Potato day in Sweden and the potato tradition

A day established in 2009

Potato day sounds like a tradition that has been running for centuries, but the occasion itself was established in 2009 by the Potato Academy in Alingsås. What is genuinely old is the vegetable and its place on the Swedish table, and that goes back to the eighteenth century. The date is 26 October, and the argument it makes each year is that the potato deserves attention precisely because it is ordinary.

Alingsås, Alströmer and a place at the Swedish table

Alingsås is the hometown of Jonas Alströmer, the man who popularised the potato in Sweden in the 1700s, and the Potato Academy is based in the same town. The stated aim of the day is to highlight the role of the potato in Swedish food culture and to support local production. That is a modest claim, and it holds up: the potato appears at Midsummer, at Christmas, and on practically any weekday in between.

It is worth saying plainly that a day invented by a trade body remains a day invented by a trade body. We are comfortable with that, because the occasion is useful and the food behind it is real.

A reason to share a table

Potato day is one of those occasions where food becomes the talking point, which makes it a good reason to organise an informal lunch in the office with something potato-based on the menu, roasted or boiled or however the kitchen prefers to handle it. Simple, and very Swedish.

Items from the foodware collection and kitchen accessories help set a table that looks considered rather than assembled at the last minute, and mugs and thermoses for hot drinks complete the picture of an autumn lunch.

Nobody remembers the printed napkin afterwards. What people remember is that someone bothered to cook and that there were enough chairs, which means most of what makes a shared lunch work is not merchandise at all. Knowing which part the products are actually doing is the job.

A gift in the spirit of autumn

Late October sits between seasons, with the summer campaigns finished and the holiday period only just beginning. Potato day fills that gap and gives a reason to do something warm and unexpected for a team that is not expecting anything at all.

A hoodie or a jacket with the company logo is exactly what the end of October calls for, and sweets in a paper bag or a cloth bag, with a small selection of treats, make a gift that needs no explanation.

Apparel is where plans like this usually go wrong, because forty people means a size curve and a size curve means somebody ends up with a hoodie they will never wear. We have talked clients out of ordering apparel three weeks before a date, on the grounds that a jacket which arrives late and fits badly costs a brand more than it ever cost to buy.

Merchandise for the autumn office

A water bottle or a cooler bag as part of a small set gives a team practical items that stick around long after the plates have been cleared. Nothing here has to be clever. It has to be picked up again in November.

Bulk is cheaper per unit, but it stops being cheaper the moment half of it sits in a cupboard until someone quietly throws it out. Order for the people who will actually use the items, then order more once they do.

Four items that fit the occasion

The sections above are about the day itself. These four are the items that most often end up in a set alongside it, picked for the part of the year when nobody is thinking about an ordinary Tuesday in February.

• Heat-Sealed Shopping Bag 70gsm: a light heat-sealed non-woven bag that is honest about what it is, something to carry lunch home in rather than a bag for life.
• Vintage Trucker 6-Panel: the mesh back is optimistic at the end of October, but a trucker cap gets worn again in April and May, which is more than most branded headwear manages.
• Stedman Sports-T Move Men: a technical t-shirt that belongs in the gym rather than at the lunch table, which is exactly why it stays in use through the winter.
• Yide Lockable Bottle 600ml: 600 ml with a lid that locks, and the lock is the whole point, because a bottle that leaks into a bag once gets thrown out.

One ordinary thing, done properly

Potato day is a reminder that even the most ordinary things deserve their moment, and good merchandise works on the same principle: a table set for the people already in the building, sizes that fit, a bottle that is still in use in November.

That is our corner of the business, and the question underneath it is why some ordinary things get picked up every day while others get picked up once.