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NORWEGIAN MEALS AND CUSTOMS

So keen on sports and the outdoor life are the Norwegians that it seems they rise deliberately early to have time to fortify themselves with a heroic breakfast selected at will from a koltbord. Typically, this consists of an assortment of cold roasted and cured meats and sausages, eggs, ham, bacon, hot and cold cereals, a selection of mild to strong cheeses, crisp and soft rye and wheat breads, fresh butter and several fruit preserves as well as fruit juices and fruits and coffee.

Then they are off to the day’s activities. School and work begin very early but they also end early in the day, and most people are homeward bound to eat a simple early dinner at around 4:00 p.m. Throughout the day small snacks of coffee, pastries or bread and butter and cheese may suffice to replenish and nourish; sometimes lunch is an abbreviated form of the breakfast koltbord: open-face sandwiches with coffee or beer.

Aside from breakfast, there is little doubt that food and its preparation are never really as important in the Norwegian mind as having time to ski or skate, sail or mountain-climb. The 4:00 p.m. dinner is always a hot though simple meal, sometimes a hearty soup and a filling dessert of waffles or pancakes with fruit, other times a fish soup and poached fish with boiled vegetables. At least once a week, farikal, a simple but substantial casserole of cabbage wedges and mutton, is served.

When the occasion demands a more leisurely and lengthy dinner, whether at home or in a restaurant, the three or four hour meal will be frequently punctuated with skaal as well as convivial conversation and laughter. Later in the evening, a small version of the koltbord will again make an appearance just a “snack” to beckon sleep, or perhaps to signal the end of the evening.

Norwegians are fond of flowers. Even though they may be expensive, flowers always grace a special dinner table, and the best restaurants always have at least one fresh flower in a vase at each table.

Perhaps because of the isolation of many villages or perhaps just because of the Norwegian natural love for people, it is impossible to visit a Norwegian home and leave without at least having had coffee and cookies or cake. Usually a visitor will be expected to partake in the next meal with the family. Traditionally in Norway, wedding or confirmation guests are expected to stay for a few days: they may sleep over at a neighbor’s but they will take all their meals with the host family, the food and drink mingling happily with songs, speeches, and dancing.

Blending with their love for natural flavors and their appreciation of life, Norwegians take more than ordinary delight in seasonal foods. Skipping school and work to pick the ripening berries is enjoyed just as much as gorging oneself on prawns. Spring and summer are so precious and so short that meals of berries or prawns are an unabashed national pastime. Even the fishermen must stagger their summer holidays so that no one will be denied the classic meals of prawns accompanied by crusty fresh bread with sweet butter and homemade mayonnaise with pauses only long enough for swallows of chilled white wine. In fact, bags of cooked prawns are bought from street vendors and munched like peanuts.

Firm about the food traditions of their own land, Norwegians are not much concerned about breaking so-called rules of eating and drinking. The order of courses in a meal is not of great urgency: if the main dish is ready first, it will be eaten first and the fish course may follow later. A fish soup may precede a main course of fish that may be garnished with a shrimp sauce: the duplication matters little. Frequently a robust red wine is served with a main course of poached cod and mustard sauce. Though unorthodox, the combination is delicious!

NORWEGIAN FOODS THAT ARE COMMONLY USED

Although ice cream vendors commonly hawk their wares at ski matches and shows throughout the winter, in other respects Norwegians are uncommonly conservative not only in foods but also in food preparation. This is not to say that Norwegian food is bland. It is not. Rather, care is taken to preserve the natural sea or earthy flavors inherent in all fresh foods. Freshly caught fish (often still alive), fresh meats, young vegetables and seasonal fruits are all enjoyed with a minimum of fripperies: simply boiled or gently stewed and served with their own freshness and taste intact.

Robust, pungent, and heartier flavors are evident in the many fermented, cured, pickled, and salted dishes that appear on the Norwegian table; fermented fish (especially trout, called rakorret) and smoked, cured meats, pickled herrings, pickled and salted vegetables and tangy salads all take their place with aged cheeses and sour, crisp, wholegrain breads. So much are natural flavors relished that often soups, stews, and desserts are seasoned only with salt or sweetened with sugar. Dairy products are enjoyed daily and sour cream is as important an ingredient in many dishes as salt. Though fruits and vegetables have only a short growing season, they seem to make up in quality and taste what they lack in variety. Self-sufficient in meat (domestic and game), dairy products, and vegetables, Norway imports most of her grain needs, fruits, and some vegetables.

