Bergen Food! Not to mention Beer!

Nam nam = yum yum in Norwegian. For a couple of summers now, I've wanted to go on the Bergen Food Tour. This is my summer! Sort of. Tourists are few and many restaurants closed down or reduced their hours because of the pandemic. So we had fewer stops with bigger portions. It was more koselig, too. Kos is a word we really don't have in English. It means friendly or pleasant, or even what Google translate says, cozy. We four spent a lot of time talking about our favorite foods and beers.

Ina shows us the troll being tricked by Askeladden. He's behind the construction equipment.

Our guide, Ina, told us an Askeladden tale. Askeladden is Cinderella, but a boy. He's the third son, and the older two kept telling him he's too small, worthless, and so on. Their father was a woodcutter, so they made their living cutting and selling wood. One day, the two elder sons were cutting wood when a huge troll trumpeted, "Who dares cut my forest? Get out of here before I kill you!" They dropped their axes and ran straight home. Askeladden said, "I'll go." They said, "You can't go! The troll will kill you!" But, in the morning, he packed his backpack and took his ax into the forest. He included a ball of fresh white cheese in his pack.

Soon, he hears "Who dares cut my forest? Get out of here before I kill you!" Instead of running, Askeladden took the white cheese out of his pack, squeezed it until the liquid ran out over his hand, and said, "If you don't shut up, I will squeeze you as hard as I am squeezing the water out of this white rock!"

"Oh, no! Please! I will help you cut the wood!" So they cut and cut all day. At the end of they day, the troll invited Askeladden to his place for porridge. Askeladden challenged the troll to an eating contest. "Sure!" said the troll, for eating was something he was really good at. Askeladden quietly turned his pack around so it was in front. He ate some porridge, and then put some porridge into his pack. Well, the troll had only one eye, plus he was really concentrating on eating, so he didn't notice.

When his pack was full, Askeladden cut a hole in it so the porridge could drain out. The troll saw that, but didn't say anything. After a while, he said he couldn't eat another bite. But Askeladden challenged him, "Surely you can eat more than me! Just cut a hole in your stomach." "But won't that hurt?" "Not to speak of", said the boy. So, since trolls are really dumb, the troll cut a hole in his stomach and ... died.

Askeladden came home with all the troll's treasure and all the wood, and the family lived well after that.

Our tour group didn't get QUITE that much food. We started at the indoor fish market, at Fjellskål. Fjellskål means mountain bowl, but actually, it's the owner's name.

My tastes are on the left side. We ate, from the right, wild cold smoked salmon, farmed cold smoked salmon, farmed hot smoked salmon, gravlaks, smoked rainbow trout and smoked mink whale. Wild salmon is only available during summers, and is nam nam. The gravlaks at Fjellskål is done in cognac, making it quite a bit better than gravlaks I've had before. Rainbow trout in Norway is not fresh-water, but salt-water. The whale is somewhat controversial, as you can imagine. The whalers are accompanied by conservationists and animal cruelty specialists, and the government limits the number caught. This whale tasted like roast beef.

Our next stop was at Tre Kroneren (the three kroner), which has been in the same spot since the 1940s. I just discovered it last year, after passing it off as a hot dog stand. Not! The reindeer sausage with authentic sauce is delish! The topping is lingonberry (like cranberry), mustard and crispy onions. And we got 'saft', which is water with a berry syrup, also completely traditional. We stood under our umbrellas and heard all about the Sami people who herd the reindeer up north. 

More fish was in order now, so we stopped in Søstrene Hagelin. This is another one of those places I've passed by, since it looks like a typical hamburger joint with fish. I have been missing out! Their plukkfisk and their Bergen fish soup are both winners. Elna and Gudrun Hagelin moved to Bergen and opened 'the Sisters Hagelin' in 1929, to serve homemade fish meals. King Olav always had their meals when he was in Bergen. 

Plukkfisk was what Bergensers ate when Norway was poor. You boil any white fish, add potatoes to the pot, and some leeks, mash it up and have dinner. The rest of the week, you add more potatoes every day, until at the end of the week, it's basically mashed potatoes. Fishcakes, with the forks in them above, is made from various white fish. The tomato sauce-based fish with potato slices was good, but I don't remember what it was called. Anyone who has visited me knows my love of Bergen fish  soup, and this was a good one.

Ooh, dessert! Lie Nielsen is a cafe that I HAVE visited over the years. It was established in 1908, serving cakes for over 100 years. I have had sandwiches there.  But I have never had their White Lady, or marzipan cake. The crust is largely almonds, the middle is whipped cream and strawberries, the top is a touch of cake, frosted with marzipan. Marzipan is like a sheet made with almond flour, that smoothly drapes over cakes and makes a perfect background for decorations. Think birthday cakes...

Lervig brewery supplies the beer to {lucky}, our final stop. Lervig is in Stavanger. They have weird art on their cans, glasses and even feet for beer taps. {lucky} carries the theme to their walls. We were treated to a lesson in beer by a very knowledgeable beer sommelier. We had a pilsner, a German weiss, a blonde ale, Lucky Jack made with American hops, an IPA, and last, the stout called Cheap Lunch. Actually, Cheap Lunch wasn't last. I asked about the beer that had berries and cocoa in it, so we had that one last. It was rosy colored and would be perfect on a hot day. I decided the Lucky Jack was my fave of those. I guess I have to go back to try more, right?