AMERICANS TRYING NORWEGIAN CHRISTMAS FOOD. Annalisa sent me this Youtube video of Americans stationed at our Norwegian embassy trying Norwegian Christmas food. My first reaction was that we assume that Norwegians will be good sports about some of the unfavorable reactions. Some Americans have been known to react badly to slurs on American cuisine.
My second reaction was that Scandinavians seem to get a kick out of Americans taking a while to get used to delicacies like surstromming (I posted a video of a first encounter with surstromming here.)
The second item was herring in mustard sauce. I would have asked for seconds. I remember fondly a smorgasbord meal in about 1970 at Copenhagen, a Danish restaurant in New York. My dinner consisted of herring prepared nine different ways and three desserts with bowls of whipped cream available as a topping.
I’ll bet it was crème fraîche (which is slightly sour) or sour cream!
I think societies that are heavily dependent on seafood historically wind up having some very potent and (to Americans) unusual dishes. Japan seems to have their share of things like this.
However – Norway also has cloudberries, which are fantastic.