The directive to stop the lussebull bake came already last year but has received attention now, by being informed about the matter again during a parents' meeting, GP writes.
- We have had a dialogue with the pedagogues, but the approach was decided on before I came here, says Nathalie Milkovic, interim principal since a few weeks at one of the preschools concerned.
The decision applies to the preschools in the Karl Johan area in Majorna. That's what Lotta Lundqvist, operations manager for the Centrum area at the preschool administration, says.
- It is a team in the area that has chosen this based on the general recommendation for the food that we have, an approach that we do not add sugar. Then it is important to follow the same line here, the team assessed.
Lotta Lundqvist says that this does not mean that you are not allowed to bake at all.
- But not with pure sugar. It is also a way to work with guardians, then they can decide for themselves how much sugar the child should have. Nor is it the case that the preschools in this area should be called sugar-free. We have puffs for breakfast and so on.
The pre-school management in the district mentions other ways to pay attention to Lucia, such as baking things that are not sweet, such as salt dough or playdoh with Christmas spices.
In the Swedish Food Agency's recommendations, the authority writes:
"The preschool should not serve sugary foods such as juice, soft drinks, sweets, ice cream and cookies. (...) Holidays and children's birthdays can be celebrated in many different ways without offering sweets."
When it comes to holidays in particular, a decision has just been made by Gothenburg's city politicians that, for example, the Saint Lucia celebration should be lifted. In the budget for 2027 that the red-green government, S, V and MP, laid down and which was hammered out as recently as Thursday, the parties write:
"The pre-school committee is tasked with raising the quality of common holiday celebrations in the pre-school, for example Midsummer and Lucia".
- The decision includes earmarking five million to promote classical Lucia celebrations in our preschools, says Blerta Hoti Singh (S), municipal councilor responsible for the preschool.
She says that she reacted to the news about stopped lussebullsbak.
- In that matter, we do not have a policy for the entire city. But I see this as a good opportunity to express what I think. It is good to use the preschool to increase cohesion more generally.
Blerta Hoti Singh says she has read what the Swedish Food Agency writes.
- It is precisely recommendations where they also mention that things like ketchup and jam can be okay, and it therefore says "should", not "must". In the preschool board, we also have no ambitions to introduce central guidelines in this matter.
What did you think when you heard about the rear stop?
- But how boring, I thought. And if you can't eat lussebuns, maybe, with money that we are now allocating, it might be possible to listen to a lucia choir in the Cathedral or buy more Christmas decorations.
The important thing is that the traditions are kept alive, the municipal council believes:
- Maybe you can buy sugar-free fluff buns. We want to compensate so that the traditions do not become poorer, but we do not control the details.
Blerta Hoti Singh has previously told in DN about how she came with her family to Sweden in 1992 as a refugee from Kosovo.
- I think that Swedish traditions have a special position. For me, as a former refugee, it was a huge matter of freedom that I was allowed to be Lucia at school when I was ten years old and had brown hair. It was a kind of threshold to feel like a part of the community.
Do you bake fluff buns?
- Absolutely and gingerbread men! I am keen to carry that legacy on. But I also celebrate Ramadan.
