out a form with your personal information and your bank account information. That's all. In all likelihood they will not take a copy of your passport, inspect your residence permit or even check your ID card. Most businesses pay salaries on the 25th of each month for the previous month's work.

Taxes in Sweden

This article is for those of you that have found jobs or are seeking employment and wish to know more about how taxation works in Sweden.

Sweden has long been heralded as a country with high income tax. Let's see how it really works. First, there's the "grundavdrag" - the amount you can make that IS NOT taxed. Right now, it's 18,200 SEK per year. If you have one job and then start working another job then any job after your first job will be taxed the "normal" level of about 30%. This 30% includes local, regional and state taxes so the actual amount varies depending on where you are registered.

Around May of the following working year you will receive an income declaration in the mail from Skatteverket. This declaration will list your sources of income, how much tax you paid and how much you owe the government or how much you overpaid. Most of the time, you will have overpaid and should receive some of your income tax back in the months that follow. If you give them your bank account information then they will transfer the money and this is faster than if you receive a special card that you have to take to a bank to get your money. You have to confirm the declaration by either visiting Skatteverket, through SMS, through the internet or through the post. If you see any errors then you must notify Skatteverket by mail.

There are higher levels of taxation than 30% but these only kick in once you start earning a LOT of money. The first raise comes at over 350,000SEK per year and those earning over 530,000SEK per year also have to pay a higher percentage of income tax.

So You Want to Stay in Sweden

Are you from outside the EU and thinking about (permanently) extending your stay in Sweden? It's more complicated than it seems. Here's what you'll need if you want to stay in Sweden by changing your study permit to a family ties permit...
-a valid residence permit
-a transcript of your university studies showing you completed at least 30 university points (one semester)
-a live-in partner relationship or marriage

Things to Know Before You Apply

You have to be able to show that you live with your partner by registering at the same address at skatteverket.se (go visit their office if you have any questions about address registration).

You can't go about changing your permit willy-nilly. You have to wait until your current permit is about to expire. Do not overstay your visa! You can (and most likely will) be deported if you attempt to apply after it is expired. You need to show that you've actually been studying while in Sweden with a signed transcript. You must have at least 30 completed university points (aka one semester), otherwise they will most likely tell you to go back to your "home" country and apply from there. The process of applying from your "home" country could take many months (not to mention the cost of plane tickets!).

This law (in Swedish) lists which reasons are valid for applying for residence from within Sweden.

The Application

First you'll apply at your local Migrationsverket. Here is a Google map of the Migrationsverket office in Malmö as there is no office in Lund where you can file your application.

The queues are probably extraordinary so give yourself at least 3 hours to submit the application. You will also have to pay 500SEK in cash which you won't get returned if you application is not approved. There will be no interview or anything of the sort at this time; you will only be submitting your application and paying the fee.

Bring your application (most likely this one), 500 SEK in cash, your passport, your personbevis (which you can have sent to your address via skatteverket.se) and your partner's personbevis.

You will get a receipt of payment and a letter stating you applied for a new residence permit.

A few weeks later, you will be assigned a caseworker. If you're lucky then you'll quickly get a letter from your caseworker for an appointment with you and your partner and your caseworker's contact information if you cannot make your appointment. The appointment can be anywhere from three weeks after you submitted your application to many months.
In all likelihood your old residence permit will expire but this is OK - as long as you have proof that you submitted a new application then you're legally allowed to stay in Sweden while it is being processed! I was told that it was OK to travel and I even left the EU during this time with no problems but others were told that it would be forbidden to travel without a valid residence permit. You should also be allowed to work during this time but others have been told something else. Ask your caseworker if you need more information.

The Appointment

You will meet your caseworker and you and your partner will be given complementary forms to fill out. Bring your passport, your personbevis and your partner's personbevis and proof of completed studies. The forms will ask about anything from about your background, how you met, your morning routine, who your partner's family members are and how old they are and whether you've met them, what you pay for rent, what color your shower curtain is and your hobbies. The form is at least 10 pages long with these sorts of questions. If you and your partner have matching answers then good, you will in all likelihood be granted a permit. If the answers don't match so well then you may have to do further tests, like a personal interview.

