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.
