Breakfast = frokost
Breakfast is a very important meal in Norway, health authorities encourage people to get 1/4 of their daily intake of food at breakfast, and that it should consist of cereals or bread, and milk. They say it is especially important for school children who need the energy after a long night's fast.
Lunch = lunsj / formiddagsmat
The national favorite is the "matpakke" (open sandwiches wrapped in special paper). All school children take their matpakke with them to school and eat their food in one of the longer recesses (about 30-40 minutes) between 11 and 12 am. There are no cantinas or cafeterias providing the meals in Norwegian schools. There is distribution of milk, however, so the children will get their needed ration. As for fruit, the children may also bring it from home. Sweet spreads or chocolates are normally not allowed in the matpakke, the food should be healthy and promoting good dental health. Popular spreads on sandwiches range from different cheeses (gouda types, or jarlsberg cheese, and the special Norwegian geitost), ham, liverpaste, caviar, sardines, egg...
In high-school, too, students bring their matpakke. In most schools there are no cantinas.
In the professional life, you would still see the matpakke being brought along in the cafeterias. Few people have warm meals at lunch, most have their homemade matpakke.
Dinner = middag
Dinner, the only warm meal during the day, is early: dinner time is anytime from 3 to 7 pm, it depends on when the children come home from school and when the parents come home from work. In the country side, dinner is usually around noon to 1 am - but then these people get up very early too! Dinner might be this early because it is usual to have an evening meal, and sometimes also coffee and cakes in the afternoon.
The Norwegian dinner is usually quite plain and simple, and in most meals you'll find boiled potatoes! (This can really be a good joke for foreigners). A very popular dinner is "kjøttkaker" (meatballs) and gravy. Americans are used to meatballs being labeled Swedish, but I can assure you that it is as common in Norway as in Sweden. "Lapskaus" (meat stew) is another traditional meal: a mix of meat and vegetables (yes, potatoes as well!) cooked long and well so all is nice and tender, with thin, dry bread (flatbrød) on the side.
Coffee-and-cake = "kaffe"
Aother meal, which isn't a real meal but a social thing, is "kaffe", so called because it is most often centered around drinking coffee. There may be cakes or sweets served too. Kaffe can be anytime in the afternoon and early evening. It's very common to invite people over for coffee - more common than dinner, in my opinion. It's very easy and laidback to have people over for coffee! All you need is some cake and coffee (or tea, or "saft" (juice) for the children). There isn't necessarily kaffe everyday, but often during the weekend when people have time for visiting.
Norwegians are big coffee drinkers, they place very high in the statistics. In 2005, nearly 41 tons of coffee were imported to Norway, meaning the country of just 4.5 million people is in the top ranks of coffee consumption on a per capita basis.
Norway, like many other countries around the world, has also seen a big increase in the number of coffee bars that have sprung up in the past few years, where it's become trendy to sip speciality coffees. There are no Starbucks coffee shops in Norway, however.
Evening meal = kveldsmat
If dinner is early, there is call for another (bread) meal in the evening. This is anyway common for the kids, who usually have sports or hobbies after school and dinner time till evening. This meal would often be the same as lunch, bread with salty spreads (usually not too much of jams or sweet things)
|
