By Kieran, Hailey, Andre, and Roxi
Warning: This blog might make you hungry, read at your own risk!
As we’ve traveled through Norway, we have been pleasantly surprised with the wide variety of foods we’ve enjoyed, hailing (much like our group) from thousands of kilometers away. Here are some of our favorite food-related memories!
Kieran: Our largest small group dinner consisted of 22 group members walking to a small cafe in Trondheim known for its traditional Norwegian food and good vibes. The cafe felt homey and many people commented how much it reminded them of their grandparents’ house! The place was called “Baklandet Skydsstation” and it served a variety of dishes from salmon pasta to reindeer stew (sorry Rudolph)! Everybody squeezed into the tiny tables and we all became members of the clean plate club. The reindeer stew was a rich and creamy dish with mushrooms and lingonberry to pair with the star of the dish reindeer. I personally love fish so I got the salmon pasta, which was decadent, cheesy, and delicious. Although we’ve experienced countless cultures in Norway through their cuisine, it was an unforgettable experience to experience some of Norway’s own traditional dishes.
Hailey: Early on during our time in Trondheim, me and a group of friends came across an almost food-court like area, where you could order from one of many different restaurants through a QR code. We all got different types of food and while I heard good feedback from those who ended up getting pasta, I was more than happy with my choice to get Tikka Masala, so much so that I ended up getting it again a few nights later. The portions were really good for what I ended up paying and I only wish our hotel rooms had a microwave to reheat food so that I could have taken leftovers. Unlike last time I was in Europe, I am certainly not left wanting for spicy food in Norway, which I’ve been pleasantly surprised by.
Roxi: In Stavanger, a group of us ate at Aladdin Restaurant, which served Lebanese and Syrian cuisine. I had a delicious lamb ouzi dish encased in filo pastry. Over dinner, we discussed how interesting it was to see such a wide variety of food in Norway, the land of meat and potatoes, but I realized on our way back to the hotel that the existence of Syrian food in particular here makes perfect sense. As we learned in class, Syrians currently make up the second-largest group of refugees and asylum seekers in Norway (and western Europe at large) due to the instability and danger created by the Syrian Civil War, which has been raging for 14 years. It only makes sense that these folks would bring their family recipes with them as they moved, helping them settle into their new home both culturally and financially.
Andre: For one of our group meals, we ended up going to a funky little restaurant right next to our hotel called “Super Hero Burger”. The restaurant, as its name suggests, had a vague theme of superheroes and comics. Some of the most prominent decorations were the large, hand drawn cartoons depicting the mascot of the restaurant having a go at the mascots of popular burger chains. This wasn’t the first American food we’ve come across in Norway- American food has appeared repeatedly throughout our trip, from individual items on menus to entire restaurants. While this may at first seem to be a more modern phenomenon, there’s actually a much deeper history behind American food in Norway. During our time in Stavanger, we learned a lot about the growth of the oil industry within Norway. The blossoming of the oil industry in the 1970s drew not just the executives of the American oil companies, but also many American workers and their families. Many accommodations were made to incentivise American oil companies’ continued participation in Norway’s oil industry, including housing for families, alcohol and new kinds of foods that the Americans wanted. One of our fantastic tour guides in Stavanger, Lars, described how American foods began appearing in Norwegian stores, such as donuts, popcorn, and how ice cream began to be available for sale during the winter months. Bars began to pop up, and alcohol became much more available due to the Americans much greater consumption compared to Norwegians.
We’re very grateful for the people who have brought these amazing foods to Norway with them over time. Our discussions and lectures have focused on the creations of diasporas (communities built around mutual home countries and their cultures) in migrants’ journeys. These lessons felt like they came alive in the restaurants and cuisine we experienced and it was a delicious lesson to enjoy! This is only a small sample of the many delightful treats we’ve sampled, and we look forward to continuing our culinary journey in Lofoten!
Honorable food mentions include: Kebab Pizza, Moules-Frites, Duck Bao Buns, Sushi Buffet, Cardamom School Pastries, STRAWBERRIES