Posts under "Culture"

Thanksgiving in Norway

Posted by kari 1 Comment
Nov 17 2011

Perhaps you have spent a lonely Thanksgiving away from your family, maybe even out of the country.  Fear not, if you happen to be in Norway for some reason during Thanksgiving and you are not with your family or other Americans, you can still enjoy a feast close to those we love here in the U.S.  As November is the only month that I have not spent in Norway, I have not been tasked with making Thanksgiving matretter (dishes) and finding friends to enjoy them with in Norway.  I do have several American friends who have spent Thanksgivings in Norway and they always seem to have a good time and enjoy the mat, despite the fact that Norwegian matbutikker (grocery stores) are nothing like the giants here in the U.S.

If you are in a larger city in Norway, you will likely find one or more of the following matbutikker: ICA, Meny, Coop, Rimi, Rema 1000.  While buying mat in Norwegian matbutikker is relatively comparative to the U.S. in terms of cost (relative to other ´costs of living´), matprodukter that are not common in Norway will of course be dyrere (more expensive).  Items that you will be able to find relatively easily are kalkun (turkey) either at a matbutikk or a slakter (butcher), søtpoteter (sweet potatoes), and tranebær (cranberries).  You will have difficulty finding frozen pie crusts for sure, as well as gresskar purée (pumpkin purée) and certain urter (herbs) that you may enjoy in stuffing or some other matrett.

I was looking for stories from Americans who have made Thanksgiving dinners in Norway and I came across this blog.  It´s about a woman who has to make Thanksgiving dinner for her Norwegian husband and family (who have never eaten it before) and she really has no idea what she´s doing, but everything turned out awesome.  And….they had an eating contest-hard to imagine with a small Norwegian family, but very funny.  Check out the blog here.

Although Norwegians do not typically celebrate Thanksgiving, many American families with Scandinavian descent include things like lefse (or maybe lutefisk or fenelår) in their Thanksgiving meal.  My family always has lefse at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter actually.  It´s just kind of a dessert that ends up on most holiday dining tables.

Happy Thanksgiving whether you are in Norway or anywhere else in the world.

takk-thank you

takknemlig-thankful

Bird Hunting in Norway

Posted by kari 1 Comment
Nov 16 2011

While I haven´t been to Norway for over a year now (crazy that it´s been that long, gotta get back for a visit), I was very much reminded this past weekend of a very fun experience I had in Norway last fall.  This weekend my boyfriend and I took my dog, a weimaraner (pointing breed) up north for å jakte etter fasaner (to hunt pheasants) near Lake Mille Lacs.  We hunted for a couple of hours in the late morning and early afternoon and guess what?  We continued to shed layers until we got down to our t-shirts.  That is pretty crazy for mid-November in Minnesota.  I remember last fall up in the mountains in Salangen Fylke (County), Norway we were also in t-shirts some days when the sun shone bright and there was little wind.  Then there was a day or two when we were all wearing layer upon layer of clothing including vinterluer (winter hats) and hansker (gloves).

While fuglejakt (bird hunting)  in MN, or any kind of jakt for that matter, is different than å gå på jakt i Norge both because of the type of dyr (animals) and the different topography and climate, the rules and reasons for engaging the activity are similar, as is the popularity.  I can´t seem to find good data on the number of jegere (hunters) in Minnesota, but because Norway has a state-run association of jegere og fiskere (Norges jeger og fiskerforbund), I know that 120,000 individuals are medlemmer (members) of this association.  These 120,000 medlemmer belong to 570 local jeger og fisker klubber.

rype (grouse)

Last fall in Norway, I went with a friend and his fellow jeger og fisker venner (friends) up into the mountains in Salangen Fylke  for å jakte etter rype (grouse).  I had my hund (dog) along and another guy had his very experienced flushing hund.  The Weimaraner rase (breed) is a peker rase (pointint breed), but (perhaps because she had no training whatsoever), she did not peke.  She was, however, very helpful retrieving.  The other hund would peke, someone would skyte (shoot)  and my hund would hente fuglen (retrieve the bird).

