Foodie road trip

The surprising flavours of Norway

Yummy, yummy – get in my tummy!

What happens when an Indian chef cooks curry with reindeer meat, or when a British baker has to milk a cow to make a cake?

Join our flavoursome journey and find out!

What search results do you get when you google Norwegian food? Not the whole story, that’s for sure! Yes, we do have our traditional dishes with weird names such as smalahove (sheep’s head), brunost (brown cheese) and fårikål (lamb stew) – but our country has so much more to offer, especially if you want to eat fresh local delicacies.

And foodies do. So Visit Norway invited American blogger Tinger Hseih, British baker Benjamina Ebuehi, and Indian chef Maunika Gowardhan to Norway to taste some of our most sustainable food. They also got to put their own twist on delicious dishes using local ingredients.

“I don’t have much experience with growing or harvesting my own produce. To see it go from farm to table or from sea to table would be such a cool experience”, Tinger says at the start of her journey.

And what could be more awesome than diving for sea urchins and eating them straight away?

Super fresh seafood

For their introduction to Norwegian seafood, the three food bloggers met locals who harvest treasures such as mussels, sea urchins, and langoustine (the Norwegian lobster). Some of these delicacies find their way to Michelin-starred restaurants.

“I risked my life for you guys”, Tinger jokes when serving a sea urchin she just picked up from the bottom of the sea.

While still in her wetsuit, she opens it up, and they all try a bite of this weird Norwegian food tradition. Their facial expressions say it all – just see for yourself!

Watch the full stories below the recipe.

The wild flavours of the mountains

One of the first places in Norway to embrace the power of local food was the Røros area, which now has nearly 30 food producers. They specialise in everything from milk, yoghurt and cured meat to award-winning cheeses.

Benjamina, Maunika and Tinger visited the reindeer herders at Rørosrein to learn more about the importance of reindeer in Sami culture and traditions. They also got to experience why so many people, from families of four to restaurant critics, enjoy the taste of game.

During her visit, chef Maunika added some exotic spices to the cooking pan and made a reindeer curry. Expectations grew as she explained the story behind the side dish: Cloudberry chutney.

“Rumour has it that they used to wage wars over these berries”, Maunika explains.

That’s a lot to live up to, so it’s time to see if the spiced-up mountain flavours impressed the other bloggers.

Watch the full stories below the recipe.

From farm to table

Free-range eggs, milk in abundance, butter, and sweet cheeses – we have a lot to thank chickens, goats, and cows for. And in Norway, they always get a well-deserved summer holiday in return. No, we’re not joking – they have mandatory vacations, because happy and healthy animals are the key to world-class farm produce.

Here in Norway, farmers distribute their products to grocery stores and restaurants. Some of them also have farm shops where you can buy products such as eggs, milk, and butter.

As a baker and recipe writer, Benjamina uses a variety of these ingredients in the cakes she bakes. But during a visit to Fannremsgården she had to do something she had never done before: Get milk and eggs directly from the sources. In this case, the friendly chickens and a cow named Dotty.

“But how can you milk the cow without making her feel uncomfortable and kicking you in the face?” the girls asked farmer Jon Fredrik.

He’s been running Fannremsgården for years and distributes most of the milk to the Michelin-starred restaurant Credo in Oslo. He showed the bloggers how to milk a cow.

Benjamina tried it too – but as you can see in the video, it’s not as easy as it looks …

Watch the full stories below the recipe.

Benjamina’s spongecake recipe

Ingredients

Cake:
225 g unsalted butter (home-made)
225 g white caster sugar
3 free-range medium eggs (day fresh)
3 tsp baking soda
275 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 vanilla pod
80 ml whole milk (from Dottie)

Filling:
250 g cloudberries, fresh or frozen
50 g white caster sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
250 ml double cream (whipped)

To dust:
dusting sugar (as needed)

How to

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare two round cake tins (around 20.5 cm in diameter) by lining with baking parchment and greasing the sides with butter.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and cardamom in a small bowl and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Stir in half of the flour mixture and fold in lightly, until the mixture is smooth. Mix in the milk and then stir in the remaining flour.

Spoon the batter evenly into the tins and bake for 20–25 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

For the filling, add cloudberries, sugar, water, and lemon juice to a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and stir frequently for 6–8 minutes until the jam thickens. Transfer to a clean bowl and let it cool completely.

To assemble the cake, put a dab of cream in the centre of the serving plate and top with one of the cakes. Spoon the whipped cream all over the base and add the cloudberries. Top with the other cake and sift over the dusting sugar.

Get inspired

Norway have many other tastes that will challenge your taste buds.

See the full stories

From diving for sea urchins and reindeer herding to milking a cow – don’t miss out on the traditions behind the delicious products that Tinger, Maunika, and Benjamina tasted.

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Flavours of Norway

Norway's unique food destinations

Norway's top restaurants

Try Norway's unique brown cheese!

Foodie road trip

The surprising flavours of Norway

Super fresh seafood

The wild flavours of the mountains

From farm to table

Benjamina’s spongecake recipe

Get inspired

See the full stories

Take advantage of top offers

Flavours of Norway

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