Swedish meatballs are Turkish, actually. While that news reverberates around social media, Swedish meatball-dishing king Ikea remains mum.
The Swedish furniture giant has featured Swedish meatballs on its menu at its stores worldwide since the company’s inception, but now Sweden has officially distanced itself from any claim over the delicious morsels’ origins, Newsweek reported.
The unhappy truth, for Ikea at least (Turks already knew it), can be traced to a seemingly innocent post on Sweden's official Twitter account clarifying that the dish long associated with Swedes was "actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century."
In Turkey, the popular delicacy is known as "köfte" and is made with ground beef and ground lamb as well as other ingredients such as onions and breadcrumbs, the Daily Sabah reported.
Swedish meatballs, which are also known as Köttbullar in Sweden, use pork as the main meat ingredient, Newsweek said.
Social media, of course, lit up as users responded to the news, linking IKEA's popularity to the highly debated meatballs.
"There must have been a reason why the Turkish people embraced something from Sweden so willingly. Ikea equals meatballs for many of us," one Turkish person tweeted, according to BBC News.
"After this confession, would you discount the meatballs to win our hearts again?" asked Ah Ulan Zaf, per the British news outlet.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency's president, Serdar Cam, weighed in with a not-so-nice jab in the Swedish ribs.
"By selling these meatballs as Swedish meatballs for years in their chain furniture store, they are also saying forget the furniture, I can even sell your meatballs as if they are mine, through my marketing and distribution organization," he said, per Newsweek.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.