Der Blog “North Wild Kitchen” bezaubert mit norwegischer Küche

Bere­its zum siebten Mal hat das renom­mierte amerikanis­che Food-Mag­a­zin “SAVEUR” beson­dere Food-Blog­ger mit den SAVEUR Blog Awards aus­geze­ich­net. Zum Blog des Jahres wurde dies­mal über­raschen­der­weise ein Neul­ing aus Nor­we­gen gewählt: North Wild Kitchen von Neva­da Berg.

Neva­da Berg stammt eigentlich aus Utah, wohnt allerd­ings jet­zt mit ihrem nor­wegis­chen Mann und Sohn in Nor­we­gen. Dort hat sie ihre Liebe zur nor­wegis­chen Cui­sine ent­deckt und beson­ders die tra­di­tionelle Küche hat es ihr ange­tan. Sie kom­biniert Fam­i­lien-Rezepte mit ihren eige­nen Ideen, exper­i­men­tiert und kreiert. Die Rezepte sind auf North Wild Kitchen nach Jahreszeit­en sortiert, denn Neva­da kocht nur saison­al und lokal. Ihr aktuelles Rezept “Jord­skokksuppe” lässt einem bere­its beim Lesen das Wass­er im Mund zusam­men laufen und die wun­der­schö­nen Fotos laden sofort zum Nachkochen ein. Wir haben uns mit Neva­da über ihren Blog, Kochen und Nor­we­gen unter­hal­ten und uns von ihr inspiri­eren lassen.

How did your blog come about?
I have always been fas­ci­nat­ed by food his­to­ry and cul­ture. As an adult, my curios­i­ty and inter­est in food took over and I began with greater fer­vor to learn about tech­niques and flavours. I start­ed to devel­op my culi­nary inter­ests more while liv­ing in mul­ti­ple coun­tries and was able to see food as a com­mon thread in every cul­ture, which we can all relate to. I learned to appre­ci­ate dif­fer­ent meth­ods of cook­ing and the impor­tance of under­stand­ing where our food comes from, as well as the his­to­ry and sto­ries behind the recipes. It was quite nat­ur­al to then com­bine my inter­ests in food cul­ture with my hob­bies of writ­ing and pho­tog­ra­phy to relate my food expe­ri­ences to oth­ers. The idea to start a blog had been in my mind for some time, but it was­n’t until we moved to Nor­way that it real­ly became clear what kind of food blog I want­ed it to be.

Why are you blog­ging about tra­di­tion­al Nor­we­gian food? What is fas­ci­nat­ing about it?
His­tor­i­cal­ly, Nor­we­gian food could be described as sim­ple and unimag­i­na­tive. In a coun­try with a vast amount of pro­duce and live­stock (includ­ing mush­rooms, wild meats, fresh fish, wild berries and herbs), it is inter­est­ing how a more exclu­sive and renowned food cul­ture did not inte­grate itself into the every­day Nor­we­gian cuisine.
Yet, to under­stand Norway’s food cul­ture is to also under­stand the coun­try and its his­to­ry. Many fac­tors have played a part, includ­ing lifestyle (labo­ri­ous and hard), reli­gion and wealth. But what we can take from the past, are valu­able meth­ods and strengths in cook­ing. From smok­ing, to pre­serv­ing, to stor­ing and hunt­ing. Sur­vival enabled endur­ing process­es from which we now are going back to so we can learn from them and remem­ber what a fish cooked off of a stone over a hot fire in the mid­dle of the for­est tast­ed like. And, as we are blessed to live in abun­dance and have a knowl­edge of and access to food and meth­ods from around the globe, we can inte­grate both the past and the present into an inno­v­a­tive and inspired meal. That is, by every def­i­n­i­tion, Nor­we­gian because the prod­ucts are local­ly sourced, and the tastes describe the evo­lu­tion of the Nordic plate.

What was most chal­leng­ing about cook­ing in Norway?
We live quite far from the city and have lim­it­ed access to a wide range of ingre­di­ents. But hav­ing said that, we do have an immense land­scape from which we can get most of our food. So the chal­lenge is using what I have access to and being cre­ative from that.

How impor­tant is sea­son­al and region­al food for you?
Very impor­tant. My blog posts are writ­ten to reflect the sea­sons, but since Nor­way can have quite harsh win­ters, preser­va­tion has always played an impor­tant role. Cur­ing meats, mak­ing flat­breads, can­ning, and stor­ing are the meth­ods that enabled peo­ple to sur­vive dur­ing the win­ter. You will see this reflect­ed in the blog, where the ingre­di­ents I use in the win­ter have been pre­served in some form. I also find it extreme­ly impor­tant to sup­port local pro­duc­ers and tell their sto­ries on the blog. They are the arti­sans, so it is imper­a­tive to pro­mote and encour­age local­i­ty of ingre­di­ents as much as possible.

What is your favourite ingre­di­ent and why?
I don’t think I could pos­si­bly pick a favourite because I have so many and the more I try new dish­es, the more I dis­cov­er an incli­na­tion for oth­er ingre­di­ents. I sup­pose though, I do look for­ward to the first of the rhubarb stalks in the spring. I have so many fond mem­o­ries of eat­ing rhubarb as a child, and I love the way Nor­we­gians uti­lize rhubarb in their cooking.

Which of your recipes should we try out next weekend?
There’s always room for cake, so try my Tyt­te­bær Bløtkake (lin­gonber­ry lay­er cake) or Eplekake (apple cake)! If you want some­thing hearti­er go for Farikal, Norway’s nation­al dish of lamb and cab­bage. And for nib­bles, try my Pear, Blue Cheese and Hon­ey Tart or Chanterelle and Goat Cheese Skil­let. And because it’s get­ting cold­er, why not just swish it all down with some Car­damom Hot Choco­late!

What can we expect from you in the future?
Next year, I am plan­ning on offer­ing Nor­we­gian food expe­ri­ences with themes that include for­ag­ing, tra­di­tion­al bak­ing, butcher­ing and beer, and Medieval/Viking. There will also be day cook­ing cours­es, with tra­di­tion­al and non-tra­di­tion­al dishes.
Be sure to fol­low along on the blog and Face­book, Insta­gram, Pin­ter­est and Twit­ter for tra­di­tion­al Nor­we­gian recipes, sto­ries from local pro­duc­ers, new twists on Nor­we­gian ingre­di­ents and updates for next year’s courses!

We sure will. Thank you so much.

Foto: North Wild Kitchen

Blog: northwildkitchen.com
Face­book: facebook.com/North-Wild-Kitchen
Twit­ter: twitter.com/Nevada_NWK
Insta­gram: instagram.com/northwildkitchen
Pin­ter­est: pinterest.com/northwildkitche/
All pic­tures: Neva­da Berg