Norwegian Ridge Language & Culture Camp
Hei hei allesammen!
Norwegian Ridge Language and Culture Camp will be offered again next year from June 16-20, 2025. Save the date today and pre-register below.
Camp 2023
VELKOMMEN!
Our language and culture camp is set in scenic Spring Grove, the first Norwegian Settlement in Minnesota. Students learn basic Norwegian language skills and discover Norway through geography, history and experiences.
Some activities takes us on a tour in the immediate areas in and around our beautiful town. Students experience hot homemade traditional Norwegian meals and make new friends in a nurturing and supportive setting.
Hands-On-Activities
Your child will develop Norwegian language skills and cultural knowledge via everyday activities throughout the week! We vary activities from year to year, and focus this year on living as the Vikings lived!
Your child can expect to learn through:
- Building trolls
- Knot tying
- Norse mythology comic drawing
- Smart Viking daily group challenges
- Sport Viking hunting/foraging experience
- Orienteering
- Scandinavian ribbon weaving
- Finger knitting
- Knot work coasters
- Fattigman and rosette frying
- Song and dance
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Norwegian Foods
Traditional Norwegian food is largely based on the raw materials readily available in Norway and its mountains, wilderness, and coast.
Most Norwegians eat three or four regular meals a day, usually consisting of a cold breakfast with coffee and milk, a cold (usually packed) lunch at work, and a hot dinner (Middag) at home with the family. Even though Norwegians love international dishes, some traditional ones are still very popular. Depending on the timing of family dinner (and personal habit), some may add a cold meal in the late evening, typically a simple sandwich.
Fisk - Fish
Rakfisk is a Norwegian fish dish made from trout or char, salted and fermented for two to three months, or even up to a year, then eaten without further cooking. Rakfisk must be prepared and stored hygienically due to the risk of developing Clostridium Botulinum (which causes Botulism) if the fish contain certain bacteria during the fermentation process.
Torsk – Cod: poached, simply served with boiled potatoes and melted butter. Carrots, fried bacon, roe, and cod liver may also accompany the fish. A somewhat popular delicacy in Norway is torsketunger, cod’s tongue.
Lutefisk is a modern preparation made of stockfish (dried cod or ling) or klippfisk (dried and salted cod) that has been steeped in lye. It was prepared this way because refrigeration was nonexistent, and people needed a way to preserve the fish for longer periods. It is somewhat popular in the United States as a heritage food. It retains a place in Norwegian cuisine (especially on the coast) as a traditional food around Christmas time.
Stekt fisk – braised fish: almost all small fish are braised, but larger specimens tend to be poached. The fish is filleted, dusted with flour, salt and pepper and braised in butter. Potatoes are served on the side, and the butter from the pan is used as a sauce. Fatty fish like herring and brisling are given the same treatment. Popular accompaniments are sliced and served with fresh-pickled cucumbers and sour cream.
Fiskesuppe – fish soup is a white, milk-based soup with vegetables, usually carrots, onions, potatoes, and various kinds of fish.
Sursild – pickled herring: a variety of pickle-sauces are used, ranging from simple vinegar-sugar-based sauces to tomato, mustard, and sherry-based sauces. Pickled herring is served as an hors d’oeuvre or on rye bread as a lunch buffet.
Kjøtt - Meat
Kjøttkaker – meatcakes: rough and large cakes of ground beef, onion and salt and pepper. Roughly the size of a child’s fist. Generally served with brown sauce Potatoes, stewed peas or cabbage and carrots are served on the side. Many like to use a jam of lingonberries as a relish. The pork version is called medisterkake.
Kjøttboller – meatballs: A rougher version of the Swedish meatballs, served with mashed potatoes and cream sauce or sauce Espagnol depending on localization.
Svinekoteletter – pork chops: simply braised and served with potatoes and fried onions or whatever vegetables are available.
Svinestek – roast pork: a typical Sunday dinner, served with pickled cabbage (a sweeter variety of the German sauerkraut), gravy, vegetables, and potatoes. All good cuts of meat are roasted, as in any cuisine. Side dishes vary with season and what goes with the meat. Roast leg of lamb is an Easter classic. Roast beef is not very common. Game is often roasted for festive occasions.
Lapskaus – stew: This stew resembles Irish stew, but mincemeat, sausages, or any meat except fresh pork may go into the dish.
Fårikål – mutton stew: This stew is a very simple preparation: cabbage and mutton is layered in a big pot along with black peppercorns, salt (and, in some recipes, wheat flour to thicken the sauce), covered with water and simmered until the meat is very tender. Potatoes on the side.
Stekte pølser – fried sausages: fresh sausages are fried and served with vegetables, potatoes, peas and perhaps some gravy.
Syltelabb is usually eaten around and before Christmas time, made from boiled, salt-cured pig’s trotter. They are traditionally eaten using one’s fingers, served as a snack, and sometimes served with beetroot, mustard, and fresh bread or with lefse or flatbread. Historically syltelabb is served with the traditional Norwegian juleøl (English: Christmas Ale), beer and liquor (like aquavit) because Syltelabb is very salty.
Pinnekjøtt is a main course dinner dish of lamb or mutton ribs. This dish is primarily associated with the celebration of Christmas in Western Norway and is rapidly gaining popularity in other regions. 31% of Norwegians say they eat pinnekjøtt for their family Christmas dinner. Pinnekjøtt is often served with puréed rutabaga and potatoes, beer and akevitt.
Smalahove is a traditional dish, usually eaten around and before Christmas, made from a sheep’s head. The skin and fleece of the head is torched, the brain removed, and the head is salted, sometimes smoked, and dried. The head is boiled for about 3 hours and served with mashed rutabaga and potatoes.
Sodd is a traditional Norwegian soup-like meal with mutton and meatballs. Usually vegetables such as potatoes and/or carrots also are included.
Brød - Breads
Bread is an important staple of the Norwegian diet. Breads containing a large proportion of whole grain flour (grovbrød, or “coarse bread”) are popular, likely because bread makes up such a substantial part of the Norwegian diet and are therefore expected to be nutritious. 80% of Norwegians regularly eat bread, in the form of open-top sandwiches with butter for breakfast and lunch. A soft flatbread called lefse made out of potato, milk or cream (or sometimes lard) and flour is also very popular.
The variety of bread available in a typical supermarket is rather large: wittenberger (crisp-crusted wheatbread), grovbrød (whole-wheat bread, often with syrup), loff (soft wheatbread), sour-dough bread and other German style breads. Baguettes, ciabatta, bagels, and so on are also popular. During the Hanseatic era, cereals were imported in exchange for fish by the Hanseatic League. The German Hanseatic League and the Danish colonial masters obviously influenced the Norwegian cuisine, bringing continental habits, taste, and produce. Norwegians are particularly fond of a crisp crust, regarding a soft crust as a sign of stale bread. Oat is used in addition to wheat and rye, and is perhaps the most unusual cereal in bread-making compared to continental Europe and the UK. Seeds and nuts (like sunflower seeds and walnuts) are relatively common ingredients, along with olives and sun-dried tomatoes, to improve the flavor of the bread.
Get In Touch!
Call Us
Give us a call
507.498.5070
Street Address
163 West Main
Spring Grove, MN
Mailing Address
PO Box 241
Spring Grove MN 55974