NORWEGIAN SPECIAL OCCASIONS

The Norwegians were the last of the Teutonic tribes to set aside their beliefs in Odin and Thor and the glorious afterlife in Valhalla, the warrior’s final reward. This was followed by almost 500 years of Catholicism which in turn was suppressed in favor of Evangelical Lutheranism. Although the Norwegians are almost 96 percent Lutherans and devoutly celebrate Christmas, Easter, and confirmation at the age of fifteen, they are not avid churchgoers, nor have they completely relinquished their respect for the heavenly bodies (they celebrate Midsummer’s Eve in honor of solsnu, the turn of the sun). The Christmas troll Julenisse has a definite place in Christmas celebrations, and Easter is as much celebrated for its religious connotation as for the fact that it marks the beginning of the annual mountain trekking.

There is a growing difference between urban and rural dwellers in the way everything from weddings to funerals is celebrated. Because most inhabited areas are generally isolated from each other in the countryside, lengthy and often difficult traveling conditions make it more practical for guests or visitors to stay at least overnight. This necessitates extensive cooking preparations and even the sharing of neighbors’ accommodations. In contrast, urban dwellers are less gregarious, emotionally colder and tend to put forth less effort than the more traditionally minded country people.

This situation is probably most evident in funerals. In the country, the death of a villager will be mourned by the entire area with all flags at half mast and everyone coming out to attend the services, gathering afterwards to share sandwiches and coffee. In the city cremation is popular and this together with the custom of hiring not only a preacher but also professional hymn singers and even mourners makes for a brief, rather dispassionate ceremony After a city funeral only the immediate family gather quietly for gravmat (grave food) and gravol (grave beer).

Similarly, many villages are not only retaining, but in many cases reviving, age-old traditions for weddings. In the village of Voss, Saturday is the day for weddings with a traditional wedding cake made of towering layers of almond rings decorated with tiny Norwegian flags, sugary flowers, miniature crackers all topped with a tiny bride and groom. In Hardanger, a bridal outfit would be incomplete without a heirloom gold or silver crown (if necessary rented from the village goldsmith). Everywhere in rural areas, weddings are events of many days’ duration, often going through the night, with courses of coffee and sandwiches or sometimes hearty soups and nibbles of cheeses and thinly sliced sausages to periodically revive the merrymakers. City weddings are briefer, increasingly becoming merely a one-day affair, but most still retaining the traditional wedding cake.

Birthdays are special in Norway the most important being the fifteenth. This is Confirmation Day and preparation is taken seriously with all the candidates preparing themselves both in knowledge of the Church as well as in new clothes. The confirmation service is announced with special imitations; the candidates appear at the service in long white gowns covering their new clothes as they nervously answer questions on their teaching before a hushed audience. The tenseness of the services is broken with lavish gifts, flower-decked tables, and hours of singing, eating (an enlarged frokost), and drinking.

While confirmation is an undeniable highlight on the birthday register, so is the fortieth, fiftieth, and sixtieth. In fact, these special birthdays are celebrated with beautiful gifts, flowers, and special cakes. At the age of seventy the occasion is considered so important that photos of septuagenarians appear regularly in local papers, and women who reach a hundred are sent a special birthday cake by a Norwegian women’s magazine.

From noon on Christmas Eve, Norwegian shops close, and exactly at 5:00 p.m. church bells throughout the country herald the holiday. But weeks before, the hustle of holiday baking, slaughtering of animals and curing of meats and the preparation of lutefisk as well as the sending of typical Norwegian Christmas cards – a jolly picture of Julenisse gobbling his plate of rommegrot – leave little doubt of the coming occasion. In western areas of Norway, the Viking tradition of serving dried salted lamb at this time is still enjoyed, while in most of the eastern areas traditional roast pork together with lutefisk and a delectable display of fruits, nuts, and bakery highlight the Christmas menu.

