Norwegians have never been known for going with the grain. This is the homeland of Leif Erikson, after all, that famous Viking known for discovering the New World around 1000 AD, nearly 500 years before Columbus!
Norwegians seem to be leading the worldwide parade back to Traditional Foods as well in recent months as the country embraces a diet emphasizing a high intake of whole, traditional fats such as butter and cream.
Lars Galtung, the head of communications for Norway’s largest farmer-owned cooperative, puts is plainly, “Norwegians are not afraid of natural fats, they love their butter and cream.”
Sales of butter have soared 20% in October 2011 and 30% in November 2011. This Fall spike in butter demand comes on the heels of a very wet summer which cut milk output by 25 million liters and already limited supplies of the beautiful yellow, nutrient dense sacred food.
Butter is now selling on the country’s auction sites with approximately 1/2 pound of butter starting at around 13 US$ which is about 4 times the normal price.
Importing of butter from top dairy producer Denmark is discouraged by high import duties as Norway is not part of the European Union, a further demonstration of its independent thinking populace.
The butter shortage occurs at a particularly inopportune time, given that traditional Christmas treats include butter and cream filled cookies, pastries, and other goodies.
Clever and forward thinking Norwegians will no doubt find a creative way around the butter shortage, substituting other healthy fats such as coconut milk, coconut oil, tallow, lard, and suet in their favorite holiday recipes.
One thing is for certain, this move back to Traditional Fats in Norway won’t be a short lived one. Once people try a diet high in natural fats and low in grain based carbs on for size, they won’t be going back anytime soon as they quickly find that their actual size is shrinking!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source: Diet Craze Leaves Norwegians Starved of Butter
This is very interesting…especially in light of the fact that I recently found an article (http://www.beautifulpeople.com/en-US) about a dating site for “beautiful people.” The country with the highest number of accepted applicants was Norway – home of fish (and apparently) butter eating citizens! The lowest number of accepted applicants? England – home of those who eat mainly canned and processed food. Vitamin A is definitely the beauty vitamin!
Oops, wrong link – here is the actual article.
I sure hope they don’t eat their Norwegian farmed salmon, some of the worst on the planet for you!
i just heard about this today! how awesome!! go the norweigans!! the demand will make the supply pick up eventually.
the sad thing is that if everyone in the world gave up “bad” foods and went healthy there would be shortages of everything.
There will be shortages of everything here in the United States since there are not many small farms due to corporate take over.
There would be a readjustment period, but if factory farms turned into small farms, there should be enough food! Or, if people started supporting small farms and allowed more to pop up, then there would be enough. This of course, is just my optimistic opinion!
I totally disagree with you, Laura. If we dedicated more land to farming and less land for stores selling “made in china” crap we’d be be able to nourish everyone. How do you think people were nourished in the past? If animals were fed what they were meant to eat (hint: not GM corn and soy), the soil would be nourished as well. If our government stopped subsidizing GM corn and soy, we’d have a lot more land for grazing of animals (BTW I think our government needs to subsidize small farmers who are grazing their animals and not using chemicals.)
I’m sorry but Laura you’re thinking a part of the problem and definitely not part of the solution.
…but your thinking is part of the problem….
sorry, I typed in frustration and errors.
There would be a small adjustment period, it’s natural. And the gov’t needs to STOP subsidizing anyone! Then we would know the real cost of the cheap food. And of course we need to keep educating people so that they realize the hidden health costs of cheap food, too.
well it’s not as easy as designating more land for small farms. the population is going to continue to grow and there will not be enough land to support everyone without some creative thinking. perhaps cutting back on meat consumption, and everyone learning how to grow a small vegetable garden in their backyard, apartment balcony/windows would help ease the land shortage. i’m not suggesting we become vegetarians, but Americans do eat a 60% meat diet. eating smaller portions of meat say, 3-4x a week is still very healthy and it would help cut back on the amount of animals we’d have to graze. there are actually many things to consider when thinking about how to sustainably nurture the entire world. i would love to see it happen some day. probably not in my time though. 😉
I had no idea the Norwegians were still into traditional foods.
@Ragnhild maybe you should online auction some of the butter in your area to the Norwegians who can’t get any. It’s going for 13 US$ per half pound!
Many norwegians are dieting, that is true, but there’s no shortage of butter where we live (Stavanger, Norway). Just thought I’d share that with all of you 😉
I’m in Stavanger too! I have not had to hard of a time finding butter 🙂
Hi there Ragnhild og Fonda
I currently live in Norway and I am having a really hard time finding real butter. Can you please tell me where you find yours? Not the ones from supermarket as they are a mix of palm oil and butter or worse. I live near Haugesund and I am eagerly waiting for your answer!!!
That seems fitting – isn’t Northern Europe starting to crack down on sat fats? People know what they need – their bodies will tell them! Also, no one wants to be told what to eat!
Butter Scarce as Norwegians Embrace Traditional Diet – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/UZ3WcHM3