Ironically, moving abroad can do more to connect you to the roots of your own culture than staying put. Sure, you can choose to ignore it and embrace your new home at the expense of the old one. But even then, it’ll soon become very clear what you miss.
Those things are, more often than not, food related. That was certainly the case for me. Some are easily solvable, like brown cheese, the slightly sweet cheese made from whey that every Norwegian loves. Just put it in your suitcase, make sure not to check the customs rules and hope for the best. Others require more effort. For me, that’s meant learning how to make a lot of foods from scratch. Dishes I’d probably never make if I was still living in Norway, where they’re readily available at any supermarket. Like lefse, an unyeasted soft flatbread often made with potato, or certain biscuits.
There are more reasons to make the food you eat from scratch, of course. I’m not categorical on this, but I try to avoid ultra processed food when I can. If I can substitute them with homemade, I do. One of the easiest to substitute are biscuits. Which, as a bonus, I get to make just the way I remember them growing up.
Easy Norwegian oat cookies
Norwegian style oat cookies, or oat biscuits if you like, are an excellent addition to your kitchen cupboard. They’re easy to make, keep for a long time and can be eaten with just about anything.
I enjoy them on their own as a snack, with cheese (nothing beats brown cheese, but matured or blue cheeses are also excellent) or even some jam. I crumble them into instant cheesecake-like desserts and, if I were to bake a proper cheesecake, I’d probably use them for that, too.
To be able to make these as often as possible, I’ve developed a clever trick which reduces the time it takes to shape the dough into biscuits quite dramatically. Many Norwegian recipes will tell you to roll out the dough and use a cup or glass to cut out the biscuits. Then you need to collect the offcuts, roll out again and repeat until there’s no dough left.
Not me.