Trendy Nordic food

The long summer day when the sun never sets, temperatures that at times reach tropical heights, but which by and large stay rather low. The winter, with its bitingly cold night, where the frost penetrates down into the ground and brings all life to a standstill. The climate creates special conditions in which only the most hardy plants and animals survive due to having characteristics that allow them to tolerate this much cold and that much light. The low temperatures also reduce the risk of bacterial, fungal and viral infections.

Chefs showing the way
New Nordic food has become a concept and the first restaurants have now managed to receive 2 stars in the Michelin guide with this concept. Our pride is growing and we are no longer characterizing our traditional Nordic diet as being inferior.

Nordic chefs have won more cooking competitions than the French, even though our total population here in the Nordic countries is less than half of France's population. The small countries are flexing their muscles here against one of the world's largest culinary giants. The inspiration this has created has led us to believe in our own ways. Today, we can boast that there are greater variations in cheeses in the Nordic countries than there are in France.

Sweet carrots
Growing carrots in one of the coldest climates for cultivating them on this planet makes for special products. Carrots quickly shoot down into the soil, but because the season is short, they never manage to reach what we call a mature round shape. They remain long, thin and pointed. Because a carrot does not have the ability to run away from attackers, it has the ability to develop bitter poisons as a defence. However, the need for such protection is significantly less for the Nordic carrot because many pest organisms do not survive through the cold of the winter. The root is thus less bitter, allowing the sweetness and fruitiness to play an enhanced role in the taste picture. The results are a sweet, crispy, light, pointed and fruity carrot - probably the best in the world ...

Le Skrei de Norvege
Fish from cold waters have reached the gourmet restaurants of France. Le Skrei has over the course of only a few years gained the status of something quite remarkable. These cod are ready to spawn when they come down from the Barents Sea to the Norwegian Sea, from where they are shipped to Paris within 24 hours after being caught. They are quite special products, where the filet cleaves into large segments as a sign of its freshness. Cod served with roe and liver has long been winter food in the North. Now the world is seeing what freshness actually can be, and the response is the result of substantial demand and status.

Cloudberries make for good memories
The Nordic kitchen is simple, pure food - straight from nature. Cloudberries are as heavenly as the name suggests and are picked one at a time where they grow, spread across our mountainous areas. Their taste is unique and no additives are necessary. In the Nordic countries, cloudberries evoke memories of long walks, open landscapes and the pleasure of enjoying nature when they are taken out of the freezer and served for Christmas.

Swedish apples
Sweden possesses one of the world's oldest genetic cultural treasures in the form of a very rich collection of genetic material for apples. This material has been collected since the time of Carl von Linnè, back in the mid-1700s. The climate in the Nordic countries adds still another dimension to the uniqueness of these apples, which are characterized by freshness, fruitiness, sweetness and strong aromas. These apples make the most consummate and aromatic juices, every bit as competitive as wines in the richness of their taste.

Retro lutefisk
The simple preservation techniques, such as drying for fish, have created values in regions for centuries, and laid the groundwork for culinary traditions the world over. Lutefisk is now becoming a strong retro-trend in a modern society. We have reclaimed the tradition, and lutefisk has become gourmet food with many different local expressions.

Hardy grains
Grain has not always been of the most outstanding quality for baking in the Nordic countries. Hence we have compensated for this with baking techniques such as sourdough and baking in stone ovens, which have created new tastes with a basis in rye, oats and barley. Varieties of grain that can be grown in our difficult climate have later shown that their products not only taste good, but also that they can do good. The properties that the plants require in order to survive in the Nordic climate causes the grains to have constituents such as antioxidants, which we also need to protect ourselves from illnesses.

The taste of nature
Nature comes straight in to the dinner table when game from the forests or lamb from coastal or mountain pastures make for raw materials with a characteristic terroir. The concept of terroir, which is at the heart of the French kitchen and which is extremely central to the experience of quality, has actually always been a matter of course for us. Lamb in the Nordic countries has a taste of the pasture, and the characteristic salty sea taste of animals from the coastal pastures has always been different from those raised in the mountain pastures. The results from the hunt are also substantial in the Nordic countries. Housewives have developed a rich selection of products rooted in local traditions with the raw materials from game. Sausages, offal, soups and casseroles with reindeer, moose, red deer, roe deer and small game have long traditions as food for celebrations. Such dishes are now moving at full speed into the new picture that is being created by the Nordic kitchen in the restaurant industry.

Gathering for the winter
Our traditional food has become a way of showing who we are, and a manner of looking after our own identity in a continually more international world. The Nordic countries are an area with great natural resources at the free disposition of its inhabitants. The gathering of berries, mushrooms and freshwater fish that are brought back to the homes for preservation and use when the cold season sets in is typical in the Nordic countries. Smoked whitefish, eel and mountain trout are foods with unmistakeable Nordic traits. Today, these items are used on open-faced sandwiches in Nordic smorgasbords set out for festive occasions.