While there may be a difference in menu, other traditions are uniform throughout the country. Everywhere animals are given a special treat on Christmas eve in the belief that they shared in the holy event in the stable on the special eve; Norwegian cows get a special treat of salted herring. After the Christmas Eve dinner, carols are sung around the Christmas tree which is aglow with white candles or white lights. Then the exchanging of gifts ends the evening. Christmas Day is a quiet family day. The rounds of parties begin the following day.

Julebord is the special name given to the groaning table of Christmas delicacies whether at home or in a restaurant. Traditionally the display includes the finest specialties of the country: whole poached cod, whole smoked salmon, glazed roasted duck, and roasted pork stuffed with prunes and apples. By January, Oslo has only eight hours of daylight, but the Julebord and the white lights of Christmas as well as the parties and shoal make all oblivious to the outside gloom.

Lent and Easter are observed more casually. Easter Sunday services are followed by a hearty but brief dinner, for traditionally this is the day the mountain climbing begins.

Baptisms and birthdays, Christmas and Easter all compete on the festive calendar with ancient holidays closely related with the changing seasons, seasonal activities, and the enjoyment of fresh seasonal foods. The threads of paganism and even superstition that persist into the culture of the modern-day Norwegian, and indeed that of most Scandinavians, seem to he no more contradictory than their delight in parties and their craving for solitude.

NORWEGIAN DOMESTIC LIFE

Although Norwegians treasure their solitude and privacy, they do enjoy social occasions. In rural areas social occasions are often combined with cooperative efforts concerned with smoking, pickling, salting, and preserving meats and fish, preserving berries and other fruits and communal baking of huge batches of flatbrod, enough for a whole season. The dimpled crispy round bread keeps well and is the perfect accompaniment to the many cheeses made over the summer months when the sheep’s and goat’s milk is at its richest.

Refrigerators and freezers are used almost everywhere, but traditional foods and implements continue to play an important role in the Norwegian kjokken (kitchen). Indeed, many large restaurants and modern homes proudly use the intricately carved wooden butter molds that were in use hundreds of years ago.

Although agriculture is fully mechanized, the Norwegian farmer still keeps a few cream-colored Westland “fjord ponies,” more out of nostalgia than need. And dotted over the landscape are the stabburs, two-floor storehouses reminiscent of a time before electricity and freezers, yet still much in use. The main floor is used to store grains, apples and pears, home preserves, pickles and root vegetables. And the sweet and musty food smells mingle with the heady aromas of fermenting beer and wine and waft upward to the second story which is used as a guest house and where the Norwegian family proudly keep some of their best possessions. Travel throughout the more remote areas is often difficult, and guests are always welcomed and expected to stay at least overnight.

Also reminiscent of former times are saeters, the tiny cabins perched precariously on craggy ledges near the pastures. In summer months the women of the household would often spend weeks at a time at the saeters busily collecting, churning, and aging the creamy milk from sheep and goats into a variety of cheeses. Today most of the cheese making is carried out commercially in factories, and the picturesque saeter is treasured as a summer cottage by the solitude-hungry urban Norwegian.

FOODS IN NORWAY

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Glasses of cold milk, sour milk, and buttermilk are enjoyed by all ages at all meals and often as a refreshment. Many varieties of cheeses, mostly made from sheep’s and goats milk, range from creamy and sweet to the powerful gammel ost, a cheese so aged and odiferous that it is always kept on its own covered plate.

Most commonly used is the caramel-colored sweetish goat cheese appearing at almost every meal and often blended with a roux, and smoothed with currant jelly to make a sauce for meats. A Norwegian kitchen is never without a supply of sour cream, for this is used in fruits, vegetables, stews, soups, and in pancakes, waffles, and baked goods. Even rommegrot, the traditional ending to a meal and an indispensable dish at country weddings, is made basically from flour-thickened sour cream and served with a dribble of clear melted butter and a drift of cinnamon and crunchy brown sugar.