The Permit

In theory you can get your new residence permit the same day as the appointment with your caseworker. In practice it may take many months.
If you have been living with your partner for less than two years (the most likely), you will be granted a residence permit for one or two years. This will be a TEMPORARY residence permit. After these two years (or, if granted a one year permit, you will have to apply after one year and receive another one year permit in all likelihood) you can apply for a PERMANENT residence permit.

You can LOSE your residence permit if you settle in any other country for any amount of time. Still, you ALWAYS have the right to a residence permit in Sweden as long as you have a relationship with someone there (even if it takes months to process). With a temporary residence permit, you DO NOT have the right to vote and you DO NOT have the right to get CSN (study aide).

As long as your permit is being processed (even if your old permit becomes expired), you are legally allowed to live and work in Sweden. You are in no way an "illegal" alien.

Good luck!!!

Tips:
--Speaking Swedish is always a plus!! You want to show that you're contributing to society here
--Homosexual relationships are of course allowed as a basis for residence permits
--Once assigned a caseworker, she/he can decide how easy or hard to make life for you. Be nice and courteous to them!
--Maybe you don't know what year your partner's brother was born in but study up on those things. You don't want to give them any doubt as to the veracity of your relationship
--You don't need pictures or other "evidence" during the process - that's only in movies
--Get home insurance together! This will save you money and show that you've been living together
--Having both your names on the rental contract is also a plus

For more information visit Migrationsverket.

Relevant laws on residence permits can be found here (in Swedish; no English translation available).

If you are looking to TEMPORARILY extend your stay in Sweden then the easiest course of action is to keep studying! Just be sure to apply for your extension before your current studies permit runs out.


Note: This information is provided by a private person. Smålands Nation does not take any responsibility for the validity of this information. Use common sense and contact the authorities if you have any questions.

Apply for Scholarships at Lund University

Note: The application period for most scholarships has been extended until October 21st. After October 21st, the application period will close. The application period for spring semester will open sometime next year.


Now is the time to apply for scholarships! According to a recent Lundagård article, there's lots of money available. Here is the link which gives you access to the scholarship portal. First you have to create an account and then you'll be able to access the application form. Be sure to read the instructions very carefully. Many scholarships require a paper application which can be sent by regular mail.

Unfortunately many scholarships favor those who are relatives of the donor or grew up in a certain part of Sweden. Despite this we wish you the best of luck!

Want to Clown Around? New Workshop at Smålands

A smile is a weapon of mass construction

Clown Workshop on Friday, October 8th, 5pm till 8pm

Three hours of fun, active participation and clownish experience. Everybody is welcome, no requirements, everybody is born a clown.

What can you expect?

Through selected games, improvisational exercises and sensitivity instructions, we will find the path to our inner clown. The first unit is very practical, full of laughs, fun, emotions and entertainment. It's a slow introduction to the art and philosophy of a clown with all its taboos and limitations. You might find something what you already forgot or thought you never had. It's a opportunity to meet people in a new way with different eyes and without all common measures and judgments. This kind of art can open new paths to everybody who is open to follow it.


What is a clown?
The common image of the circus clown, who is juggling, acting silly and falling on his nose every meter is a myth, which is in my eyes only practiced by people who missed the breaking free of the commercial cliché clown into a much broader spectrum. Being a clown is mostly misunderstood and gets mixed up with being “stupid” or “foolish”. Being a clown is much more. Its a lifestyle, a philosophy, a long practised art. Juggling and doing magic tricks does not make you a clown. It's only your attitude and the relation you have to your own body and mind.

The essence of clown, in the pure sense, is a combination of innocence and maturity, a free mind and wisdom.

