Odds And Ends - Food History In Barents  

Through archaeological excavations, the contents of their plates - or, rather, hands - is known: knifes, forks and spoons are later inventions. We will begin our survey in the 19th century, when a food culture with more nuances emerged and the bread became the most important ingredient in the struggle for nutrition. We can now talk about food boundaries, rather than national borders - how the cuisine varies from east to west, or the other way around.    

" People feed mainly on fish, milk and butter…but the rough unleaven bread I could not eat" said professor Wilhelm Zetterstedt in 1821, when he passed through the Torne Valley on his way to the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. A fairly sharp line is soon encountered bread-wise. The light, crisp and thin unleavened bread can be obtained up to the linguistic frontier in Sangis/Säivis. Between Sangis and the Torne River, the dark fermented rye bread reigns, baked on scorched rye. This type is fairly frequent when travelling towards the White Sea. In this case, linguistic frontier and bread boundary correspond quite well.    

Let us begin our tour at the Norwegian coast, where eating habits differed strongly. Surely, they had supplies of bread, fish and butter. Dried fish could be exchanged for bread-stuffs there - cheaper than growing own crop. Animals, mainly sheep, secured the supply of meat. This situation was caused by the decree from the Catholic Church about fasting-days, and eating meat was not allowed for the faithful in the Catholic countries. In this scenario, the fishing industry flourished.    

We travel into the Swedish fjeld world, and naturally encounter the Sami and their food culture. Of course, the reindeer holds a central position in it, together with the fishing in mountain lakes. There are essentially three groups of Sami: coastal Sami at the shores of the Arctic Ocean, fjeld Sami and forest Sami. These groups are, more or less, nomadic and moved over vast areas - as did the Pomors.    

The trip continues towards the coast, where fishing is the main source of income and an export commodity of stature. At the coast, up to the Torne Valley, we have the thin, unleavened bread - unfermented and white. In addition, waters pregnant with Baltic herring, later developed into the fermented Baltic herring. Why ferment it, then? For a long time, keeping the fish edible was difficult without brining it hard. Fittingly, the herring is equipped with a lactic acid enzyme in its spine, activated by the right amount of salt at correct temperature. Then, the fermenting process begins and the fish is soured, as we say. This gives us a product that will keep its qualities for a very long time - the fermented Baltic herring. Popular along the coast, up to the Torne Valley. The Pomors mentioned earlier have brought their dark rye bread and pirogs, frequent in the northern Norwegian and Finnish parts of our food culture.    

Moving into the Finnish territory towards the Russian border, the dark leavened bread baked in special Karelian ovens dominates totally. Pirogs are popular, too: filled with whatever the season has to offer - an element from the Russian food culture. By mid 19th century the rye bread had become the base of nourishment. There were many variants. One was to stuff bleak (muikko) into the bread and bake it in a Karielian oven for a couple of hours. The fish could, for instance, be exchanged for salted pork. The Finnish term for this is kalakukko, "fish rooster".    

Close to our destination, the coast of the Arctic Sea and the Kola Peninsula, pirog is, again, a very common dish. As mentioned above, filled with what the season of nature offers. Reindeer was herded throughout the area, and the supply of meat was rich. The Arctic Ocean produced large quantities of fish. At the Kola Peninsula, the array of dishes has been enriched by the migration from other parts of Russia. For example beetroot soup, originating from the southern parts of the country. The Kola Peninsula was peopled relatively late in the 20th century - when mineral deposits were found there.    

As a little addition to the food history you have red, the enormous amount of wild berries growing in the area deserve a special mention. The richest supplies can be found in the northern parts of Sweden and Finland and on the Kola Peninsula. We can safely assume that berries were part of the everyday nourishment of settlers and original population.  

Penned by Rolf Johansson