[mullsork]

My experience outside the Nordics says somewhat different.

> An appreciation of and desire to be in nature is part of almost every society on the planet

I would rephrase that as "An appreciation of and desire to be outside in great weather with friends is part of almost every society on the planet." I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions, but I've met few people who are willing to, for no purpose other than to be outside, go outside in hard wind or light rain. The idea of "go get some fresh air, you'll feel better" doesn't seem to resonate well.

> fika

What makes the fika culture unique (we have it in Finland too) is not that you decide to go grab a coffee during the work day. For me, it's that _everyone_ takes a break at the same time to have coffee. I only did an internship in tech back home, but even there we would all take a break at 9:30 to sit down, have a coffee, and talk about whatever we came up with.

When I hear non-Nordics talk about Nordic culture I get the feeling that they're very focused on what individuals do, whereas the whole point is what people collectively do.

[Tade0]

For me, it's that _everyone_ takes a break at the same time to have coffee.

I've spent four years in Italy and around 12:00-12:30 the whole country essentially stops and goes for a lunch break - small businesses close etc.

The vast majority of restaurants are open during certain hours when there's a chance that people will visit.

I read somewhere that before WW2 it was like that in other countries, but died out over the years because of competition.

Perhaps what you're describing is a remnant of these times?

[mullsork]

I wasn't thinking about lunch, but that makes sense. It's not as strict or drastic here in Berlin. For a 9-6 office job, I'd say people leave for lunch between 12-13.

What I'm thinking of in the Nordics, or Finland especially since I haven't worked in the other ones, are the two coffee breaks that are part of the work day. I've worked in construction and the aforementioned tech internship, and this is roughly how the day looks (offices tend to start one hour later):

- 06:50: arrive early, banter, coffee - 07:00: day beings - 09:15: first 15min coffee break - 11:30: lunch break - 14:15: second 15min coffee break - 15:30: day is over

I may be off by 15 minutes for the coffee breaks, it's been over a decade since I worked outside of the tech startup bubble.

Not sure how things are in Finnish startups, probably slightly different? I miss these "natural" breaks though. On the other hand, I do enjoy having my coffee while working as well. :')