Old Days

One of the funniest things I’ve ever heard, is the phrase, “I remember when tacos came to Norway.”  It was said by Karl, a Norwegian in his 30s, who was reminiscing about days gone by. 

As a kid, just twenty-five years ago, the childhood he experienced is much different than the one of today.  In the past twenty years alone, Norway has seen exponential changes in every aspect of life.

The break from traditional foods and embracing foods from another culture has been a huge shift.  People older than Karl still remember the days when pizza was introduced to Norway.  Even though they liked it, many still insisted on it being served with a bowl of potatoes on the side, as it just wasn’t a square meal to them, unless potatoes were included. 

Television has had the biggest impact on Norwegian culture in the last few decades.  Prior to that, there was only one channel on TV for most of Karl’s childhood with only a few hours of programming each evening.  The entire country watched the exact same thing, because that’s all there was. 

After the news, there was a prescribed theme for each day of the week.  Mondays it was movie night, Tuesday was Finnish TV theatre which Karl described as a ‘dreary nightmare usually involving some drunkard that beats up his wife, drinks himself stupid then commits suicide.”  Thursdays was a bright spot with a nature program following the news and Fridays always included a detective show, usually produced in Germany.

For the generation including those 30 and 40 year olds today, Saturdays were a very big day, as that night, an entire hour of television programming was just for children. Families never dared go anywhere on Saturday because it was such a special treat for the kids.  Parents loaded them up with candies and pop and set them in front of the television for one hour of babysitting bliss.  This then spawned the tradition of eating massive amounts of candy on Saturday, which continues to this day. 

To walk anywhere near the bulk candy section in a grocery store on a Saturday today, is to see a frenzy of unmeasured proportions.  Children stuff their sacks full of all kinds of goodies without a care in the world of the cavities that may follow because, fortunately for their parents, dental work for all children in Norway is free, but the TV isn’t.

Even in the early days of television, each home with a TV had to, and still has to, pay a “broadcasting fee” to the government each year.  This tax is why the early days of television never included commercials.  Today, however, the TV is full of commercials - many for taco sauce and frozen pizzas.