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What’s for Norwegian Breakfast?

When I’m at home, I normally sit down to the same breakfast every day, but in Norway, there is variety built right in! Staying with friends, we experienced a Norwegian morning, from taking our fish oil to eating all kinds of tinned foods on the hearty dark bread.

When I was a kid, I always heard on the radio or TV how in the “olden” days kids had to take Castor Oil every day to keep them healthy. Well, in Norway, it is fish oil or Tran. The tran I tried was lemon-flavored and didn’t taste all that bad.

norway breakfast

We didn’t have any pancakes or waffles for breakfast. Waffles are more of a tea-time snack, but we did have many nutritious and delicious foods. Some of the items we tried were mackerel in tomato sauce, curried chicken, a chocolate spread (airier than Nutella), pâté, boiled egg, salad, a variety of cheeses, and bacon. Actually we had bacon in many meals. I was surprised at how much it was incorporated in the diet.

One of the most important staples of a Norwegian diet, especially breakfast, was what they call “brown cheese.” Brown cheese actually comes in a variety of colors from dark brown to a pale cream. It has a sort of caramel taste, and the darker the color the more caramel it is. I liked it. We ate it everyday, and it is something you could quickly get used to having each morning with your coffee.

norway breakfast

One of the best parts about having a Norwegian breakfast is that almost everything in it is filled with protein, so it starts your day off right. We were able to go, go, go.

As foodies, we love discovering all about the real foods that are being eaten in the local culture, not just what the restaurants serve.

Have you had Norwegian breakfast? What did you think?

Author Bio: Corinne Vail is a travel photographer, food lover, and a perpetual traveler who has been travel writing for over 14 years. For many years she lived overseas in Germany, Japan, Turkey, South Korea, and the Netherlands teaching the children of the US. military. She’s visited over 90 countries, and she’s not stopping anytime soon.