Our kayaks bobbed in place at low tide as waves lapped against the sheer rock face along Otterön, an island and nature reserve in the Grebbestad archipelago along western Sweden’s Bohuslän Coast. Linnéa Sjögren had spotted large stalks of sugar kelp and sea lettuce growing along that steep rock. So Jonas Pettersson and I waited in our kayaks while she paddled over to harvest them. 

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Sjögren grabbed long, translucent stalks of brown and olive green kelp, which wrapped around her hands and kayak like feathered party boas. They felt rubbery and slimy to the touch when she paddled back to show us her bounty, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to sample them.  

We were barely ten minutes into our seaweed safari, and the cold, mineral-rich waters were already offering up some of their very best.

Since 2014, Sjögren and Pettersson have been regularly paddling and diving the waters of Grebbestad and the Bohuslän Coast to forage for edible seaweed. They’re sustainable harvesters, which means they’re familiar with the growth patterns of the ten seaweed types they work with, picking only as much as needed and taking extra care for slower-growing species like rockweed.

Before this, both Sjögren and Pettersson worked as librarians for more than a decade at the University of Gothenburg. For Sjögren, who grew up in the nearby fishing village of Hamburgsunda, spending too much time indoors behind a computer finally took its toll. Her father, a commercial fisherman who also took a sustainable approach, instilled in her a love of the outdoors and environmentally friendly foods.

In 2008, surrounded by books, newspapers, and magazines while working at the library, Sjögren came across an article about algae in Gourmet, and her interested was piqued.

By 2013, she and Pettersson had started experimenting with various forms of algae in their kitchen. They wondered if the same seaweed they ate with sushi was the same they saw while paddling around Grebbestad and West Sweden. They started developing their small brand of edible algae products under the name (pronounced “catch-a-lot”). They wanted to reconnect with the sea they grew up around, and they wanted to teach others not to be afraid of finding and eating uncommon items from the sea. 

In the spring of 2014, while competing in the prestigious in Stockholm, renowned Swedish chef Tommy Myllymäki was looking for a unique ingredient to elevate his dish. He reached out to Sjögren and Pettersson to learn about and source Swedish seaweed. Myllymäki would later go on to win gold for Europe in 2014 and bronze globally in 2015, which instantly made Sjögren and Pettersson experts on Swedish seaweed in the Nordic region.

Through Catxalot, they run seaweed safaris for travelers in the region, and they commercially dry, package, and sell seaweed to ecological retailers and fine-dining restaurants. Their popular cooking classes teach people who initially cringe at the thought of eating elastic brown stalks of seaweed to use it in breads, soups, and even chocolate cakes.

I had the same initial reaction to the large slimy boas of sugar kelp Sjögren had harvested for us. We paddled another ten minutes to reach a sandy beach, where we docked our kayaks. Sjögren hand-washed the kelp and sea lettuce and cut them into bite-sized pieces with scissors before handing them off to Pettersson, who fried the pieces in olive oil over a small portable stove. Within minutes, the rubbery kelp had morphed into light, salty crisps—healthy snacks I could munch on all day.  

“Swedes are generally reluctant to try something new,” Sjögren told me as I popped more fried seaweed into my mouth. “We want to make it as natural for us to pick and eat seaweed as we do with berries and wild mushrooms,” she says, hinting at the Swedish law called , which allows public access to freely use land and forage for berries, mushrooms, and other edibles. 

For both Sjögren and Pettersson, their new life extends beyond discovering and selling a new food. It’s about teaching people to take care of the environment by bringing them a personal experience of the sea as food source. As Sjögren puts it, “If you eat from the sea, you won’t want to throw plastic and rubbish into it.”

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As they say here in Sweden, there's no bad weather, only bad clothing. 

I learned the phrase early on in the dark throes of my first Scandinavian winter. I moved from Maryland to Stockholm, Sweden, six years ago, unprepared for the two-to-four hours of daylight, plus constantly chilly temperatures and blustery winds. I expected the weather would keep locals holed up by the fireplace all season. Instead, they were gearing up to head somewhere even colder for their holidays—maybe going local at Sweden’s own ski resort town, Åre, or crossing over to mainland Europe for the Swiss and French Alps.

It took me a while to wrap my head around this. Even the daily ritual of bundling my toddlers in suits like astronauts, then leaving them to spend hours playing outdoors in subzero temperatures, felt wrong. Six years later, it feels natural to spend lots of time outdoors no matter the condition—in fact, it's encouraged nationally.

Here in Sweden, I've learned, spending time outdoors—come rain, shine, or blizzard—is a social institution that's supported by real school policies and national laws. The country provides vast swaths of nature and allows families plenty of time for play, making outdoor fun something that most Swedes take for granted.

I've seen how it's positively affected my own family. And there’s strong evidence that Swedes grow up to become healthier and more environmentally-conscious citizens thanks in part to that lifestyle. The country ranks as and reported an obesity rate of 11.8 percent of the population in 2012 (in comparison, the U.S. comes in at 35 percent). Sweden has been one of the  in the world for decades (the country's recycling program is so successful that only goes to landfills). And Swedes of all ages have fun getting outside (a lot of fun).��

All year long, another government initiative called  grants the public free recreational access to Sweden’s vast nature—97 percent of the country is uninhabited. �������𳾲��Բ���ä�ٳٱ�� allows anyone to camp, cross-country ski, forage, and trek on any land. This even applies to private property, unless signs prohibiting trespassing are in place. This right also includes picking wild berries and foraging for mushrooms. �������𳾲��Բ���ä�ٳٱ�� actively encourages people to explore and use their surroundings, and it helps that over 80 percent of Sweden’s residents live within three miles of a national park or nature reserve. According to the country's outdoor association, , 97 percent of Sweden’s 9.8 million residents are in favor of protecting �������𳾲��Բ���ä�ٳٱ�� as their right. 

It's expected that we'll want to take advantage of all that wide-open land. Recreation is built into the yearly and daily schedules. From late February through March, Swedes take sportlov, a winter holiday break from both school and work. Think the American equivalent of spring break—except here in the Nordics, it’s meant specifically for winter sports, especially downhill or cross-country skiing. (The world's oldest, largest, and longest 90K cross-country race, , is held in Sweden during sportlov, with over 15,000 skiers participating each year.) 

����ǰ��ٱ��DZ���started after World War II when a youth organization started taking elementary schoolers on mountain field trips. The government created a school break that coincided with the trips, seeing an opportunity to conserve heating fuels. By the 1960s, the idea had expanded to save heating in offices, and ����ǰ��ٱ��DZ���applied to the entire family. Since then, it’s become a cultural norm for families to take a week out of their annual vacation time (full-time employees get an average of six weeks' vacation) and enjoy winter-based sporting activities together.

Over 200 Swedish daycares also follow the Outdoor Association’s recreational program called , which means “come rain or shine.” At daycares and kindergartens, kids are bundled up and left to play outdoors for hours under piles of snow, and they're taught about outdoor skills like composting. Even babies under six months are allowed a few minutes to sleep outside to soak up fresh air, even in winter. The program teaches children to spend time outdoors and in nature without fear. They don't perceive time outdoors as “exercise” and instead approach it as a necessity.

So stuffing my toddlers into multiple puffy jackets no longer feels like the 20-minute chore it actually is. At such a young age, they've already developed a healthy and instinctive need to be outdoors. My four-year old gleefully looks forward to daycare excursions into surrounding forests. My 18-month-old puts on muddy boots himself and perches by the window every day, waiting for our next trip out. And on the coldest, snowiest days, you won't find us at the fireplace—we go tobogganing. 

is a guest contributor to Raising Rippers.

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