A clown is a mirror of society, but is not accepting their taboos and rules.

A clown is
…... is never pretending to be somebody.

…...always acting with the best intentions and always newly surprised by the moment.

…..... is not funny because they're trying to be funny, rather because they're being very serious about something or her/himself.

…...is never parodying something or somebody, he/she always really wants to be like the person he/she admires.

…..to become a clown you have to go back to the time to very early childhood before “education” started.

…..we are in the need of laughing, but at most laughing about ourselves. That’s what the clown stands for.

…......aware that there is always enough space and time for failing and falling; a clown knows the art of failure.

…...also aware that when making people laugh, you make people open to receive. So people might be laughing only watching the clown, but afterwords realizing the real message they got from it. And this can be about everything.

…....an innocent rebel, opposed to the rules and taboos of the society

Bring with you: comfortable clothes, any mood, any face and a little pinch of interest.
If you want sign up for the workshop, please write an email or call the instructor:
(for cancellation please contact me as well)

e-mail: elisabethzenz@hotmail.com
mobile: 0764089255

Seriously, Sweden?

I've had a headache all day. The results of the election are in and have spelled huge loses for those who are anti-racist, feminist and socialist. Four more years of a conservative government and the extreme right-wing racist party the Sweden Democrats have entered the Riksdag.

Over the weekend we were treated to some interesting news about an SD candidate in Malmö, David von Arnold Antoni. This is a man who on September 10th went to the police and said that some men speaking an Arabic-sounding language tried to cut a swastika into his forehead. It turns out it was all made up and all evidence points to self-inflicted wounds. (Seems like they're taking a page from the rightists in America -- Sound familiar? Or maybe they just like bad movies from the US?) From the time the supposed attack happened until September 18th, when the wounds were revealed to be self-inflected, SD party leader Jimmie Åkesson used the farce to create attention for his little racist party, criticize "extreme left violence" and draw votes. Another intended effect of the farce was to spread fear and suspicion for non-white men.

What happened? How could so many people vote for a party with roots in Nazi and extreme nationalist parties, a party filled with bizarre, racist ideas about immigration? How can we put a stop to them?

I'm tired of Swedes who hear the word "immigrant" and automatically think "poor, brown and 'strange.'" I am an immigrant. I am white, I am from a Western country, in a position of privilege, but I am still an immigrant and that does not make me any less of a person. In fact, most immigrants in Sweden are from Finland. In order to fight SD, Swedes need to see the real faces of immigration. They should look a bit closer and get to know who we are, what we're doing here in Sweden (it's not living off of their dying welfare system!) and that we're not afraid to get involved in politics.

Rent Woes? Your Rights Regarding Reasonable Rent

The housing situation in Lund and many other parts of Sweden is a mess. And those who don't speak Swedish can be hit harder by higher rents and closed doors. The International Housing Office, which is supposed to look for international students' needs, charged international students 50% more in rent than Swedish students. Asylum-seekers are charged higher rent because, according to a Migration Board official, "they're not used to our civilization and they don't know how washing machines and other things work."

According to Swedish housing law, it is illegal to charge unnecessarily high rent. The court states that

in short rent shall be reasonable and that it's not reasonable if it's significantly higher than the rent for an apartment with similar usage (translated from Hyresnämnden).

Those of you in search of housing in Lund have probably been seen rooms of offer for extremely high prices. Let's see...  On Blocket you can find a it costs nearly 8,000SEK to rent an apartment that's smaller than 50 square meters. How about 7,500SEK (not including electricity!) for a two room apartment with two month's rent in advance? Just how do people get away with this? Well, the tenants don't know or don't care to exercise their rights. The International Housing Office's practice of charging non-Swedish students more than Swedish students was put to an end as soon as a student affected by this reported them to the Discrimination Ombudsman and they ended up paying back rents for a total of over 1.5 million kr. For many students, the key to lower rent answer lies not with the Discrimination Ombudsman, but with other authorities.

