Eating in Translation - When a True Viking Norwegian Translation is Needed at Viking Festival

Norwegian Food Booths At Viking Days
I was told there would traditionally be a lot of fish and wild game at a true Norwegian food festival. Even though there wasn’t a lot of game meats, there were a lot of different traditional foods.

One food booth was the Gravlox booth, which literally translates as "dug salmon." It is a cured salmon fillet usually with salt, sugar, gin and dill and then preserved for 48 hours to cure. It is delicious and is usually served with capers, mustard, crème fraice and bread. We shared Gravlox on toast with capers.

Another booth was called Krabbelag, otherwise known as a crab party. A Krabbelag relates to Norwegians eating fresh crab they have caught themselves or bought fresh from a fishmonger. The crab is often accompanied with lemons, mayonnaise, bread and beer and wine, a party held outdoors with friends and crab is a common sight. We had a couple crab legs with lemon and mayonnaise.

Our Norwegian translator told us a variety of seafood is served fresh, smoked, salted or pickled. Variations on creamed seafood soups are common too. All kinds of fish are eaten regularly including herring, sardines, mackerel and Tørrfisk, or the Atlantic cod, our Norwegian translator explained, is one of the most traditional staples in Norway.

Since we didn’t see too many wild game booths, we did stop by the Morr table, or sausage table, where beef and pork sausage is common and often served with a popular thin wheat/potato bread called Lefse. A couple things we wouldn’t see at all was roast reindeer, which is a common meat served in Norway or a smoked lamb's head called Smalahove, which is usually saved for Christmas.

After we watched dancing and traditional Norwegian music, we were ready to try Norwegian dessert. Norwegians enjoy coffee cakes, sweet breads, lingonberries and cheese. Lingonberries and Juniper Berries are abundant and popular as jams, syrups in sauces and as desserts. Eplekake or apple cake is common. We tried kaffebrød or coffee bread with fresh coffee and some slices of a sweet brown bread with a sweet geitost or brown/red cheese that is actually caramelized lactose from goat milk or a mix of goat and cow milk. Norway may be most famous for its world renowned Jarlsberg cheese, which was passed out as samples near its own booth.

We learned a ton today about Norwegian music, culture and food and ate far more than we should have. Besides the sights, sounds, smells and tastes, having our Norwegian translator give us a Norwegian food tour made the festival a much richer experience.