Johansen - How to hygge: the secrets of Nordic living

Hello and welcome! Or, Hei, og velkommen!

Make yourself at home. Perhaps put the kettle on for a cuppa, or pour yourself a Scotch and curl up somewhere you can be left undisturbed for a little while. The world of Nordic hygge awaits.

What exactly is hygge? you ask.

A Danish/Norwegian word that translates as a feeling of cosiness, hygge can also mean kinship and conviviality. If mindfulness is about the self and looking inward, hygge is about being sociable and looking outward; its about taking pleasure in the simple things in life, in fellowship with kith and kin.

In fact, hygge neatly encapsulates everything that is great about Nordic living. One caveat, though: as a word it doesnt really exist in Finnish or Swedish, so I freely admit Ive used creative licence in applying the word to the region as a whole, to explore why we live so well.

In recent years, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have topped so many quality-of-life studies that its almost become a running joke among bemused locals. Yet life in the region is often reduced to a series of tired clichs: everyones blonde (including the furniturethanks for that, IKEA), we love pickled herring and meatballs, Abba is our greatest (musical) export along with the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show.

Our interiors are all crisply white, and we only wear clothes in a monochrome palette of grey, grey and ... more grey. If you watch any Nordic noir programmes youd be forgiven for thinking coffee is consumed by the litre, not by the cupful. There is a nugget of truth in that last caricature: in lists of the highest coffee consumption per capita, the Nordic region regularly features near the top. Were amped up on caffeine, but then arguably you have to be when its so dark and chilly outside most of the year.

Dont get me wrong, Nordic life is not perfect. Humans everywhere have their quirks and idiosyncrasies; were no exception.

We just have a different perspective on living. After all, we may be your north-eastern cousins, yet it seems at times the way we live is a world apart; therefore this book explores the context of Nordic living, how we operate. Think of this as a light-hearted primer for how to live your life to the fullest, not a bible to be slavishly followed. Adopt as many or as few as you fancy of the suggestions given here, but in truth there are no hard-and-fast rules on hygge. Its as much a feeling as a cultural concept.

I asked Diana Henry, one of the UKs foremost food writers, to share her thoughts on hygge:

As soon as I arrived in Copenhagenon a dark night in DecemberI understood the concept of hygge, even though I didnt have a word for it. Dragging our cases towards our hotel we noticed candles everywhere, tall fat ones in grand windows, little tea lights in smaller windows. Copenhagen was lit by a series of gentle glows. How kind, I thought, that the people in all these hotels and restaurants and apartments care enough to create warmth for everyone around them. The next day, the candles were there again, and not just at night, but in the little caf where we ate cinnamon buns and wrapped our hands around mugs of coffee mid-morning, and in the restaurant where we had open sandwiches at lunchtime. By the time I left I knew what the candles were about. Perhaps because they have more hours of darkness than us, Nordics have learnt to deal with it, and with the cold too. Candlelight is one of their antidotes to darkness, but warm jumpers, great food and drink and a concern to make a good home are all part of it. I understood ithygge, cosiness, a delight in life, the love of snuggling up in the corner of your sofaand wished very much that we had it too. I think we need it.

And thats what I reckon too. We need hygge in our lives.

Given my own background in the food industry, this book celebrates conviviality and togetherness. Food and drink are at the heart of hygge, and I was fortunate to grow up in a family who came together over home-cooked meals; however, Im not suggesting you should be a martyr in the kitchen and make everything from scratch. There are recipes here to inspire you, from quick snacks to fika treats. By simplifying your cooking skills, you can spend more time doing what you really love, or take up another valuable life skill. Many of us have a tendency to needlessly complicate everything. Resist that temptation at every opportunityyou will feel liberated, I assure you.

Nature undoubtedly sets the pace in the Nordic region. We have a healthy fear of and respect for the elements, and feel the call of the outdoors at all times of the yeara bit of bad weather never stopped the Vikings from their raids, and nor do we let it stop us today. For us, to be active is to be alive, and life takes place as much outdoors as indoors. Hygge is sometimes reduced to cake, candles and lovely soft furnishings, but to my mind its not merely about gratuitous indulgence; to a certain extent you have to earn it. That doesnt mean you have to go hell for leather on the extreme-sports spectrum and punish yourself doing exercise you hatefar from it.

Small adventures in the wild are always preferable to slogging it out in a neon-lit city gym, but channelling a Nordic pragmatism means making a few compromises. Living in Londona world-class city though it may bemeans I definitely have to. Its not as easy to frolic outdoors here as it was when I was growing up in Oslo, a place where you can clip on your skis and go for an hour-long spin around the neighbourhood in midwinter if you wish. The main thing to be alert to if you want to live your life to the fullest is to make the time to be active every day, no matter how miserable it is beyond your front door. Recent studies have proven that inactivity is worse for our longevity than a bit of extra blubber on our hips. The Nordic philosophy is that its never about looking good; its about feeling great, all year round.

Underpinning hygge is a craving for simplicity, an urge to pare everything back to basics. Jettison the anxieties and clutter of modern living to free up your time and energy to make the most of life. At the core of hygge is the guiding principle that we must all make the most of the short time we have on this planet ... And be kind to ourselves and those around us.

So whether youre fascinated by Nordic noir, have a penchant for great design, or youve visited the region and been captivated by the way we live, I hope How to Hygge proffers something for everyone.

I firmly believe anyone can benefit from a little Nordic hygge in their lives, so take a leap in and join us ...

But just to keep alive is not enough. To live you must have sunshine and freedom, and a little flower to love.

Hans Christian Andersen

Come on, Papa Johansen said one late May evening, interrupting my mewling about how much I hated revision for exams, lets go pick some lilies of the valley.

Off we went to a nearby woodland, just up the hill from our house in Oslo. It wasnt the most accessible of slopes to pick flowers. I recall clambering my way up from a distant main road, sturdy hiking boots squelching flatulently underfoot as we ventured deeper into the woods, trying not to fall over (a common occurrenceIm extremely clumsy).