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

vox.com

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

#61

Post by NeedMoreTea »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #57
GuiA wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s kind of sad to see the meal culture eroding in other parts of the world. The “quickly ingest some food at your desk so you can keep working” mentality has taken hold. I’m French, and at my first office job - almost 15 years ago - the entire office was empty from noon till 2p. People would go get their kids at school, have lunch with them at home, and bring them back before returning to work. Or child free people…

The meal culture is probably eroding because of economical reasons. We're now under the constant reminder from our employers that there's always a bunch of people outside ready to do your work without lunch break for less money.

It's counterproductive though IMHO.

Employer won't get more or better work if you prevent everyone taking a worthwhile break. Thankfully nearly all the places I've worked over the years have been entirely happy to permit it. Or expect it.

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

#62

Post by Moru »

GuiA wrote: post #55
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It’s kind of sad to see the meal culture eroding in other parts of the world. The “quickly ingest some food at your desk so you can keep working” mentality has taken hold. I’m French, and at my first office job - almost 15 years ago - the entire office was empty from noon till 2p. People would go get their kids at school, have lunch with them at home, and bring them back before returning to work. Or child free people…

All places I worked so far in sweden had mandatory lunchbreaks. From 30 minutes in care-jobs to 1 hour in IT. After 5 hours your employer is required to give you a longer break where you are allowed to leave your job for lunch or whatever. Many eat out but it's also common to bring a lunchbox with rests from yesterdays dinner. A lunch is usually around 10 euro at a restaurant so many eat lunchboxes to save money and/or live healthier.

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

#63

Post by Retric »

peterwwillis wrote: post #42
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.

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.

Milk can legally be up to 48 hours old before it it’s picked up from the farm. With ever other day pickups being very common and multiple milking per day some get’s close to that. It can then sit at the factory for another 72 hours before pasteurization though this uncommon. It then varies though Ultra High Temperature (UHT) gives you up to 70 days at this point.

That’s the extreme which would be very unusual, but buying milk that’s ‘only’ 2 week old milk is reasonably common. All it takes is knowing how long the sell by date is after pasteurization and another ~1-2 days to get to that point and you can find how old this stuff is.

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

#64

Post by naravara »

shawnlower2 wrote: post #51
lotsofpulp wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bread in America is garbage compared to Europe.

Best not to conflate all bread in America with Wonder Bread. We have bakeries that actually choose to make a quality product, and it's available in (edit: grocery stores in) most cities. Many Americans simply choose to optimize for cost. The bread in Copenhagen was fantastic, though.

Having to go to speciality bakeries to get good bread is a different thing than just having it available in every corner market and whatever the bodega equivalent is.

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

#65

Post by naravara »

Sendotsh wrote: post #59
dwd wrote: post #52

Australian here: Cheese and Vegemite (yeast extract) sandwiches are what a lot of people grew up having for their school lunches. My kids like it because it's quick to eat. For the Norwegians, is Jarlsberg your typical cheese in a matpakke? Probably my favourite sandwich cheese!

I still generally eat a vegemite sandwich for lunch every day, but these days it's nicer bread with vegemite, cheese, avocado, and tomato. While not as basic as the Norwegian one, I like having a simple lunch that's the same most days. Stops me pigging out on random convenient crap, but is enough to get through the day. My kids are vegemite fiends too, and despite us giving them plenty of options, they'll nearly alwa…

I notice all the people I know who naturally stay in good shape tend to eat really simple lunches most of the time. I’m not sure if it’s just less temptation to overeat when you have the same stuff every day or if they’re just wired to get less enjoyment out of food and are less prone to overeating as a result.

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

#66

Post by tylerjwilk00 »

> Plus, it might help cut down on the dreaded decision fatigue faced by workers every time lunch rolls around during the week.

> “Maybe then you realize how simply eliminating the decisions on your weekly lunches gives you more mental clarity during the day, the week, the month.”

I didn't know this was common. I struggled with this so much years ago that I created a simple tool [1] so I wouldn't have to make the decision everyday.

[1] https://easydecisionmaker.com/

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

#67

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#68

Post by wincy »

kristofferR wrote: post #14

I feel like this article somewhat undersells brødskriver. They can be delicious. Most important is good bread, which is super common here, despite it being totally unavailable in most other countries. All ordinary grocery stores get freshly baked bread every day, whole in paper bags of course. For example - with a thick slice of butter, then some oven-baked liver paste and two slices of gherkin on top and boom - you…

You can get good bread in the USA, it’s just that it’s $6 a loaf instead of the $0.87 bread loaf of white bread from Aldi or Walmart. Most people just don’t see the point in spending more money on food than is absolutely necessary (likely to our detriment).

My mother-in-law criticized me and my wife for buying fresh salmon as being “too expensive” despite her being a millionaire, and it being quite affordable for us. She thinks tuna in a can is “good enough”.

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

#69

Post by Sendotsh »

naravara wrote: post #65
Sendotsh wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still generally eat a vegemite sandwich for lunch every day, but these days it's nicer bread with vegemite, cheese, avocado, and tomato. While not as basic as the Norwegian one, I like having a simple lunch that's the same most days. Stops me pigging out on random convenient crap, but is enough to get through the day. My kids are vegemite fiends too, and despite us giving them plenty of options, they'll nearly alwa…

I notice all the people I know who naturally stay in good shape tend to eat really simple lunches most of the time. I’m not sure if it’s just less temptation to overeat when you have the same stuff every day or if they’re just wired to get less enjoyment out of food and are less prone to overeating as a result.

I see it as a form of self-control. I actively enjoy the simple foods I eat, and I'm not someone who gets sick of eating the same thing lots (as long as I like it in the first place), so it stops me eating random stuff and over-eating without realising it. It's also easier than trying to count/track macros/calories/etc with everything you eat, because you just have set things you always eat.

People also regularly bring up the "food enjoyment" thing, as though eating the same few things means it's not enjoyable, but I personally very much enjoy the routine things I eat, and that's why I made them routine. I'd much prefer to eat my regular lunch that I know for a fact I'll enjoy, than some random cafe/takeaway/pub lunch that will be hit or miss.

I think maybe some people are just wired to get bored of eating the same thing, and others aren't, because some of my friends think I must hate food to eat the same things all the time, but I see it as quite the opposite. Just like these comments here are full of people who think the Norwegians are insane and boring, and others "get it" and do the same or similar.

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

#70

Post by chipotle_coyote »

naravara wrote: post #64
shawnlower2 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best not to conflate all bread in America with Wonder Bread. We have bakeries that actually choose to make a quality product, and it's available in (edit: grocery stores in) most cities. Many Americans simply choose to optimize for cost. The bread in Copenhagen was fantastic, though.

Having to go to speciality bakeries to get good bread is a different thing than just having it available in every corner market and whatever the bodega equivalent is.

But you don't have to go to a specialty bakery to get good fresh bread. I can get Acme Bread at nearly any grocery store in the San Francisco Bay Area -- and lest someone (fairly) say, "Yes, but that's the Bay Area," anyone who grew up in the southern US probably knows Publix, the biggest grocery store in that region, is justifiably famous for their in-store baked breads.

I think there's sometimes a tendency among Europeans in particular to write off all American food as being essentially the same as the most iconically awful brands we have over here: Wonder bread, Velveeta cheese, Hershey's milk chocolate, Bud Light beer. And that's just not true.

I'm sort of inspired by Vox's article on the "boring lunch" here to start packing simple sandwiches again, which I haven't done in years. If I do, I'm probably going to be able to get pretty good bread, butter, cheese, and meats -- they're just not that hard to get here.

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