From Oslo to Trondheim

After closing up at the Social Forum in Oslo and ending the day with a lovely meal at a local Palestinian restaurant with the Palestinian Association there, I left to Trondheim,

Norway’s third largest city and former capital to the north of Oslo. It’s quite beautiful here, perhaps more to my liking than Oslo, because it is surrounded by Norway’s famous Fjords, very picturesque, with a bit of a country feel to it.

This evening, after giving a talk on the role of the media and the Palestinian conflict, as well as talking a little about my own experience coving Gaza to the Trondheim Association of Journalists, I did the first thing I like to do in any new place I visit: I went to a supermarket!

I always feel it’s a good way for me to understand a little bit more about the culture, as well as get a sense about prices. As in America, there are quite a bit of processed or packaged foods (well ok, not nearly as much as in America). However the overwhelming majority of the projects are actually locally produced-in fact I don’t think I saw a single American product.

Not surprisingly, there are several sections of the fridge dedicated to fish products-smoked and cured salmon in all its varieties, caviar paste (I think mixed with sugar, oil, and something else) in squeezable tubes-delicious if a bit rich, and a variety of shrimp and fish mixed in with mayyonaise.

I’ve also noticed that while Norwegians aren’t exactly famous for their chocolate, they do like their candies; and for those with a sweet tooth, Trondheim is the place to go; from what I can tell, they are a major producer of Norwegian sweets and local chocolates.

My favorite so far: Troika-a chocolate bar made in Trondheim itself which is basically 3 different layers of Marzipan, Chocolate truffle, and strawberry jelly covered in dark chocolate (and no, no Gelatin). Yes, it IS as good as it sounds!

The one I didn’t like so much, and is sort of a Norwegian favorite, is this salty licorice.

I also FINALLY had some local cuisine (ok, it was a bit oompfed up and not exactly traditional, but nevertheless, YUM), after days of eating anything but. I think I could eat the fish here every day.

Oh yeah I was supposed to talk about Norwegian politics, how did I end up talking about Norwegian food?