Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

vox.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 372 posts

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#41

Post by RandallBrown »

Retric wrote: post #31
peterwwillis wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The milk quality in the US is fine, it's just different. Each carton has been pasteurized differently, then homogenized, fortified, and contains milk from thousands of cows. There are lots of other differences that affect flavor, mouthfeel, aroma. We may also use different cows, environment, etc.

US Milk also tends to be rather old by the time it reaches consumers, with ~2 weeks being surprisingly common. That has several implications which alter it’s taste. Of course this varies a lot based on the store and product.

Milk in the US is only a couple days old by the time it's in the grocery store.

Unless most people in Europe are buying direct from the dairies, I can't imagine it's appreciably faster. Even then, I grew up having milk delivered direct from the dairy and definitely don't notice any difference between what I grew up with and what I typically buy in the grocery store.

I would guess most of the flavor difference comes from pasteurization differences, since Ultra High Temperature pasteurization appears to be the norm over there.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#42

Post by peterwwillis »

Retric wrote: post #31
peterwwillis wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The milk quality in the US is fine, it's just different. Each carton has been pasteurized differently, then homogenized, fortified, and contains milk from thousands of cows. There are lots of other differences that affect flavor, mouthfeel, aroma. We may also use different cows, environment, etc.

US Milk also tends to be rather old by the time it reaches consumers, with ~2 weeks being surprisingly common. That has several implications which alter it’s taste. Of course this varies a lot based on the store and product.

About two days old, after being stored at 39 degrees while constantly circulated. There's no indication that mass-produced milk in Europe is any "fresher", and if it's UHT milk, just forget freshness.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#43

Post by elliekelly »

opdahl wrote: post #16

I'm a Norwegian, and where I work I have the option of eating a big warm lunch, but I very rarely do. I've noticed that eating a big lunch makes the following hour extremely unproductive, so for the last year I have made a matpakke with 3 slices of bread. Normal _pålegg_ is liver paste, cheese or peanut butter. I can easily go through my lunch in just few minutes, and even while working at the same time. My thought p…

> I've noticed that eating a big lunch makes the following hour extremely unproductive

I used to work with investment company boards and so I spent a lot of time in all-day meetings with a bunch of old men. I called the hour after lunch "nap time" because at least one of them would always fall asleep.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#44

Post by hasbot »

"With the exception of employees at some large companies that offer hot lunches, he adds, traditionally everyone from the lowest-level worker to upper management would eat their own individually wrapped, brought-from-home matpakke."

Virtually no one eating lunch at cafes has a big impact on the economy. Imagine how many cafes, food carts, etc in the US would close down if everyone stopped eating lunch out.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#45

Post by lotsofpulp »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #32
Symbiote wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most important is good bread, which is super common here, despite it being totally unavailable in most other countries. I think the rest of Europe will argue with this.

I think a lot of America will argue with this.

The bread in America is garbage compared to Europe.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#46

Post by Moru »

9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #36
chrisseaton wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3 slices of bread ... liver paste, cheese or peanut butter ... waste 2 hours in the middle of the day on a heavy calorie lunch How many calories are in your sandwich though?! Sounds extremely calorie dense!

It's a single slice of cheese or meat. American deli-style sandwiches where there is more filling than bread are not a thing in Scandinavia. Also, if you were wondering what's up with "caviar" as a topping, it's this stuff made from cod roe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalles_Kaviar

Warning, Kalles Kaviar actually contains sugar and lots of it. It's horrible, and I'm swedish. They actually make ads on the TV with people from other cultures trying to eat it. It's not as bad as surströmming but ew...

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#47

Post by laut »

RandallBrown wrote: post #41
Retric wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US Milk also tends to be rather old by the time it reaches consumers, with ~2 weeks being surprisingly common. That has several implications which alter it’s taste. Of course this varies a lot based on the store and product.

Milk in the US is only a couple days old by the time it's in the grocery store. Unless most people in Europe are buying direct from the dairies, I can't imagine it's appreciably faster. Even then, I grew up having milk delivered direct from the dairy and definitely don't notice any difference between what I grew up with and what I typically buy in the grocery store. I would guess most of the flavor difference comes f…

In Denmark you can get milk at the grocery store that was inside the cow less than 24 hours ago. Ultra High Temperature pasteurization is not really normal in Denmark, but I think it is in Germany.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#49

Post by mxcrossb »

sunstone wrote: post #40

That makes my go to peanut butter and banana look gourmet. :)

It seems like this is the us equivalent to me. The nice thing about this approach is you don’t have to use so much wrapping paper like in the linked article’s video. Both the banana and sandwich come in their own case.

Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

#50

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

opdahl wrote: post #16

I'm a Norwegian, and where I work I have the option of eating a big warm lunch, but I very rarely do. I've noticed that eating a big lunch makes the following hour extremely unproductive, so for the last year I have made a matpakke with 3 slices of bread. Normal _pålegg_ is liver paste, cheese or peanut butter. I can easily go through my lunch in just few minutes, and even while working at the same time. My thought p…

No offense, but honestly your lunch sounds depressing as hell.

I never understood this nordic lifestyle I saw in Scandinavia, Benelux and Northern Germany where people refuse to take a proper lunch break and just eat some random cold food in front of their computer for the sake of productivity for their employer. It's just depressing to see and unhealthy in the long term.

In southern Europe(Austria) having a walk to the bistro for a warm lunch with freshly cooked quality food, away form my desk is not only healthy but also gives me a refreshing physical, mental and morale boost.

Sitting glued to my chair in front of the computer for 8 hours straight is not only unhealthy but would just burn me out quickly.

Post reply on HN