> The typical Norwegian workday lunch break is only about 30 minutes.
That's also pretty much the way it is in Germany.
How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
201–210 of 372 posts
Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not that. In Italy people have short lunch breaks too. It’s just what’s actually entitled to be called “lunch” that baffles the average Italian
By now people are well read and well travelled enough not to be surprised or baffled by other cultures, particularly between countries that aren't completely alien to one other. I think surprise or disgust at another culture's lunch is just performative at this point.
Well, being performative can be considered a part of italian culture.
Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
#203I grew up with matpakke and the 1/4 of milk every day and I hated it. It was depressing. Only good side was you got more time to play outside at school since you just wolfed down the food to get it over with. My kids go to a school in Spain and they get a 3 course meal every day for about 5 EUR a day. As a parent its great because you know they've had a full complete meal every day and you can just make a small eveni…
I also grew up with a madpakke (I'm in Denmark) and also hated it. Was pretty jealous of Swedish kids since I knew they got a hot school lunch and didn't have to eat boring, open-faced sandwiches and room temperature milk. I guess Norwegians have it just as bad as Danish kids.
Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
#204Whats with the obsession with Norwegian food and lunches.
Feels like we are entering this subject on a regular basis.
Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've worked in Italy a few times and i just can't get my head around it. One sleepy little town basically shut down between 12:30 and 14:30 every day. Everyone went home for lunch but also the majority of the local shops shut too. How do you get anything done??
I guess they haven't been defeated by the 40 hour minimum work week imposed by modern capitalism. As long as they are happy, who cares when they work.
> who cares when they work.
I'm not demanding change, purely making an observation as a Northern European consultant who happens to drop in to the culture a few weeks a year.
Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are two solutions to this: Eating less for lunch is one, taking an afternoon nap is another. I'm taking the latter one. I eat lunch at 1pm in normal days, and my sleepiness usually kicks in around 2pm. Then I take a 15-min power nap, and I become fully energized again. The process I take a nap is 1) open up a terminal and press the enter, so the current time is shown in a prompt. 2) literally headdesk. 3) wake…
The theory goes that a power nap shouldn’t be more than 25 minutes, otherwise you risk falling in a deeper state of sleep. I tested the assumption and I find it true. Also, napping quickly everywhere is a skill one can train.
> Also, napping quickly everywhere is a skill one can train.
I am interested! How did you, and how long did it take you?
Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 bu…
>buying milk that’s ‘only’ 2 week old milk is reasonably common
Do you have a citation for this by any chance? I've had a quick Google but no luck. Been interested in average food quality differences in US and EU since the "chlorinated chicken" news in the UK.
Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Its unusual for milk not to be UHT here in Spain.
I wonder if it's due to Spain being a warmer country and the milk spoiling more quickly.
Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
#209I'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…
As a South African I am genuinely offended that you get to go home early when you skip lunch and you're done with your work.
Re: How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch
#210Serious question: how is this enough calories for lunch? Assume you need 2,500 calories/day. Suppose you need a third of those at lunch, that's 830. (And given the traditional light continental breakfast, I'd expect an even larger lunch to compensate, so probably closer to 1,000.) A single sandwich with three layers of bread and three single layers of cheese or meat, can't be over 400 calories. I'd be starving and un…
Norway is of course not "on the continent", which means part of mainland Europe (i.e. with France, Germany, Italy and so on). That doesn't mean they can't prefer that style of breakfast, but since this is about traditional/cultural food choices it should probably not be assumed. :)
A quick check of Wikipedia's handy breakfast-per-country list [1] gives:
80% of Norwegians eat breakfast (frokost) daily, mostly at home. The most common breakfast is open sandwiches (smørbrød), often whole wheat bread, with cheese, often Jarlsberg, Norvegia or brunost, cold cuts,[71] leverpostei, jam etc. Common drinks are water, various types of coffee such as French press, cafe latte or espresso, milk and juice. Another common breakfast is breakfast cereals like corn flakes eaten with milk, kulturmelk, or yogurt. Whole-grain porridges with regular milk or butter are also eaten by some. More ample breakfasts may include fish, a diverse array of cheese, eggs, bacon, breads, and hot and cold cereals eaten in various combinations.[67] Pastries such as croissants or pain au chocolat have become increasingly common since the 1990s.