For centuries, the island of Gotland in Southern Sweden has been at the crossroad of vital economic and cultural exchanges between the West and the East. Visby, its main settlement, was a rich and powerful Hanseatic city, a meeting point in the middle of the Baltic Sea where exotic goods, different cultures, and new ideas were exchanged and assimilated at local level. One expression of the European dimension of Gotland’s cultural heritage is Kaffikalas, a formal social gathering that has been traditionally arranged on solemn occasions such as weddings and funerals since the 19th century. Kaffikalas in Gotland used to be a very structured event with its own rules and at least seven varieties of cakes being offered. The ingredients, from saffron to cinnamon, and recipes, see in particular Gotlandsbullar, that were part of a traditional Kaffikalas attest of its European origins and influences. By early 2000, the tradition was about to disappear from the island. Fortunately, a decade ago, several volunteers decided to revitalize the old tradition. Among them a group of ladies in Gothem. They got together and started researching and testing both old and new recipes. In 2008 the first public Kaffikalas in Gothem opened its doors. The renewed tradition has since then become an important social and cultural platform in Gothem. During the event, Kaffikalas represents an interesting and stimulating stage where both locals and visitors have the opportunity to socialize and learn more about the local cultural heritage. In the preparation phase of the Kaffikalas, the group of volunteers, of whom I am part of, not only bake but also learn from one another and share their knowledge and

For centuries, the island of Gotland in Southern Sweden has been at the crossroad of vital economic and cultural exchanges between the West and the East. One intriguing expression of Gotland’s cultural heritage is Kaffikalas, a formal social gathering that has been traditionally arranged on solemn occasions such as weddings and funerals since the 19th century. At a Kaffikalas, guests were offered at least seven varieties of cakes, often displaying the host’s finest china. Kaffikalas was also a ritual event where guests would behave in certain ways: cakes were to be consumed in a certain order, starting with saffransbullar, guests were not supposed to take more than once unless they were invited to do so by the host at least twice. Furthermore, guests did not need to eat all the varieties of cakes offered at a Kaffikalas: at the end of the event they would take home the cakes they did not eat in a handkerchief or a brown bag. By the end of the 20th century, the tradition of Kaffikalas was about to disappear from Gotland, mainly due to the dramatic societal and economic changes the island has been through since the 1950s. By 2005, however, the first signs of a revitalization of the tradition started to appear. It was Bottarve museum in Southern Gotland that, inspired by the old tradition, launched Gotland’s first modern Kaffikalas. Similarly to most of the island, Kaffikalas was practically extinct in Gothem, a large parish of nearly 400 inhabitants on the North-eastern coast of Gotland where I live. But in 2008, something happened. Inspired by the colorful and engaging stories of past Kaffikalas told by the family and friends of her husband from Gothem, a lady originally from the mainland decided to bring back the old tradition. She summoned a group of local women and together they started planning a public Kaffikalas in the parish. In the preparation phase, they started researching and testing both old and new recipes to come up with the many different cakes to be offered. Then, the first Kaffikalas in Gothem took place in the local community house the last Sunday of February 2008. During the twelve years since then, the annual encounter of tangible and intangible Gotlandic heritage during the Kaffikalas in Gothem, with its twenty varieties of cakes, an annual heritage exhibition, and a booklet with the year’s recipes, has become an important social platform, hence strengthening the sense of community and belonging. The older generation gets to relive some of the rituals of their childhood Kaffikalas, whilst younger generations and people with different backgrounds learn to appreciate this particular expression of Gotlandic heritage. At the same time, the diverse group of volunteers who bake the cakes and prepare the event has, over the years, not only creatively engaged with old and new recipes but has also made it possible for knowledge, skills, and ideas to be passed to the next generations of Kaffikalas bakers, thus keeping the tradition alive.

Gotland’s strategic position in the middle of the Baltic Sea enabled Visby (and Gotland for that matter) to become one of the most powerful cities of the Hanseatic League during the Middle Ages. The island was a vibrant platform where goods, customs, languages, and new exciting ideas were exchanged on a daily basis. Consequently, Gotland has developed its own cultural heritage, which in many ways differs from that of mainland Sweden. Kaffikalas in Gotland represents the island’s historic connections to Europe through its history as a Hanseatic place. The recipes and ingredients used in many of the cakes tell the story of these ‘global intersections’, resulting in particular glocal expressions, from language to cuisine. One example is the widespread use of saffron and cinnamon, spices that were widely traded during the Hanseatic period. Even the shapes of the famous Gotlandsbullar tells us of European influences. There was already a long tradition of making knots and braids of sweet, unfilled wheat dough in Central Europe, and it is thought that the Gotlandic bakers got inspired by their German and central European colleagues from the Middle Ages to the 16th century, when a new wave of skilled immigrants from the Continent settled on the island. The modern Kaffikalas in Gothem, with its ingredients and recipes that are reminiscent of the close trading and cultural exchanges between Gotland and the rest of Europe aims to maintain, strengthen, and enhance the historical and cultural links that have made Kaffikalas a true Gotlandic tradition.