FISH

I was shocked when I learned I couldn’t buy wild salmon in Norway.  It’s against the law to sell it so the only salmon available for purchase there is of the farmed variety.  The world has overfished Norway’s seas and now they are paying for it. 

Ironically though, anyone at all can go out in the fjords and fish for salmon without a license - as long as they don’t sell it.  In fact, all saltwater fishing is considered a native’s right and the government puts no controls on it.  They do however, control salmon fishing in rivers.  But recently they imposed a law targeting the Germans that come up and take advantage of their generous fishing policies. Germans drive up in their RVs, and catch salmon by the ice chests full, then drive back home and sell them.  Now Norway limits how many salmon can leave their country, but other than that, open fishing laws guarantee that one will ever go hungry.

But because of that, Norwegians have lost their passion for eating salmon.  Mostly because it’s all farmed so they won’t touch the stuff, knowing it’s pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones, but also because it’s historically thought of as “poor people’s food,” since it was so readily available. 

Whenever we’ve been invited to someone’s house for dinner and they ask us what we like to eat, we always say “fish,” hoping someone has a wild salmon in their freezer, but inevitably we get served Torsk, a plentiful and tasty version of cod.

Norwegians are crazy about their Torsk.  Every afternoon the fishing boats are lined up along the harbor in the center of town selling fresh Torsk right out of their boats.  One day, I stopped and bought one as a treat for Kory.  He was elated.

Kory’s aunt, who lives next door to us, happened to come by while he was cutting it up into steaks.  She wondered if we’d be eating the head.  I looked at her rather oddly, and said most definitely “No.”  She begged us for it and then went on to describe how delicious it is – especially the tongue - which is considered a delicacy.

 

It takes no great skill to cook Torsk, since Norwegians still cook it the way I’m sure their Viking ancestors did – they just boil it.  They boil all fish.  In fact, they boil nearly everything.  I guess the French never ventured up into Norway to give any fancy cooking lessons. 

I find it rather odd that salmon is at the bottom of their fish scale – pun intended – and Torsk tongue is at the top, but then again, I’ve never been brave enough to try it.