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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Bergen
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.
Traditional sweet from Bergen, Vestland
Also known as: skillingsboller, skillingsbolle fra Bergen
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Skillingsbolle — Bergen, Norway
The skillingsbolle is a roll of fermented wheat dough with plenty of butter, filled with cinnamon and sugar, rolled into a spiral and baked. Before going into the oven, more sugar is sprinkled on top. In Bergen, the rule is that it should be large, soft and very sugary.
Local tradition traces its origin to a German pastry that the Hanseatic League brought to the city in the 16th century, when Bergen was one of the league’s major ports. The novelty was popular, and local bakers began making it for residents. Bergen had Norway’s first bakers’ guild in 1596.
The name comes from a time when breads and cakes were named after their price: the bun cost a skilling, an old Norwegian coin. The recipe has changed little since then. The raisins it once contained disappeared during World War II due to ingredient shortages, and never returned.
In Bergen, the skillingsbolle is eaten at breakfast, as a snack and at parties. Some people pull apart the spiral little by little, and others eat it with butter and brunost, the Norwegian brown cheese. The city’s traditional bakeries sell it year-round.
Bergen , Vestland
A sweet most associated with Bergen by the city’s official tourism.
Wheat flour, milk, yeast, butter, sugar and cinnamon; sugar on top before baking.
Plain, with coffee, or split open with butter and brunost. Many people unwind it little by little.
All year round, at breakfast, as a snack and at parties.
Your questions
Because it cost a skilling, an old Norwegian coin, at a time when breads and cakes were named after their price.
Local tradition links it to a German pastry brought to the city by the Hanseatic League in the 16th century.
Plain with coffee, or with butter and brunost; many people unwind it little by little.
Flavors of Norway
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.
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.
