Supermarket foods you can’t miss
So you’re travelling to Norway and want to know the most weird, typical and delicious foods you need to try here
One of my mandatory stops in every country I visit is the supermarket. Off course you should go to restaurants and try their typical dishes, but sometimes the most traditional food comes from the supermarket. The weirdest candies, the jars with undefined items, the strange flavored chips, you know it. And I definitely need to try them all. In these 12 things you need to try in Norway you’ll find all of these hidden gems.
In Norway getting the typical food at a restaurant is difficult, there aren’t that many and people are more keen to go out for a burger or some mexican food than a Kjøttsuppe or Komla. And having tinny shrimps on your 1 slice of bread with butter and topped with mayo is way more norwegian.
1. Chocolate – KVIKK LUNSJ & FREYA
Kvikk lunsj is probably the most famous and typical chocolate in Norway. All the blogs will tell you about it. In it’s name you can see it’s function – Quick lunch. It’s typically norwegian to have a Kvikk Lunsj along with an orange, on their break from skiing. If you do end up skiing you must try it. Otherwise it’s just a simple kit kat kinda chocolate.
On the other hand you have the brand Freia. OMG these chocolates are amazing. Specially their Kvikk lunsj one, with salt. It’s one of those chocolates you just can’t stop eating. I bring it home to everyone all the time. And they have a lot more flavors, like caramel, nuts and salt, daim, plain chocolate milk….I’m drooling already. You definitely need to try these. And if you buy the small ones (24g) they come with a Norwegian folk tale inside for the kids. So cute and an nice souvenir.
2. Tubes – Kaviar & Cheese
Norwegian love a practical lunch. So they pack things in tubes. Super practical and very good if you need a lunch on the go. You can find these cheeses with different flavors. I personally love the one with black pepper but it can go from bacon cheese as far as pineapple curry cheese. Definitely worth a try.
The Kaviar is made with cod roe sugar-salted and smoked. It’s turned into a paste and put on tubes. Norwegians eat it plain with bread, or adding boiled eggs, cucumber or cheese. It’s an experience whether you like the common caviar or not. They have different intensities or percentages of roe. Oh and they’re cheap.
3. Rekker – tiny shrimps
Another famous norwegian lunch. Norwegians will grab a slice of bread, spread some butter on it, fill it with reker and top it with mayo. Sounds weird? It is a bit for me but not bad. Give it a try if you want something different for lunch or dinner.
4. Mackerel & Herring
They love their Mackerel and herring (makrell and sild). You can find them in jars or cans. The industry is so strong here that in Stavanger there is even a museum of canned fish, where cans of mackerel and sardines were produced. I’m not such a big fish fan but I tried mackerel and herring with different flavors and it’s surprisingly great, specially if you love fish, for a souvenir or just to try something new. I recommend the mackerel with tomato sauce and the herring with red berries.
5. Licorice
They Love it. All scandinavians love it…and usually all the foreigners hate it. I hate it. But they have a version of everything with licorice in it. Never tried those black candies in the gummy section? Well this is your chance to try chocolate, mentos, gum, everything with licorice!!!
Curious with some of these 12 things to try in Norway? I’ve found them for you in Amazon in case you missed them in Norway or you can’t visit soon. 😀 The norwegian experience at your house. And if you buy them from these affiliate links I get some percentage to help with the blog, without any extra cost to you.
6. Brown Cheese
Another thing most foreigners don’t like. Brown cheese (brunost) is a mix of cheese and caramel. Sounds great hum. Well if you love the mix of salted sweet (for those people that dip their Mac fries in their sundae) you might like it. But don’t you dare eating it with anything else on your bread. It is to be eaten simply with bread, and cut with a cheese slicer. And like everything else you can find different flavors and intensities for it. To me, from the 12 things to try in Norway this is a mandatory one.
7. Leverpostei – Liver pate
These are amazing. The traditional one has the most creepy package ever. It has children’s faces on it. Kinda makes you think it might be human kids liver in there. Those are pretty plain pates, but there are other brands that have flavored ones, like my all time favorite – bacon and black pepper…Drooling again here.
8. Moose and Reindeer meat
Well in Norway you kinda need to taste wild game. If you have a kitchen you can use you should try and make a traditional Finnbiff stew (recipe here). If not just cook the meat in your favorite recipe just to try it. It is a very strong meat so it may not be for everyone. In case you don’t have a kitchen you can always take some home on your last day. It’s not cheap, it can go from 25 to 50€ a kilo.
9. Lefse
Potetlefse is probably the most common wrap in here. It’s basically a soft potato leaf. In restaurants you can find it stuffed with smoked salmon or chicken. In the supermarket you’ll find the sweet version with butter and cinnamon. They are really good, and also great to take and eat while sightseeing.
10. Chip dip
Maybe this is a thing in a lot of countries but not in Portugal, so to me it’s something new. There are 2 typical drunk food here – besides the usual burger or kebab – hot dogs, usually sold in 7-11 or similar stores, or chips with dip if you are at home. These dips are sold as a powder that you’ll mix with crème fraîche or rømme (a scandinavian type of sour cream). The best one is Holiday. They are good but nothing spectacular…until you had a few drinks eheh
11. Fenalår
Fenalår is the norwegian version of cured ham (jamón). But from lamb. The lamb legs (front and back) are dried, salted and cured. By Christmas season you can buy it whole with a support. For the rest of the year supermarkets only sell already sliced packages. When you buy the whole one you need to cut a thick slice up to the bone, and let it dry for some days before start eating it, otherwise the meat will be soft instead of dry and hard. You can also eat it soft. It´s incredibly salty and strong. Nice with an akevitt shot.
12. Akevitt
Well if you read my post on tips to visit Norway – here – you will know that you can’t buy Aquavit at the supermarket. But in Vinomonopolet you will find a nice selection of their national drink. Norwegian consume it as a normal drink in bars, but in the winter/Christmas time you’ll see them at restaurants eating pinnekjøtt, and have sips of akevitt between bites. It is used to cut the fat on foods, that are specially eaten this time of year. The norwegian “water of life” is made from potato and is flavored with caraway, dill and other herbs and spices. P.S- if you buy it at the airport it’s cheaper 😉
As a foodies travellers, I really love your post and the yummy foood🤗🤗 European is always my dream destination, will definitely visit once.
You definitely should come. It’s an amazing country to visit 🙂