The article to me sounded like the custom was more about not feeding other people’s kids. I interpreted that as more about respecting the other child’s parents wishes. Quite frankly, that didn’t sound so different from my childhood in the U.S.; as a kid playing at someone else’s house, we were typically sent home when dinnertime rolled around. I don’t remember having dinner at another child’s house without permission from my parents.
As an adult, I have never gone to someone’s home uninvited (and that includes here in the U.S.). But certainly, on the occasions where I visited friends in Sweden there was never a situation where food or drink was withheld.
Sweden also has the whole fika tradition too. The company I worked for supplied cookies and coffee in the break area and there was always a group of people in there mid-morning and in the afternoon to socialize over a coffee. One of the teams I was on (where I was the only non-Swede) also had a special fika on Friday afternoon where we rotated around who brought in food.
