When the Social Democrats' former party leader Håkan Juholt was ambassador to Iceland, he looked for ways to sell Sweden abroad.
The answer was through the herring – and through Ted Karlberg.
The herring expert from Karlskrona was invited over to Reykjavik to serve herring to the Icelandic first lady.
And on that road it is.
- You expose yourself when you prepare something for a person you like or meet.
And when that person gets to taste, then you know who it is, says Ted Karlberg.
The friendship became a book
When SVT visits Ted Karlberg at the office on Campus Gräsvik, he has just returned from a trip to Pretoria, South Africa, where his friend Juholt is now a diplomat.
Here, Ted has served a special herring variety – a native Zulu herring, inspired by the South African Zulu tribe.
Now the friends' interest has become a book.
- I am proud that it is such a local project.
It's a guy from Småland and a guy from Blekinge.
It is published by a publisher in Blekinge and printed in Vimmerby in Småland, says Håkan Juholt to SVT Nyheter Blekinge.
Hear more about the herring book - and herring diplomacy - in the video clip above.