Take a Closer Look
Sydney W. from the Girl Scouts asks, "Do they have only seafood to eat or do they have other food too?"
Do they only have seafood to eat or do they have other food too?
They pretty much have all the food that we have. I had pizza on Thursday night and chili last night. But they also have some food that I don't see in America.
Let's start with breakfast
The delicious breakfast choices here at the Spitsbergen Guesthouse. Photo courtesy of Steve Ossim.
Each morning the guesthouse hosts a complementary breakfast including delicious, warm homemade bread. Really, until you spend time in Europe you just cannot appreciate bread with the reverence it deserves. What Americans do to bread is just downright sinful. So, yes, there is delicious bread, butter and jam, muesli, granola and yogurt. My family (who watches me eat every day) knows that if I never had anything else to eat but this, I could live perfectly happy. But there is more- soft boiled eggs, fruit, cheese, crackers, lunch meat and juice.
Now we can move on to the, shall we say, interesting stuff? See the milk bottle in the middle with the red jumping guy? That is kefir, a fermented milk drink made with kefir "grains". Not so good. But next to it is drinkable yogurt- cherry flavored. Delicious! Next to the lunch meats with the cheese cutter on top is a weird, sweet brown cheese. Not my favorite (cheese should not be brown). I also didn't like the meat spread. But I tried it! I did not try the fish in red sauce next to the drinkable yogurt, because Steve said it made him gag and I trust his judgement enough already to know I don't want to go there. And the stuff in tubes? Meh- maybe another day? I didn't know what it was so I googled it and everything came up in Norwegian. Not helpful!
To answer your question about seafood, Sydney, Norwegians do eat much seafood. On Friday I had spaghetti and fish balls for dinner. Not bad! Sian asked if they were baked or fried and my answer is, I'm not sure. They were not crunchy on the outside. Probably baked.
Finbiff
Finbiff, or reindeer stew, a classic Norwegian dish
Tonight I had reindeer stew and it was absolutely delicious! Reindeer stew or Finbiff is a dish with a 6,000 year history originating with the indigenous Sami people of Norwayy. It was tender and well seasoned with an earthy taste. It was in a potato and celery cream sauce with mashed potatoes on the side, topped with lingonberries. The slightly sour berries perfectly contrasted the heartiness of the reindeer. Wonderful! After our group left with bellies full of reindeer stew and reindeer burgers, we saw a reindeer just outside the restaurant and Kean commented, "I don't know about the rest of you but, I feel like I could pull a flying sled!"
Tonight's Arctic joke: What do you call a reindeer with no eyes?
I have no eye deer.
Get it..."I have no idea?" Ba ha ha ha ha! That's a good one!
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