What not to... eat

Question I am often asked about being pregnant here is what are the eating rules in Norway. I suspect people think they are being ripped off and want to go with the country with the most lenient eating rules.

So, here goes. Guess what - sushi is in! Guess what else? I have not eaten sushi in eighteen months as I live in a very small town with very limited food options!

Other surprises/differences were smoked salmon, raw eggs, eg mayonnaise but only in Norway (I guess they have a really low rate of salmonella here?) and feta are all okay. Which is good as over summer I got quite mad about potato salad. And am making myself lots of packed lunch pasta salads with feta in them now.

In between, spekeskinke - which includes proscuitto and a lamb version called lammelår (Mum described the taste as being like sitting in the car with Dad after he had been shearing all day - i.e. not nice) and salami type meat – okay if you freeze for two days or cook. So my super easy yummy pasta, broccoli, salami lemon dinner is okay because I just fry the salami with red onion. Drool. And proscuitto on pizza of course.

Out is the soft cheeses, brie, blue etc. Uncooked meat. Must wash all fruits and veggies very well – especially as I have never had toxoplasmosis. Incidentally, last night Miss Potter and I prepared lemon butter baked cod (her) and a lemon and sugar pea risotto (me). Very nice. But as I was snapping the peas in half I noticed a small caterpillar in the risotto. Which I fished out and stared at for a while. Then found the pea it had come from and threw it away. So then very carefully snapped the others in half and peered in and there was another little black one. Firstly ew, and I did wash them but you can't wash out things ensconsed in a pea can you. Secondly... these sugar peas come from Kenya. So there were Kenyan caterpillars in my little Norwegian house. Thirdly... we ate those peas whole on Tuesday. On Monday The Princess was eating them raw while I cooked. Eeeewwwww. So I won't be buying sugar peas again for a long long time. And I really really like sugar peas.

And now for the big cultural differences, this is where it gets entertaining. Whale is out, due to the high levels of mercury. Seal meat and seagull eggs are out due to environmental pollutants (I didn’t even know it was legal to eat seals! And sea gull eggs - ew). Reindeer, because those from some areas still have levels of radiation from Chernobyl that are deemed unsafe for pregnant women and babies but okay for everyone else. Nice. Gravlaks – salmon that has been buried for a few months then dug up again. Not sure why exactly apart from the obvious – why would you?