Lutefisk

The story

Fish dried until it is as hard as stone, then soaked in lye until it swells into a translucent, almost gelatinous mass: the process was once the only way to keep cod for months and carry it far from the coast into the interior of the country. Today lutefisk is, paradoxically, more popular among Norwegian Americans than in Norway itself. Towns across the Midwest with strong Norwegian heritage host entire dinners devoted to nothing but lutefisk, in church halls and local lodges, and one small town in Minnesota calls itself the “Lutefisk Capital USA.” That is no accident. Between 1825 and 1925 more than 800,000 Norwegians emigrated to North America, the great majority to the United States, and today close to 4 million Americans claim Norwegian ancestry, a number equal to roughly two-thirds of the population of Norway itself. The historian Hasia Diner describes dishes like this as “markers of past authenticity,” food that is kept not for its flavor but for the memories it holds. Lutefisk is served with melted butter or crisp bacon, pea purée, and potatoes.