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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

#351

Post by Vrondi »

kristofferR wrote: post #143
com2kid wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't even mentioning: 1. The chain of Brazilian bakeries around me 2. The fresh bread loaves baked at multiple larger Asian grocery stores. 3. The awesome Vietnamese bakery that sends out fresh baguettes daily. 4. The multiple dedicated Japanese bakeries making fresh bread. 5. The multiple dedicated Chinese bakeries making fresh loaves of bread. 6. The multiple local American bakeries that deliver fresh bread t…

I should have been clearer, with "good bread" I meant dark whole-grained bread, not white stuff like loaf and baguettes. Sorry, just my Norwegian bubble I guess.

Ah, total cultural translation fail. To me anything very "dark" is bad bread. I really enjoy the sort of "medium light in color multigrain" my local bakery makes, which includes whole grains like millet and flax, with a slightly chewy texture. Here are "good" breads from my local bakery in small town USA: clockwise from top left, semolina sunflower, multigrain, country white, and cranberry walnut. Scones, muffin, and cookie are bonus. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Prcba1K99yioxNVU9

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

#352

Post by daveslash »

yoz-y wrote: post #257
rejschaap wrote: post #247

It seems there are three types of people based on what they deem most important regarding the meals they consume. There are people who primarily eat for sustanance, there are people who eat for pleasure and there are Americans. I'm solidly in the sustance camp, I tend to go for quick, easy and nutritious. Occasionally I will splurge and eat out at a good restaurant and enjoy it a lot. My wife is in the pleasure camp…

If you skip the fries and take a drink without sugar then McDonald's fits the first category quite well.

I was unemployed in my early 20s for over 2 months during the 2008-09 recession. My bank account was overdrawn and my credit cards were maxed out. 2 $20 McDonald's gift cards from the "random stuff" drawer was a God-Send. Double cheeseburgers were still 99 cents then, and had nearly 500 calories. I'd get 1 a day and supplement that with some flour-water mixture I pressed into a cookie sheet to make hardtack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardtack.

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

#353

Post by atombender »

tallanvor wrote: post #191
atombender wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Norwegian living the U.S. here. It's pretty different when you consider the average supermarket. The breads you get in your average American supermarket (Giant, Safeway, Shoprite and so on) are either the pre-sliced, packaged kind, which are largely flavourless and full of preservatives and sugar, or the stuff in the bakery section, which tend to be Italian-style white bread rolls, bagels and so on. You can find bett…

I just want to point out that you can get very horrible bread in Norway as well. In the image you link to, you have Loff at the bottom left of the screen. That stuff is even more tasteless than the average American bread. It also gets more prominent placement, at least from what I've seen in Oslo grocery stores.

"Loff" is terrible! I didn't even like it as a kid. To be sure, not all Norwegian bread is great, I was really speaking about the general difference in the availability of good bread.

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

#354

Post by Vrondi »

diehunde wrote: post #2

In Chile, eating this kind of sandwich is also very common. Not so much for lunch but for dinner. Sometimes even just bread and butter. I feel in the US people are obsessed with eating "nice and flavorful" stuff instead of eating something because you actually need to eat.

In America, it depends what part of the country you are in, whether your largest meal of the day will be the mid-day meal of lunch (called dinner in some regions) or supper (the evening meal, also called dinner in some regions).

Even if you eat a small sandwich for lunch, it will be rare for it to have butter on it (unless it is fried, like grilled cheese). It will likely also have various spreads, sauces, or vegetables on it. A very basic/classic American sandwich has a slice or two of ham, slice of cheese, pickles, and mustard, for example, which is much more complex and flavorful than what this article talks about.

The only meal where Americans might commonly eat only bread and butter is breakfast, and then it very likely to be toasted.

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

#355

Post by Vrondi »

Smithalicious wrote: post #88
zabzonk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in the Netherlands on and off for several years, and the thing I never got used to was how appalling the lunches were. I did a presentation at KLM corporate headquarters, and at lunch asked the people I was presenting to - "How do you put up with this, day after day?" They all looked glum, and said "There is no alternative". And don't get me started on what passes as Chinese food in the Netherlands.

What is wrong about our Chinese food? I quite like it but I can't compare with other countries. Do bear in mind that Dutch "Chinese" food is really a combination of Chinese and Indonesian food, it's not really a real thing that exists anywhere outside of NL.

I have noticed, um, great variation in "Chinese" food when I've travelled, and other than immigrants adapting to local tastes, I have wondered if different countries haven't had more immigrants from differing regions of China, thus affecting what "Chinese" food is like in these places. I the USA, in addition to the crazy sweet dishes (concocted to please the American palate), you also get a lot of quite spicy Szechuan influenced dishes. I found "Chinese" food in London to be shockingly bland and tasteless by contrast.

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

#356

Post by Vrondi »

zabzonk wrote: post #8
mstade wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience living in London was that most of my colleagues were perfectly content picking up a sandwich from the nearest EAT or Waitrose or whatever. Every day a tired, boring sandwich for lunch. I just couldn't understand it. Some stores were just aisle after aisle of sandwiches, I'd never seen anything like it.

What couldn't you understand? Relatively affordable, and lots of variety (that's why there are "aisle after aisle" of them). And the same places sell salads, noodles and much other stuff.

If you're going to eat a plain, sliced-bread sandwich every day, why not make your own to bring from home? Not exactly hard, expensive, or time consuming. Always tastes better fresher. Why pay more for a shop bought cold sandwich that isn't fresh, hot, or luxurious?

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

#357

Post by thaumasiotes »

Vrondi wrote: post #345
thaumasiotes wrote: post #121

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 really preferred eating at my desk while clocked in to eating a slow, luxurious lunch while clocked out. The slow lunch just means less time for the things you actually want to do.

Well, in addition to cultural differences, being hourly vs. being salaried is a big difference. I am salaried. I don't clock in and out. I'm just expected to be there during business hours, which don't change if I work through my lunch hour. Eating quickly at my desk just donates my "free" lunch hour time to my employer. You don't get anything back for that lunch hour donation in many salaried jobs (at least in the U…

> I'm just expected to be there during business hours, which don't change if I work through my lunch hour.

Having also held salaried jobs, it was very much the case that some people worked different schedules than others. One was particularly notable for leaving in the early afternoon.

Yes, your employer's expectations for "business hours" are set by how many of those hours you spend being present at work. Try extending your lunch another hour and leaving at the same time, see what your employer thinks.

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

#358

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

sidpatil wrote: post #316
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…

> when the glycaemic spike would hit (often just from a bit of salad, but with lots of olive oil) Hmm, what other ingredients did you have in your salad? I would think the relatively low-carb (mostly leaves) and high-fat (olive oil) meal would cause a very minimal blood sugar spike, if one at all.

Normally, tomatoes, onions and oregano, and sometimes rye rusks called "paksimadi" in Greek:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusk#Greece

The olive oil on its own, plus the heat is sufficient to knock you out really. It gets _really_ hot in Greece in the summer.

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

#359

Post by Vrondi »

prpl wrote: post #200

This isn’t so different than once in Chile, except that comes later. Typically once is marraqueta or hallulla and tomatoes, avocado (palta), or chicken and mayonnaise. It is almost always with tea (it is a form of high tea) and served after a big lunch.

What you describe is completely different from the bland food shown in the article.

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

#360

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

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.

You're right, I overestimated this by quite a bit.

This site shows Athens over 20 degrees (just) on average, six months of the year.

https://www.holiday-weather.com/athens/averages/

These days I only go home in the summer (July to September to be more precise) so I guess I've inflated how hot it is, in my mind.

Now I'm a laughing stock. And rightly so.

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