As it turns out, she did the same this weekend when we jakte etter fasaner!  We´d walk through the tall grass and try to get her to run in there to scare up fugler.  She didn´t peke at all, but if we shot a fugl, she was extremely helpful in finding it.  I swear these were super fugler!  Several of them were såret (wounded) and were very difficult to find after they ran around in the brush.  Stella did a great job though!

In any case, now you know a few Norwegian words associated with fuglejakt.  I will write a post later with more specific information on the kind of fugler one can jakte.

The Valdres Region of Norway

Posted by kari No Comments
Nov 9 2011

The other day I posted about Rakfisk Festival, which is a festival that takes place every year in celebration of fermented trout and char, as well as other local food production and handicrafts.  Fagernes, a small city in the region of Valdres, Norway is where the annual festival takes place.  Although I´ve driven through Valdres, I did not really know that much about the region–until now.  So, I thought I´d write a bit about the Valdres region of Norway and what it is known for, what one can do there, etc.

First, I´d like to begin by saying that the dialects people speak from this central region of the country are very different than the rest of the country. When I studied at the University of Oslo, I had a class with a girl named Karine who was from Valdres  and I could literally barely understand her.  My Norwegian is by no means perfect, but I am fluent and I can understand all other dialects I´ve heard.  This one was tough though.  I mean, it was almost like the different between spoken Norwegian and Danish-she used completely different words sometimes.  For example, here are some words where you can see a marked difference between a Valdres dialect and standard bokmål:

Examples of local words Squirrel - Norwegian: ekorn, Valdres: ikødn All right (as in an all right person) – Norwegian: grei, Valdres: snodig (which in Norwegian normally means strange/funny) Lonely - Norwegian: ensomt, Valdres: aule

Oppland County

Let´s move on to geography and demographics.  Valdres belongs to the fylke (county) of Oppland and is made up of 6 municipalities:

  • Sør-Aurdal (The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bagn)
  • Nord-Aurdal (The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Fagernes)
  • Vestre Slidre (The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Slidre)
  • Øystre Slidre (The administrative centre of the municipality is the village Heggenes)
  • Etnedal (The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bruflat)
  • Vang (The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vang i Valdres)
Valdres is situated between the valleys of Gudbrandsdal and Hallingdal (dal means valley) approximately halfway between Oslo and Bergen.  The major European highway E16 runs through it and it also has an airport (in Fagernes).  This part of the country is stunning with all of the mountain ranges and valleys and small farms.
Historically, agriculture was a major industry in Valdres, but today tourism and trout fishing have surpassed agriculture as forms of livelihood.  There is plenty to do for tourists who visit Valdres.  Valdres is well known, as mentioned earlier, for trout fishing, as well as cycling, hiking, horse riding, rafting, golf, and of course skiing in the winter.
Let´s go to Valdres! 

Lapskaus Boulevard, a tale about Norwegians in Brooklyn, NY

Posted by kari No Comments
Nov 7 2011


Lapskaus Boulevard used to be the nickname for 8th Ave. in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY.  What does Lapskaus mean and why was 8th Ave. referred to as this?

Lapskaus is a northern European stew and the Norwegian version is usually made with beef and gravy.  The name became associated with 8th Ave. because many Norwegians (and Danes) settled in the working class neighborhood of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn.  Although there was a significant Norwegian presence in the New York metropolitan area for several hundred years, it wasn’t until the 1920s that this area of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn became seriously inhabited by Norwegians.

Sølandet Restaurant on 8th Ave.

On street corners one could hear many different Norwegian dialects spoken as emigrants from all over Norway left their homeland.  The majority of the Norwegian residents, however, were from southern Norwegian coastal communities.  It should be no surprise then that these Norwegians who settled in New York were to a great degree involved in maritime activities.

