Norway's local heros

Once the home of frugal food and basic cooking, Norway now boasts some of the finest, most acclaimed restaurants in the world. Tina Nielsen looks at the menus that are winning Michelin stars

Norway has won the coveted Bocuse D'or (a kind of Oscar for professional cooking) three times. It is a nation of award-winning chefs and its capital has more Michelin stars per head than any other capital city. But it hasn't always been like this. This high level of creative cooking is in stark contrast to the poor years before Norway discovered oil in the North Sea.

"We were eating to survive until 1969," says Dag Terje Klarp Solvang, managing director of the Norwegian Culinary Institute in Stavanger. "That legacy still characterises traditional food in Norway, which is rustic and usually based on just one main ingredient."

Traditional food continues to be very popular in Norway, but several trends have emerged recently that have had an impact on the restaurant scene. As in the UK, the demand for locally sourced produce has risen rapidly, partly spurred on by fears over global warming. "The environmental issue is a growing concern among diners, who want the food they eat to be sourced in a sustainable way," says Fredrik Hald, a well known chef and now product development manager at Norway's biggest seafood company, Lerøy.

But it is not just customers' demands that have shaped this trend. "The chefs want to tell a story as well, and the best stories come from the neighbouring farmers and the products grown in their own areas," says Solvang. Hald agrees: "Chefs take more interest in the history of a product and the traceability," he says. Added to this is the fact that imported food in Norway is often more expensive. (Still outside the EU, Norway pays extra taxes.)

Visitors to Norway can expect superb seafood, which features heavily on the menus. Indeed, Norway is said to be such a healthy nation, partly because of its high fish consumption. With the longest coastline in the world, Norwegian seafood is internationally acknowledged. Hald, who was the sous chef at Oslo's Restaurant Bagatelle when it received its two Michelin stars, singles out white halibut, crayfish and scallops for particular praise.

The high standard of seafood available has provoked a boom in sushi restaurants throughout Norway, and it is now the fastest growing cuisine in the country. Other popular styles of food include Chinese and Italian.

But there is much more to Norway's own cuisine than seafood. "We have some excellent agricultural products, including lamb, grouse, elk and reindeer," says Solvang. Reindeer fillet is a delicacy best enjoyed in autumn and winter, during and after the hunting season. Look for wild rather than farmed reindeer, as the latter is likely to be stressed when slaughtered, which can affect the taste of the meat.

Some traditional dishes may sound too exotic for some visitors. How about rakeørret? It's freshwater trout in salt and sugar left to ferment in a cooler for two or three months (it used to be dug into the ground) and served with sour cream, chives, onion and flatbread. Or lutefisk? This popular dish involves white fish dried and soaked in lye—a strong-smelling caustic solution made from birch ashes and water. It's proper Viking food. Other delicacies include dried fish and salted and dried rib of lamb.

"Several restaurants specialise in these dishes and they are actually some of the most popular and successful restaurants in Norway," says Hald. Better-known delicacies include smoked salmon, which arguably put Norway on the culinary map, and trout. Cheese lovers should check out the Jarlsberg, Norway's biggest export success, and geitost, a brown cheese made from a combination of milk, cream and whey.

Fantastic regional products are the pride of Norway, and while fine dining is still predominantly to be found in the major cities, the quality of produce means it is becoming easier to find good restaurants outside these hotspots. "The lamb from the west coast is outstanding, and the seafood from parts of Norway is simply worldclass," says Solvang.

Solvang believes the local chefs still have some way to go, but sees definite progress. "The trend towards local producers is challenging chefs to be better and more creative—it is a very positive time for Norwegian cuisine at the moment," he says.