Bacalao

As a Norwegian, I find that traveling or meeting people from faraway countries normally means having to explain what and where Norway is, sometimes taking great pains to pronounce the name slowly and clearly, so people are not led to believe that I am from “Nowhere.” For some, the phonetic distinction between the two does not seem so important, but that is the price I have to pay for coming from a small, peaceful country tucked away far up north on the globe.

And yet there are times when I feel as though I come from a superpower, when people from far away surprise me with their immediate recognition and warm reception. “Ah, Norway/Noruega/Norvège,” they say, always followed by the explanation for their enthusiasm: “Bacalao/bacalhau/baccalà/morue/stockfish!” In Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Nigeria, Senegal, and parts of the Caribbean, Norwegian dried cod is considered one of the finest foods on earth.