In this neighborhood, there were Norwegian restaurants that served fiskekaker (fish cakes) and lefse, grocery stores that sold brunost (brown cheese) and lingonberry syltetøy (jam).  There were Norwegian Lutheran kirker (churches) scattered around the neighborhood, and an annual Syttende Mai (17th of May) parade was established and continues to this day.

Gradually the neighborhood became more and more populated by Chinese and Arab immigrants and is now called “Little Hong Kong.”  There are still indications that this used to be a neighborhood of Norwegian immigrants.  Siv Ringdal, a woman from a small town in southern Norway called Lista, has written several books about Norwegian emigration to the United States and how this move affected the Norwegian emigrants’ hometowns back in Norway and how their Norwegian roots affected life in the U.S.

I actually met Siv Ringdal (b. 1973) back in 2006 when I lived in Oslo for a semester during my junior year of college.  I had heard about her book, ¨The American Lista…¨and was very interested in her cultural historian work.  I emailed her and we set up a time to meet for coffee at a quaint little café north of central Oslo.  She gave me a copy of the book and told me all about how she got into this project.  She mentioned Lapskaus Boulevard and it is not until this weekend that I thought about it and saw that she indeed completed it and it was published.  Now I need to buy it and read it.

Det Amerikanske Lista

I have a step-brother and step-sister who live in Brooklyn, New York, so for sure next time I visit, I will take a stroll down 8th Ave. and experience the remnants of Norwegian immigration to the area.

Rakfisk Festival, Norway

Posted by kari No Comments
Nov 6 2011

If you had been in Norway this weekend, you might have had the opportunity to experience the annual Rakfisk Festival.  Every year in the town called Fagernes, which is in Valdres in eastern Norway (about 25 miles west of Lillehammer), tens of thousands of people gather to celebrate rakfisk (literally brine cured fish).  The fisk used is typically either ørret (trout) or røye (char).  The fish is salted and then left to brine for 2-3 months, at which point it is eaten rå (raw), perhaps on a piece of flatbrød (flatbread) with rå løk (onions) or purre (leeks), smør (butter) or rømme (sour cream) and poteter.

Rakfisk Festival always occurs in the first weekend of November, right around that time that the days feel really short and the amount of daylight is dwindling.  Every year there is different entertainment, but always loads and loads of fisk.  According to several sources I have consulted, Norwegians consume 500 tons of rakfisk every year.  The official website of Rakfisk Festival can be viewed here.  You can see the full program, which included several musical artists including Viggo Sandvik, Askil Holm, and Vassandgutane.  There is plenty of opportunity to chill out and listen to music or get on the dance floor and boogie.

This year there were 9 individuals and organizations who contributed their rakfisk to the festival:

Rakfiskprodusentene

Lofoss Fisk

Telefon: 91844501
E-post: endre@roengard.no
Nettside: www.lofossfisk.no
Mer om Lofoss Fisk

Noraker Gård

Telefon: 61 36 23 64
E-post: nils@noraker.no
Nettside: www.noraker.no
Mer om Noraker Gård

Wangensten

Telefon: 61362300
E-post: jorn@wangensten.no
Nettside: www.wangensten.no
Mer om Wangensten

Some interesting facts about the festival include:

-40 tons of rakfisk are sold during the festival

-25,000 visitors attend the festival every year

-70% of attendees have experienced the festival before

-70% come with family and friends

-30% have attended at least 5 times

-in addition to rakfisk, hundreds of other booths are set up by local food producers and individuals who produce handicrafts

-the festival costs about 40 million kroner every year

Rakfisk Festival is one of the largest events related to food culture and supporting the production of local food.  It sounds like a whole lot of fun to me.  Norway is the only month that I have not experienced in Norway.  Next time I´m going to Rakfisk festival to eat fermented ørret with a glass of akevitt!

 

 

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