Step aside Keto, Med and Paleo-vegan – all eyes are currently on the Nordic diet. Besides being environmentally friendly (it’s Scandinavia, did you expect anything less?), the Scandinavian diet is also highly organic and low on dairy and meat.
No need to count the calories when you’re travelling up north. Eating healthily is part and parcel of the Nordic lifestyle, as is foraging in the wild for your food. And what’s more, eating the Scandi way may just help to deliver the svelte stature the Swedes, Danes, Norwegians and Finnish seem to carry off effortlessly.
The birth of the Nordic diet
The ‘Nordic diet’ craze has its origins in nature. It all started in 2004, a year after multi-award winning Copenhagen based restaurant Noma, opened its doors. Noma focusses on creating food from nature, the Nordic way.
With this in mind, they organised a Nordic Cuisine Symposium, during which leading chefs signed a manifesto laying out parameters for a new Nordic diet. Since then, scientists and nutritionists have also weighed-in to talk to the success of the diet/lifestyle.
Today, the Nordic diet is the new normal – a way of life if you will – complimenting perfectly the way in which Scandinavians seek balance in all that they do. It is this championing of balance that regularly ensures the Scandi countries are among the happiest nations in the world. This is largely influenced by their commitment to prioritising wellbeing, with the Scandinavian diet a core part of that.
RELATED CONTENT: How to apply the Scandi lifestyle to your travels
What actually is the Nordic diet?
The Nordic diet is nutritional and centred around vegetables, with fish, berries and grains completing the mix. Goodbye potatoes, hello cabbage. Not a fan of herring? Tuck into some Norwegian salmon. Throw in a bit of young nettle for a flavoursome and vitamin-rich zing and your plate is complete.
So what’s on the menu?
1. Root vegetables – high in vitamins and minerals
2. Berries – high in antioxidants and vitamin C
3. Whole grains – fibre
4. Olive oil – Omega3,6&9 and a great source of vitamin e
5. Fish and other seafood – filled with omega fatty acids
Favourite dishes of the Nordic diet
For breakfast
Switch the flapjacks and maple syrup for Barley-Oat pancakes, adding a dash of honey as a sweetener to start your day. Or be good and smother them in gooseberries, cloudberries, red currants or wild strawberries – whatever’s in season.
For lunch
Nothing’s more Norwegian than melt-in-your-mouth gravadlax with fresh dill atop a thin slice or two of dark pumpernickel. Add a slice of sweet red onion, some mayonnaise and a bit of boiled egg. You’ll have a tantalising tower that’s headed straight for your taste buds.
For dinner
If the sound of seriously Swedish meatballs makes your mouth water, you’ll be pleased to hear it’s a staple in any Scandinavian diet. Why are these delicious meaty treats so much better in Sweden than anywhere else? The secret lies in the spice!
For dessert
Fruity flavours for breakfast, fruitier flavours for dessert. Heap your spoon full of the Danish favourite, Red Berry Pudding (Rødgrød Med Fløde), and take care to keep those cloudberries, blueberries, elderberries, every berry you can imagine, teetering before the perfect bite.
Bonus points – it’s also environmentally friendly
You’ll be encouraged to hear that not only is the Nordic diet good for us, it’s also good for the environment. It’s a fact that plant-based diets create less pollution and use fewer natural resources such as fossil fuel and water, making its impact on the environment very low.
Research shows that the emission of greenhouse gases is at least 6 per cent lower when eating the Scandi way. That’s reason enough to introduce a little Nordic philosophy on your plate.
Sample it for yourself
You could learn how to cook the Nordic way yourself or get someone else to do it for you. For guests joining Trafalgar’s Nordic Adventure, there’s an opportunity to break bread (high-fibre of course) with the locals in Norway’s exquisite Lofoten Islands.
Here, guests join Jorunn, Sven-Magne and the resident goats of Den Sorte Gryte Goat Farm, which has been in the family since the 16th century for a Nordic feast of epic proportions. The area’s seafaring heritage is reflected in the evening’s menu. Homemade fish cakes and fish soup are paired with local favourites like moose casserole and cheesecake.
Locals living in the Nordics not only fall into the ‘happiest people in the world’ category but also the healthiest. Channel happy and learn how to eat the Nordic way.