For those of you that feel you are paying unreasonably high rent, it's time to acquaint yourself with your best weapon: the Swedish Union of Tenants and the court system. There are two ways reasonable rents can be requested and the method depends on how you rent your residence. By filling out this form (in English), you can ask for more information from the Swedish Union of Tenants. Your query should get a response within one working day. If it is found that your rent is unreasonable, you may be eligible to have the money you overpaid returned to you.

We at Smålands can also try to help you out if you feel that you are paying an unreasonable amount in comparison to similar residences. Let's put an end to rent gouging!

Photo Exhibition at Smålands

Attention aspiring photographers - here's a message from the Smålands Photo Club!

Smålands Glorius Exhibition of Photos!
In Smålands Nation, Photo Takes YOU!

Exhibition is the 29th of October
Closing day for submissions is the 27th of October

We invite everyone with an Idea, a Vision of.. well whatever tickles your fancy really, to submit their photos to the exhibition of a lifetime!

You can submit photos in two categories, digital prints and analogue prints and you can either submit 2-3 small photos in the 20x35cm class or one really big photo in the 40x50cm class. You submit the prints with name, phone and email and the name of the prints to the Smålands office.
The date for the exhibition is the last Friday of October, the 29th, in the Pub lounge. The last day for submissions are on the 27th.

To enter the exhibition you must be a member of the Smålands Photo Club, which costs 100SEK semester and gives you access to our darkroom with free, that's right FREE, photo chemicals and can join our meetings with FREE coffee and cake.

And any theme, motto or idea fora photo is welcome, everything from "straight f/64" to heavy duty Photoshop is welcome. All we ask is that it's nothing too naughty (keep it family friendly) and that you submit your photos printed and not as a digital file - you will have to do your own printing.

If you'd like more info then you can write to Chris.

Fall in Lund and Allemansrätten

Allemansrätten, which has been translated by many as "Freedom to Roam" and literally means "every person's right," is your gateway into true Swedish nature (and free food). Everyone in Sweden has the right

access, walk, cycle, ride, ski, and camp on any land—with the exception of private gardens, the immediate vicinity of a dwelling house and land under cultivation. Restrictions apply for nature reserves and other protected areas. It also gives the right to pick wild flowers, mushrooms and berries (provided one knows they are not legally protected), but not to hunt in any way. Swimming in any lake and putting an unpowered boat on any water is permitted unless explicitly forbidden. Visiting beaches and walking by a shoreline is permitted, providing it is not a part of a garden or within the immediate vicinity of a residence (legally defined as the hemfridszon). According to legal practice this is between 100 to 300 metres from a dwelling house. To better protect access to water and the right to walk along beaches, it is since 1975 generally not permitted to build a new house near (generally 100 m) from a beach and/or shoreline.

Source: Wikipedia

There's lots of nice things to pick during the fall. In Lund, there's lots of apple trees on public land, ripe for picking (although Swedish apples tend to be a bit sour!). There's also blackberries, mushrooms and plums if you know where to look.

Here's a recipe for apple pie, Swedish-style! In America they'd call this apple crumble and not apple pie. You can also substitute blackberries, blueberries or other berries for apples.

-2 dl flour
-3 dl oatmeal (havregryn)
-1 dl brown sugar (farinsocker)
-.5 dl sugar
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (vaniljsocker)
-50 g butter/margarine
-2 large apples/3 small apples or 3 dl berries

Pre-heat oven to 175C. Mix together dry ingredients. Add margarine and work by hand until the mixture forms crumbles. Cut up apples. Sprinkle half of the crumbly mixture into the baking tin, cover with apples/berries and then sprinkle the other half on top of the apples/berries, covering them. Bake at 200C for 20-25 minutes (until the top is brown and the apples are soft). Serve with vanilla sauce (vaniljsås - it's possible to buy ready-made in the refrigerated section of the grocery store or dry packages that require the addition of milk).