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Apples, pears, and plums are the staple fruits, with some apricots and peaches being grown at Sjoholt. But when the wild berries ripen, almost half the population declares a holiday from work to attend to the urgent business of picking berries: lingonberries, cloudberries, blueberries, cranberries, and tiny wild strawberries. What cannot be eaten in short order is preserved in freezers or packed in jars as sweet preserves or sauces to be enjoyed all winter. Fruits, especially the variety of sweet and tart berries, are enjoyed sometimes slightly thickened and sweetened into puddings, enfolded into pancakes, layered in cakes, sprinkled into waffle batter, and frequently eaten as a side dish with roasted meats and game.
Norwegians enjoy all the commonly stored winter vegetables such as cabbages and potatoes, beets and carrots. But they especially savor young fresh vegetables in season, serving them simply boiled and lightly glazed with fresh butter, sour cream, and fresh dill sprigs. Freshly made sauerkraut still crisp and crunchy with caraway seeds, wilted cucumber salads, and bright tart pickled beets are year-round favorites.

MEATS AND ALTERNATES

Norwegians enjoy many meats, especially lamb and mutton either fresh or salted, dried, smoked, and eaten hot or cold. Pork (mainly in the form of ham, bacon, salted pork, and sausages), beef, veal, goose and duck appear less often on the menu.

Even more than lamb and mutton, Norwegians love fish. The almost endless varieties of fresh fish – salmon, trout, mackerel, flounder, herring, eel, turbot, halibut, and cod as well as shrimp and crayfish – are matched by the almost endless methods of preparation – salting, smoking, drying, marinating, poaching. The early dinner, simple but hot, is most likely to be poached fresh fish with a mustard or horse radish sauce accompanied by boiled vegetables, or a simple mutton and vegetable stew like faar I kaal. There is surely no shortage of protein, for meats and fish may be consumed not only for dinner but often at lunch, as part of a sandwich, and frequently, together with cereals and eggs, as part of frokost, the ample Norwegian breakfast. Legumes are not widely used, except the dried peas so popular for soup. Almonds and almond paste are usual bakery ingredients.

BREADS AND GRAINS

A great variety of breads and rolls – crisp, dried, chewy crusty even soft and light – make their appearance at almost every meal. Most popular is the crisp dimpled circle of rye bread called flatbrod which is still made in huge quantities, often as a communal effort. Norwegian women take great pride in their baking and even though guests may drop in unexpectedly, there will always be crispy cookies and at least one cake to accompany the inevitable good strong coffee. Cooked and cold cereals are also very much a part of the popular frokost which also includes cheeses, meats, and fish. The Norwegians are firm believers in a hearty breakfast.

FATS

Butter is not only a cooking fat and a spread, it is also used as a flavoring and an ingredient in almost every dish. Cheeses, milks, cream, and sour cream are all rich in butterfat and skimmed milk is considered suitable for anything but humans. Smaller amounts of other fats such as rendered duck or goose fat, salt pork and lard are also used in cooking.

SWEETS AND SNACKS

The Norwegian preference is not for sweets, but an undeniable sweet tooth does exist. Although candies are eaten as well as cakes and pastries, they are seldom richly iced or syrupy. Most baked goods are only slightly sweet and coffee is usually preferred strong and black.

SEASONINGS

Natural tastes predominate in Norwegian cuisine, but there is a definite predilection for salted foods. Salty cheeses, salted and pickled vegetables, salt-cured meats and fish are a daily part of the diet. Only moderate amounts of other seasonings are used: bay leaves, peppercorns, caraway seeds, mustard, horse radish, dill, thyme, and of course, butter and sour cream are liberally used.

BEVERAGES

The general Scandinavian custom of skaal is as prevalent in Norway as it is in Sweden and Denmark: the raised glass of chilled Aquavit, the firm meeting of eyes followed by a decisive gulp and then the triumphant raising of the emptied glass and the final meeting of the eyes. Frequently this is followed by chasers of beer and most often the whole ritual precedes a meal and is carried on throughout the dining. The final bottomless cups of coffee are perhaps a token attempt at sobriety. It is difficult to say for which of these beverages the Norwegian has the greatest capacity. Suffice it to say that all are consumed in Norway in quantities unrivaled in North America.

