There may be no other furniture store as associated with its distinct concessions than IKEA. Some even flock to the store moreso for their iconic Swedish meatballs than they do for the actual furniture. Perhaps that's why it's not a a complete surprise that IKEA, which just celebrated its 80th anniversary, also noted in its Annual Summary that American customers ate over 54 million meatballs during 2023, country-wide.
Developed in 1985 by Swedish chef Severin Sjöstedt, the meatball has been sold to hordes of fans ever since. During the early days of the pandemic, IKEA even released a recipe so meatball lovers could make the meatballs at home. Did you know that Ikea has also tapped into the plant-based sector? They sold over 4 million "plant balls" in 2023 alone. They also have chicken, vegetarian and salmon variations, too.
In a video on an IKEA food site, Sjöstedt himself talks about how the recipe came about, working on it and developing (and developing) the meatball for about 10 months before landing on the ideal version. "For me, the meatball is so much the IKEA culture," he said. "It's convenient, it's Swedish and pretty much for everybody. And it's still served in all of the restaurants in IKEA stores in the world, joined by a whole family of different kinds of meatballs."
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