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NORWEGIAN HABITS

Why do Norwegians eat lunch so early?

Working in Norway means adapting to a new way of doing things. One of the things that catches many foreigners off-guard is just how early Norwegians take lunch.

Published: 1 December 2023 11:40 CET
Pictured is an example of the open sandwhich which is incredibly common in Scandinavia.
Norwegians tend to take lunch quite early, but why? Pictured is an example of the open sandwhich which is incredibly common in Scandinavia. Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash

Lunch in Norway can be early, really early. Some people can be expected to eat their lunch as early as 10:30am, and anywhere between 10:30am and midday would be considered normal.

Every company does things differently, and employees have their own habits built into their working day, but even then, it would be unusual to see anyone eating lunch past 12:30pm or 1:00pm.

READ ALSO: The Norwegian eating habits the world could learn from

There are some obvious exceptions to this, such as those who do shift work, so they start earlier and finish later than the typical Norwegian working day.

Lunch at 10:30am contrasts massively with when lunch is eaten on the continent. In Italy, lunch is served between 1pm and 2:30pm, Spaniards won’t start lunch until 1:30 pm, and the French will eat lunch between 11:30am and 2:00pm.

Earlier lunches are also common in Sweden and Denmark. However, warm lunches are much more common in Sweden. Norwegians and Danes, on the other hand, will typically have a cold lunch comprised of sandwiches or leftovers. Some will meal prep and a growing number of workplaces in Oslo will have canteens where hot and cold food is available to workers.

One explanation for the earlier lunches is the working days in Norway. Many workers in Norway will typically start between 7:30am to 8:00am and finish between 3:30pm and 4:00pm.

Some sectors may have collective bargaining agreements that dictate that the working day be 7.5 hours rather than 8.

Therefore, if you are starting earlier and finishing early too, it makes more sense to have lunch earlier.

Kids in schools in Norway follow a similar pattern, starting at 8am and having lunch by midday.

Much of the modern tradition involving mealtimes in Norway revolves as much around children as working hours.

The shorter working days in Norway make it easy to drop off your child and pick them up from school or kindergarten. Whether the working days were designed with this in mind or whether it’s the effect of the focus on work-life balance is unclear.

It also means Norwegian families eat dinner a lot earlier. Kids in Norway are signed up for all sorts of activities and clubs in the evening. This means dinner is eaten a lot earlier, between 4pm and 5pm. This ensures kids go to their activities on a full stomach.

READ MORE: What time do Norwegians have dinner?

The early dinner is also the result of the early lunch. If you’ve eaten lunch at 11am, you are likely to be quite hungry by the time that 5pm rolls around.

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FOOD AND DRINK

How two women in Norway aim to bring seaweed to new heights in Europe

In the chilly waters of the Lofoten archipelago in northern Norway, two women want to bring the area's seaweed to fine dining tables across Norway and Europe.

Published: 23 April 2024 08:49 CEST
How two women in Norway aim to bring seaweed to new heights in Europe

In the glacial waters of the Lofoten archipelago in Norway’s far north, Angelita Eriksen uses a knife to cut a handful of seaweed that will soon end up in a fancy European eatery.

“We have the cleanest and clearest waters in the world. We’re very lucky that we have this really important resource growing right outside our doorstep,” Eriksen told AFP in a cabin on the shores of the northern Atlantic Ocean where the seaweed is laid out to dry.

“We want to show that to the world.”

The daughter of a Norwegian fisherman, Eriksen joined forces with New Zealand-born Tamara Singer, whose Japanese mother served seaweed with almost every meal, to start the company Lofoten Seaweed — specialising in harvesting and preparing seaweed for the food industry.

With the help of six others, they hand-pick 11 tonnes of seaweed a year, the snow-capped mountains plummeting into the sea behind them in a dramatic tableau.

It’s a demanding and “physical job”, said Eriksen.

The peak season runs from late April until June, but “we harvest the dulse, the nori and the sea truffle in the winter and fall”.

“It can be quite cold, as we can stay out for about an hour along the shore”, with lower legs and hands submerged in the chilly water.

By “late May, I’m actually sweating in my suit”.

Norwegian Co-Founder of "Lofoten Seaweed" Angelita Eriksen picks up Winged Kelp seaweeds in knee deep water.

Norwegian Co-Founder of “Lofoten Seaweed” Angelita Eriksen picks up Winged Kelp seaweeds. (Photo by Olivier Morin/ AFP)

One time, she said, “I took my glove off and the steam was just rising up”.

“It’s physically hard but at the same time it’s very meditative, or therapeutic in a way, to harvest,” she says.

‘Delicate’

Truffle seaweed, winged kelp, nori, dulse, sugar kelp, oarweed kelp: the pair focus on about 10 types of seaweed, long eaten in Japan and increasingly popular in Europe for their nutritional qualities.

The seaweed is sold locally or shipped to gourmet restaurants in Norway and the rest of Europe.

The two women organise workshops to teach chefs about the different varieties and the qualities of each type.

“Seaweeds are like vegetables, they have their own texture, taste and colours,” says Singer.

She said it was a “huge surprise” how many European chefs had little or no knowledge of the different flavours and ways of preparing seaweed.

The duo have worked with Japanese chefs “who know exactly what to do, you don’t have to tell them anything”.

“It’s just so natural for them. It’s like giving a piece of fish to a North Norwegian,” says Singer.

Some 20 kilometres (12 miles) away, chef Josh Wing has been serving the pair’s products in his high-end restaurant Hattvika Lodge for about five years.

He is well versed and does not need to take part in their workshops anymore.

Wing is particularly fond of the dulse, a “very delicate purple seaweed”, which he serves with local fish dishes or bread.

It “can provide a physical texture in a dish that you can’t get from other products”, he tells AFP.

US Chef Josh Haner prepares a dish based on seaweed condiments, surrounded by algae containers. (Photo by Olivier Morin/ AFP)

To ensure that their business is sustainable, Eriksen and Singer have mapped and dated their harvest sites, as well as the volumes of each species, for the past four years.

“Our results show that the regrowth in recently-harvested patches is actually faster than anticipated, almost as if a harvest actually stimulates growth,” says Singer.

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