FOOD AN CULTURE IN NORWAY

There is more to Norway and Norwegians than meets the eye. Outwardly the country is the most sparsely populated in all of Europe with less than 25 percent of the land inhabited and more than 75 percent of it a vast stillness of barren mountain ranges. Outwardly Norwegians appear to be a literate, calm and homogeneous people, with conformity appearing to be the key to their way of life.

Yet the Norwegians were the first in Europe to recognize the potential of water-powered electricity and in 1891 installed in northern Hammerfest the first hydroelectric plant in all of Europe – while the rest of Europe lit their candles and kerosene lamps. As early as the 700s, when the rest of civilization was still nascent, Norwegian Viking ships set out to far off coasts of the Arab world and even North America, to explore, to trade, and to plunder. Stone Age carvings visible throughout Norway on mountainsides and rocky strata are said to be more than 4,000 years old and depict a vivid way of life with images of the sea and the land and even well-drawn skiers.

Even today, with little more than 3 percent of the land arable, Norway has an efficient mechanized system of agriculture, a bustling industry in forestry and fishing products, and a merchant shipping fleet that is one of the largest in the world. And while much of the rest of the industrialized world concerns itself with problems of pollution, Norway exports an increasingly prized resource: pure spring water.

Norwegians freely admit to being hooked on sports and physical fitness and to being avid readers – there are said to be three times as many daily newspapers in Oslo as in New York. They also admit that alcoholism is one of their oldest problems. And while they enjoy parties after skiing, skating, sailing, or mountain climbing, there is sure to be at least one guest abstaining from alcoholic drinks in order to drive the others home. For in Norway impaired driving carries the stiff penalty of jail term and this is strictly enforced. Special government stores dispense alcohol at high prices and close for weekends. Perhaps it is a spark of the old Viking fire that accounts for the Norwegians openly adhering to the letter of the law, while many of them quietly make good use of a still hidden in the cellar!

And while 96 percent of the population profess to the Lutheran faith, complete with the celebration of Christmas, Easter, confirmation ceremonies and parties on the fifteenth birthday, examples of still older beliefs are much in evidence. Dotted throughout the rugged countryside are gnarled and grotesque rock formations which the Norwegians – only slightly hesitantly and more than half-jokingly – will tell you are fossilized trolls. Many inexplicable events are quietly attributed to the varying dispositions of the mischievous trolls inhabiting the rocks and trees throughout Norway and there are few who would dismiss their existence completely. There is scarcely a Norwegian family that would not set out a plate brimful of creamy rommegrot for julenisse, the Christmas troll dressed in a red cap and sporting a white beard. With a full belly on Christmas Eve, he is not so likely to play tricks on the family the rest of the year.

The Norwegian’s apparent contradiction between the inner and outer self is an ancient trait. Although daring and violence seemed to characterize the Viking abroad, at home he organized things – special meeting places where village grievances and disputes could be heard and settled. This surprisingly democratic system was in existence before the 600s. And while the Viking held the belief that to fall in battle meant a place in Valhalla with Odin in the afterlife, he also clung to a firm belief in ragnarok, “the final confrontation between Good and Evil,” and the accounting of man’s deeds.

But it is history as well as ancient cultures that have molded the Norwegian lifestyle. The flamboyant era of the Vikings ended in 1066 followed by almost 500 years of internal strife, domination by Sweden and Denmark in ill-fated unions and finally the Black Plague which reduced the population. Pressure from the German Hanseatic League controlled Norwegian trade for almost 200 years, while the Danes ruled and taxed the people and spread the Lutheran faith.

Finally, toward the end of the 1700s, with her population increased, her economy strengthened, and a resurgence in rich peasant art, Norway adopted English manners and culture and stepped towards independence.

The democratic constitution was signed on May 17, 1814, and is celebrated today with children’s parades and a buoyant sense of freedom just as though “the ink were still wet on the paper.”

Wherever Norwegians have emigrated, they have adapted themselves quietly into the community, retaining their Lutheran faith and their love of sports, everywhere their calm natures and gentle strength pervading their lifestyle. Unquestionably their long historic struggle with the elements of nature and their life in a vast quiet country have left them with a deep sensitivity to the concerns of others as well as a personal need for solitude.