Kaviar og Brunost

A couple of weeks back I engaged in an interesting conversation with a friend regarding traditional family foods during the holidays. Eventually I ended up sharing some of my daily food culture including the following:

Homemade bread, egg slices and kaviar.

The Kaviar Tube

Kids in Norway eat this stuff like kids here eat peanut butter. Notice that "Abba" is a fish canning/processing company from Sweden, that's were the band got its name from. I get my kaviar from Ikea, along with other handy pantry fillers like sild (pickled herring, in tomato or wine sauce is the best), Molte Sytetoy (cloudberry jam, mix with whipped cream for the tradition Christmas Eve dessert), Knekke brod (crisp bread, best topped with a few slices of Jalsberg and yellow pepper) and don't forget Ballerina Kjeks (really good cookies).

Brunost/Gjetost

This is a cheese traditionally made with goat's milk, but it is now most commonly made with a percentage of cow's milk or only cow's milk. The darker the cheese the more goat's milk it contains. This cheese has a very distinct sweet caramel like flavour and is best enjoyed thinly sliced on a nice thick slice of your favourite fresh bread. Again this is a staple of the Norwegian table at at least three meals of the day and even comes in a spreadable version that is slightly sweeter and more mild for the kids, much like pb here in Canada. The Norwegian national nordic ski team is known to top their morning oatmeal with it. Get your brunost at the Springbank Cheese Company, 14th st and 20 ave NW.

More culinary delights to come. Stay tuned.