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

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

#231

Post by lostjohnny »

camillomiller wrote: post #137
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…

As an Italian, I am profoundly offended by this statement and most of the comments in this thread :D

As a very adult Italian, I prefer to eat a sandwich (usually 'panino con affettati') and go home early, than waste 2 hours eating with other people, in expensive places, not so great food that barely resemble real Italian food.

And I live in Italy.

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

#232

Post by flurdy »

Smithalicious wrote: post #85
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…

This post is kind of offensive to me, as if we're all corporate slaves who skip """proper""" lunch for "productivity". Most of us eat that way even during weekends and holidays, so it's clearly not true. I wouldn't eat elaborate meals at lunchtime even if I never had to work at all. The last thing we need is people in other countries who have nothing to do with us telling us our food culture isn't "proper".

As a Norwegian that worked abroad, then back in Norway for 6 years before going abroad again, one thing I do not miss from Norway is the work lunches.

God that was depressing, and stressful. The mad rush to the compulsory office canteen, buy some basic food, throw the food in, and run back to your desk as you only have a 30 minutes lunch break.

No chance of going outside for a short walk to get some oxygen, little choice in what food to get, no chance of bonding with colleagues and not talk about work, no chance of disconnecting and avoiding stress.

Only occasionally did I manage to convince colleagues to rebel, go outside with me to a sushi place (or McD's...), sit in the park for bit, and take a few breaths and not rush back. It should be a daily occurrance but only happened once or twice a month.

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

#233

Post by navlelo »

vidarh wrote: post #151
umeshunni wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as they were not a wealthy country for hundreds of years before striking oil in the 60s. I was surprised by that statement and had to look it up and it was, of course, false. Norway was a wealthy country back to the 1800s: sources: https://medium.com/@Jernfrost/no-norway-was-not-a-poor-count... and https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-economic-history-of-norway/

The second paragraph of the first link specifically makes it clear it is a question of point of view and concedes Norway was poor relative to today. Meanwhile the distribution of wealth was a bigger issue. Even in my lifetime - I'm 44 - the growth in wealth in Norway has been astounding. Ironically, for example, whale meat is something I remember from my childhood as a cheap meat substitute (but that is now an expens…

Whale meat is quite inexpensive actually

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

#234

Post by holografix »

Could this also be correlated to a very long dark winter? I’d find a little sad to eat bread every day and not something warm and hearty but if I could get out of work maybe an hour earlier and that meant it wouldn’t already be dark outside...

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

#235

Post by holstvoogd »

konschubert wrote: post #190
oxfordmale wrote: post #183

This is not unique to Norway. In the Netherlands I was basically raised on a "Norwegian" sandwich lunch, although peanut butter could be used as a topping as well.

As a German, I’m confused why this article was written. Doesn’t the rest of the world eat bread with cheese on it? > They typically consist of two or three slices of bread, smeared lightly with butter, each topped with a single slice of cheese or meat, or perhaps a thin layer of jam, liver paste, or tubed caviar.

I'm pretty sure it is written for Americans, they eat for lunch what I would call dinner a lot it seems?

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

#236

Post by Glawen »

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…

Very few people I know are eating home. Home prices have increased and city centers became unaffordable for many people. So people are buying homes outside the city center, which adds commuting time. I have 30min drive to reach my home, 16km away from work. That leaves me just an hour to prepare food and eat, and I have to bear the traffic.

Also, people are planning meeting at 13h, because they can't find a time where everyone is available. I have a weekly meeting set up every thursday at 13h, I hate it because I have to rush my lunch.

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

#237

Post by lostjohnny »

swarnie_ wrote: post #166
camillomiller wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Italian, I am profoundly offended by this statement and most of the comments in this thread :D

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??

> One sleepy little town basically shut down between 12:30 and 14:30 every day

That's not been true since the 80s.

You're probably confused by the fact that some services shut down at lunch time (service facing offices like banks) for historical reason, we in Italy have a very rigid system of contracts that regulate each category of work in a very precis way, including work hours.

If banks want to stay open at lunch time, they'll have to change the national contract.

But if you go to an hospital or a bar or a restaurant or an IKEA branch, you'll find people working hard even at lunch time.

Source: born, raised and still living in Italy since 43 years ago.

> How do you get anything done??

I don't know, maybe We are smarter than the rest of the World... :)

Getting things done is not about the time you put in them, it's about the effort.

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

#238

Post by StavrosK »

yiyus wrote: post #196
swarnie_ wrote: post #166

Earlier 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??

Two blocks of 4 hours of work with a break of 2 hours between them is not a bad division of time. You do not need much more time to refocus after a two hour break than after a half an hour break, but the two hours break and the larger meal allows you to work until longer in the evening. In many cases, you can even spend time with your family during this middle of day break, so you do not have that necessity to leave…

Unfortunately, having to commute home again basically kills any benefit the "split" work schedule can have. This really works when your house is a five minute walk from your workplace (so it worked great for my granddad), it works less well today with the half hour drives each way.

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

#239

Post by Nisse3 »

The worst part isn't really that they eat poor sandwiches for lunch all their life, the worst part I'd say is that they often think it's the most healthy way to eat, and have no idea about good nutrition!

(I'm Swedish born and raised, moved to Norway at age 20 and have lived here for 10 years.)

I have had some arguments with colleagues about food during my years here. I have mostly worked at places with a canteen, with the option of eating a real, hot lunch for the same price as the bread.

The most common thing is that many Norwegians think that their simple bread (almost never wholegrain) with a slice of cheese is a healthy lunch. People argue and think that eating two hot meals a day makes you fat. They think they gain weight because they eat a hot meal for lunch, and that the solution is switching back to bread again. To no-ones surprise, they don't lose any weight by doing the switch.

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