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Traditional food · Norway
Fish soup and Bergen cinnamon bread, coastal Møre cod (bacalao), Trøndelag sodd, the Troms cake, Sami reindeer stew and fårikål, the national dish.
In the photo: Geirangerfjord, Møre e Romsdal
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
The cuisine
Norwegian cuisine was born from a country of a long coastline, dark winters and short summers. For centuries, preserving food was a matter of survival: fish was dried or salted, mutton was salted, smoked and dried, and flatbread lasted for months. Many dishes that appear at celebrations today come from this resourceful cooking.
The sea is central. In Bergen, a Hanseatic League city, fish soup has its own recipe, and trade with the continent brought the sweet cinnamon bread. On the coast of Møre og Romsdal, dried and salted cod, klippfisk, was exported to Spain and Portugal, and from there returned a stew recipe with tomato and olive oil that Norwegians call bacalao.
Mutton is the other staple. Fårikål, a stew of mutton layered with cabbage, was chosen as the national dish in popular votes, and on the west coast smoked sheep head is served before Christmas. In Trøndelag, sodd, a meat broth with meatballs, is wedding and confirmation fare. In the far north, biđos, a reindeer stew, is a celebratory dish of the Sami people.
Among sweets, besides Bergen’s cinnamon bread, is Kvæfjordkake, a meringue-and-cream cake created in a café in Troms and voted the national cake. Akevitt, a potato distillate flavored with caraway and other spices and aged in barrels, accompanies festive meals.
9 flavors
Norwegian potato-based spirit flavored with spices, especially caraway and dill, and aged in oak barrels. It has European geographical indication as Norsk Akevitt; linjeakevitt barrels cross the equator by ship before bottling.
Stew of bone-in lamb and cabbage, layered with whole black peppercorns, slowly cooked and served with potatoes. It was chosen as Norway’s national dish in a popular vote in the 1970s and reaffirmed in 2014.
Creamy fish soup from Bergen, made with a fish-bone broth, vegetables cut into thin strips, fish meatballs and cream. A touch of vinegar and sugar gives it a slightly sweet-and-sour flavor that sets it apart from other Norwegian fish soups.
Large roll of sweet fermented dough with butter, cinnamon and sugar, topped with more sugar after baking. It’s a specialty tied to Bergen’s Hanseatic history.
Sámi stew of reindeer meat with potato, carrot and onion, slowly cooked in broth. It is the Sámi people’s celebratory dish, served at weddings, confirmations and other celebrations; the name comes from Northern Sámi.
Stew of klippfisk, the air-dried, salted cod, with tomato, potato, onion, pepper and olive oil. The recipe reached the coast of Møre og Romsdal through the cod trade with Spain and Portugal, and it is a festive dish in Kristiansund and Ålesund.
Sponge cake covered with meringue and almonds, sliced in half and filled with vanilla cream. It originated in the 1930s at a café in Harstad, Troms, and was voted Norway’s national cake; it is also called verdens beste, “the best in the world.”
Clear broth of lamb and beef with cubes of meat and meatballs, seasoned with ginger and nutmeg, served with potato and carrot. It is a festive dish of Trøndelag; the version Festsodd fra Trøndelag has a Norwegian geographical indication.
Sheep’s head salted, smoked and dried, steamed and served with potato and rutabaga puree. It’s a tradition of Voss and Hardanger, in Vestland, eaten mainly in the weeks before Christmas.
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Your questions
Fårikål, mutton cooked in layers with cabbage. It won a popular vote in the 1970s and another in 2014.
White fish, usually cod, preserved with salt and air-drying. The Norwegian west coast has exported it for centuries to southern Europe, and it is the base of bacalao.
A potato distillate flavored with caraway and other spices that is aged for months in wooden barrels in Norway. It is served at festive meals.
In the north of the country, especially in Finnmark and Troms, where biđos, the reindeer stew, is served at festivals and in Sami cultural experiences.
