Pålegg is an important part of Norwegian cuisine, being a staple for breakfast, lunch, and even snacks. But what is it? The easy answer is that pålegg is most closely translatable to the English word “spread,” but not entirely just in the sense of something that is spreadable (i.e. butter,) but more along the lines of anything you may choose to put on top of a sandwich.
While sandwiches with 2 slices of bread (smørbrød) are also eaten here, the more typical and traditional way of eating sandwiches is an open-faced one with pålegg. To begin with, you can have pålegg on either brødskiver, or “bread slices,” or on knekkebrød, a type of flatbread commonly produced by the brand Wasa. (This is also available in the US for purchase, although the varieties available and their thickness can vary slightly.)
What I have learned in my short time travelling here is that everyone has their favorite types of pålegg that they keep in the house. A popular topping is brunost, or brown cheese, made of whey, milk, and cream.This can be paired with jam (I’ve seen raspberry and lingonberry) due to the sweetness of the cheese itself, and the jam acts as something tart to offset the sweetness. My personal favorite is just brødskiver or knekkebrød with smør (butter), salami, and a mild Norwegian cheese like Norvegia (Jarlsberg is available in the US; while Norvegia isn’t, but I actually prefer Norvegia.) One of my boyfriend’s favorites (which I find completely disgusting, despite having tried it a few times) is a type of canned mackerel. Spreads that come in tubes containing caviar, various cheeses, and mayonnaise are common, as well as many types of meat– skinke, or ham, is popular. For sweeter spreads, aside from brunost, they have Nougatti, a Nutella-esque chocolate spread (sorry, Norwegians, I still don’t think Nougati is better.)
Speaking of cheese, while you can purchase it in slices, it is more common to buy a large block of it and use a cheese slicer, (ostehøvel) like pictured here, with some brunost.
So, what is pålegg? Pålegg is anything delicious on some type of bread-like substance. I’ve even taken to eating pålegg at home in the US now. It’s a great snack and quick and easy breakfast, and you can have more healthy options or ones that are, well, a bit less. 😉