Clearing Up Membership Misconceptions

As many of you know fall semester 2010 is the first semester in which it is not mandatory to join a nation or student union. This had created lots of confusion for everyone. We wanted to clear up some of the confusion surrounding Smålands.

There are two kinds of nation events: events where alcohol is served (usually clubs) and events in which no alcohol is served. For events in which no alcohol is served, everyone is always welcome at Smålands - you do not need to show a student ID or passport. You don't even have to be a student!

Because government regulations concerning the serving of alcohol apply to nations, each nation has specific rules about who can get into an event in which alcohol is being served. At Smålands, everyone with a student card and passport is welcome during these events. That includes StudentLund members!

Smålands members are not allowed into other nations with their just their Smålands membership as Smålands is not a part of StudentLund. Any student can, however, have a double membership but joining another nation of their choice. Smålands members are not restricted in this sense.

Membership at Smålands costs from 140-155SEK per semester. This does not include the student union fee (which is, of course, optional). You do not need to be a member to join the Smålands housing queue but you do need to be a member before signing a contract for a Smålands residence (usually you will have one month's notice if you are in line to receive a contract for a residence). If you would like to join Smålands you can send an email to smalands@smalands.org and the office will e-mail you a bill. As a warning, it should be noted that sometimes this bill ends up in peoples' spam filters!

Smålands members receive all the normal student discounts (including SJ, the Swedish Railways and Skånetrafiken, public transportation in Skåne) with their student card. 

Guide to Buying Veg & Green Food in Sweden

Sometimes finding veg and environmentally-friendly food can be hard in a new country. We've written a short guide to help you navigate your way through your local grocery store.

This is the symbol for Fair Trade products.

KRAV - This is the traditional symbol for organic products which will soon be replaced by the symbol below.

The leaf made of stars is the new EU symbol for organic products.  Here's more information about the introduction of this symbol

This symbol is for the EU and means that at least 95% of the ingredients are organic.

The swan label is for products which are environmentally friendly in Nordic countries. Here are the standards they use.

Sound environmental choice (bra miljöval) is the symbol from the Nature Protection Society which brands products which are less harmful to the environment. Found mostly on household products such as laundry detergent. Find more information in English here.

Okay, that's enough about eco-labels! Now for a Swedish lesson...


 

Ingredients to watch out for

anything with kött (meat)

fläskkött, griskött (pork)

fisk (fish), torsk, sill, lax

nötkött (beef)

kyckling (chicken)

kalkon (turkey)

Vegans:

smör (butter)

ägg (egg)

mjölk (milk)

grädde (cream)

ost (cheese)

And some brands to pick up...

Vegetarian food brands

 -Hälsans kök (green packaging, freezer section) - replacement meat, including fake hamburgers, hot dogs, filées, bacon, meat balls, falafel and lots more. Tastes great!

-ICA Gott Liv (freezer section) - veg minced meat, veg hot dogs and veg filées

Vegan food brands

-Veggo (meat replacement, freezer & dry sections)

-Tzai (spicy soy meat, available at ICA, freezer section)

-Vegogården (pure soy products, available at ICA Malmborgs, dry food)

-Quorn (meat replacement, freezer section)

-Oatly (dairy replacement, soy section)

-Tofutti (ice cream)

-TofuLine (ice cream)

-Carlshamn Mejeri Mjölkfritt (margarine)

-Alpro Soja (dairy replacement, soy section)

-GoGreen (dairy replacement, soy section)

-Tartex (sandwich spreads, toppings section)

-Carlshamn Soygurt (yoghurt)

-Expensive vegan cheese, mayonnaise and caviar can be found at Konsum

For more details check out (in Swedish) http://www.djurensratt.se/portal/page/portal/djurens_ratt/sidor/vegoresurser/Vegolistan%20juli%2008.pdf for more info

For super cheap fruit & veggies go to the store in the alley beside Ahléns/Dinsko

 

Got any more recommendations? Leave them in the comments section!