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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

#271

Post by jotm »

l0b0 wrote: post #124
davidweir wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most important is good bread Having lived in Norway for two years, and resorted to deep frozen baguettes from Meny (an upscale supermarket chain) because the fresh bread was so bad, I'm... not sure about this. Glad to be back in Finland where the bread is good (seriously!) and the lunches are substantial, healthy, warm and filling.

IMO you can't get good bread in grocery stores in any Western country, Norway included. Good bread has about 2-3 times the density of store bread, for one thing, which would make it 2-3 times more expensive to make (2-3 times more raw ingredients + more time & energy in the oven). That takes the price into ridiculous territory, so it's just not reasonable for supermarkets to stock them. My recommendation: get a decen…

The built in bakeries in Lidl and other stores have great bread imo.

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

#272

Post by vidarh »

Chathamization wrote: post #56
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!

Yeah, if you look at the calories in the ingredients (3 slices of buttered bread each with a slice of cheese, liver paste, or peanut butter) you're looking at something that at best has the same amount of calories as a quarter pounder with cheese, and likely significantly more than that. A lot of people seem to be under the wrong impression that simple foods are low in calories. Compared to other sandwiches the Norwe…

> an extra slice of bread

A Norwegian "sandwich" has one slice of bread. The picture at the top of the article shows 3 stacked open-face sandwiches.

Sometimes people will do "British-style" sandwiches when putting on things like jam to avoid making a mess, but open-face sandwiches is most traditional.

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

#273

Post by wildduck »

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…

Maybe a siesta after lunch will be nice ;)

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

#274

Post by vidarh »

ChrisWreck wrote: post #230
mogadsheu wrote: post #6

Former Norway resident here, 3yrs. Their lunch traditions are definitely basic, as they were not a wealthy country for hundreds of years before striking oil in the 60s. The point to remember is that while the fare is basic, the quality is typically very good. Their cheese is extra creamy and nutritious, as is the bread. The same goes for the milk. Many Europeans won’t drink the milk here in the States because the qua…

Comparing the cheese to what you get in the States, it might look extra creamy. Being a Swedish born living in Norway, I'd say most of the cheese is boring and tasteless! The typical cheap cheese in Sweden (Hushållsost) is much more creamy and tastes a lot more than the cheapest alternatives in Norway (Norvegia). You have to go up about 40-50% in price to get the most equivalent (something like Novergia Fyldig). The…

My favorite growing up was Norwegian Gräddost. And yes, you're right, that's a Swedish name; shamelessly stolen.

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

#275

Post by Oreb »

greggman2 wrote: post #269
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…

my thought process is that I enjoy work and my co-workers and that spending an hour a day eating and socializing together makes work and my life more enjoyable. If feel that tech companies' free lunchs work against this since lunch ends up only taking 20-30 mins instead of an hour. And no they don't get more work out of me, I just leave 30 mins earlier. That great if you want to get home as quick as possible. I'd pre…

> I'd prefer a balance of making work more enjoyable and feel the lunch socializing contributes to that.

I want to feel that way, too, but unfortunately long lunches -- and especially social ones -- kill my momentum. I lose so much time getting back into the zone afterwards that I just can't afford it. I eat my lunch alone and as quickly as possible, and socialise with my co-workers after work instead when possible.

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

#276

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

dagw wrote: post #222
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…

I never understood this nordic lifestyle I saw in Scandinavia Norway and Sweden are completely different. In Sweden most people either go out to a restaurant for a warm a lunch or eat a warm lunch they brought with from home. An hour lunch break, while not official sanctioned, is hardly uncommon. And even when I worked in Norway where many people just ate sandwiches for lunch, almost everybody ate lunch in the lunchr…

Is the workday 6 hours in Norway? When I was there it was 8. What you said makes no sense to me.

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

#277

Post by 2rsf »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #243
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??

In the Mediterranean, where we pretty much all have a variant of the siesta, it gets very hot [1] around the middle of the day. At that point, you have two options: a) You can stay on and try to work in the heat. b) You can go home, have lunch, take a little nap and return in the evening when it's cooler. Option (a) means you spend the next three or four hours in a zombie-like state with your brain addled by the heat…

Shops being closed 14-16 used to be a thing in Israel when I was a child, now with the introduction of air conditioning and modern work ethics it's not really a thing anymore.

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

#278

Post by erfgh »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #243
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??

In the Mediterranean, where we pretty much all have a variant of the siesta, it gets very hot [1] around the middle of the day. At that point, you have two options: a) You can stay on and try to work in the heat. b) You can go home, have lunch, take a little nap and return in the evening when it's cooler. Option (a) means you spend the next three or four hours in a zombie-like state with your brain addled by the heat…

Over 30 degrees most of the year? No way this is true.

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

#279

Post by graeme »

vidarh wrote: post #267
graeme wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Every rich country was once very poor relative to its current status though. This doesn't change the fact that Norway was not poor relative to other European countries at the time.

Yes, but the change was very rapid and very noticeable. My parents grew up with very noticeable, very visible poverty around them. A lot of the habits the post war generations grew up with, and that still affected society throughout the 70's still permeates the culture.

Every european society had this kind of change though. Norway isn't unique.

Here's an Italian movie from the 1970s, showing a family in a large slum around Italy.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0074252/

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

#280

Post by cylinder »

erfgh wrote: post #278
YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Mediterranean, where we pretty much all have a variant of the siesta, it gets very hot [1] around the middle of the day. At that point, you have two options: a) You can stay on and try to work in the heat. b) You can go home, have lunch, take a little nap and return in the evening when it's cooler. Option (a) means you spend the next three or four hours in a zombie-like state with your brain addled by the heat…

Over 30 degrees most of the year? No way this is true.

Agree. It snows in Santorini winter...
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