HAPPY SYTTENDE MAI

Syttende mai means May 17 in Norwegian.  It is a national holiday, celebrating the signing of the Norwegian Constitution in Eidsvoll, Norway, in 1814.  The Norwegians celebrate with parades and flags.

There are many areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin that celebrate Syttende mai, also.  A Lutheran church not too far from us is well known for the Norwegian dinner they put on each year on May 17.  People drive from many miles away each year to stand in line for hours to continue on the tradition.  A little town, also not far from here, has a city wide celebration with parades and flags and food. 

Not every celebration would consist of this white plate of white food, but many do.  The gelatinous blob on the lower right of the plate is lutefisk, which is cod or ling, soaked in water and lye for days before it is rinsed off and quickly cooked in boiling water.  It smells.  No, it stinks!  It reeks!  Norwegians pour melted butter over it, Swedes pour a white sauce over it, but neither of those additions do much to make it more digestible!  Yet every year, on Syttende mai and Christmas Eve, Norwegians force this crap fish down their throats and boast of tasting it twice as they belch the foul tasting fumes for the next twelve hours. 

To the left of the white lutefisk is white lefse.  Now lefse I like.  It's like a very thinly rolled tortilla, made with riced potatoes, a little bit of lard and flour, and baked on a lefse grill.  Spread the lefse round with butter, sprinkle with white sugar, and you have a treat!  Some people use brown sugar, but I prefer white.  And meatballs or turkey rolled up in the lefse are also wonderful.

Behind the white lefse and white lutefisk on back right, are meatballs coated in a white gravy.  They are good.....not the meatball you'd use in a spaghetti sauce, but a much more bland meatball.  Comfort food type meatball. 

Next to the meatballs, and the only splash of color on the whole white plate, are cranberries.   The food police said you need some color on the plate, so red it is.

Our Syttende mai celebration is going to consist of roasted vegetables: sweet potatoes, peppers, red onions, kale, and some sausage for the protein.  Nothing white there.

Happy Syttende mai!

The pictures of the flag and the lutefisk are taken from Wikipedia.org.