Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DRINKS
Hot Drinks
IfNorwayhasanationaldrink,it'scoffee.Infact,coffeeisdrunkinsuchstaggeringquantit-
iesthatonecanonlywonderhowpeoplecanremainsocalmundertheinfluenceofsomuch
caffeine. Most Norwegians drink it black and strong, but foreigners requiring milk and/or
sugar are normally indulged.
Teas and infusions are also available all over the country, as are the usual range of fizzy
drinks and mineral water; they're much cheaper in supermarkets.
AQUAVIT
The national spirit, aquavit (or
akevitt
) is a potent dose of Norwegian culture made
from potatoes and caraway liquor. The name is derived from the Latin
aqua vitae,
the
'living waters'. Although caraway is an essential ingredient, various modern distiller-
ies augment the spicy flavour with any combination of orange, coriander (cilantro),
anise, fennel, sugar and salt! The confection is aged for three to five years in 500L oak
barrels that have previously been used to age sherry.
Perhaps the most esteemed version of this libation is
linje aquavit,
or 'line aquavit',
which first referred to stores that had crossed the equator. In the early days, ships car-
ried oak barrels of aquavit abroad to trade, but the unsold barrels were returned to
Norway and offered for sale. When it was discovered that the product had improved
with age and travel, these leftovers became highly prized commodities. Today, bottles
of
linje aquavit
bear the name of the ship involved, its route and the amount of time
the barrels have aged at sea.
Roots web (
www.rootsweb.com/~wgnorway/recipe.html
)
has easy-to-follow recipes of traditional Norwe-
gian foods passed down through generations of people of Norwegian descent.
