Maybe you guys can do a special on good things where all of you make some kind of food significant to your heritage? Or your absolute favorite food from childhood! That could make for a fun segment!

Us Scandinavians need to stick together!!!! Love ya, love your work!

Oh and I love writeroffictions' idea for Good Things Utah!

Being a fellow Minnesotan, a fellow Bensonite, a fellow high school classmate, a fellow ORLC member, and a fellow Norwegian, Syttende Mai, Norway's Independance Day is also near and dear to my heart because of my heritage.  

I have been attending the Syttende Mai breakfast and program at St. Olaf College in Northfield for the past several years.  I wear my authetic Norwegian cardigan sweater, which I bought in Orsta, Norway in 1988.  Other than the college students serving the meal, I feel like my wife and I are the youngest attendees.  I love connecting with all of the retirees, who live and breathe their Norwegian blood-line.

I made a trip on Friday to Benson and made my father some potato klub (pronounce kloob).  We had some lefse from the Benson Bakery that is now in its third generation of Johannson's.  I have been hosting an annual Klub Party in December where the three featured foods are potato klub, potato lefse, and potato sausage.  We make it a candlelight supper (dinner for those that didn't grow up in the country) and have about 25 friends and family.  I have now made this into an Urke tradition.  The in-laws, who have heritage of Austrian, German, and Scottish, don't quite get the joy and delight Norwegians get from these potato-based foods.  They claim that these foods are so bland.

Another food having a long-standing tradition carried on by Norwegian-Americans is lutefisk.  I have been told by relatives in Norway that they don't care for lutefisk (dried cod soaked in lye), especially when they can have fresh-caught cod from the fjord.  Apparently, the casino in Granite Falls, Minnesota serves lutefisk and all the fixings once a week (for $10.50), so the people living in Benson have easy access to regularly satisfy their palate.  My father does frequently catch a ride to do this, and did so on Syttende Mai.

Another long-standing tradition is the ORLC Smogesborg, which is usually held on the fourth Wednesday in October.  They serve all kinds of Scandinavian foods, excluding lutefisk, and only charge about $8.  It draws people from quite a large area, and they claim it beats any of the other Smogesborgs that are done by small local churches in West Central Minnesota.

I continue to take pride in my Norwegian heritage and pass this along to my children through the traditions, foods, and rituals at Syttende Mai and Christmas.

Last night when I was helping my first grader with his homework, we came to the spelling words for this week.  The top six words were simple words that I have come to expect: first, even, other, wind, summer, and space.  Their teacher also has had a list of two or three "Challenge Words" for those kids interested in learning more.  The bottom three Challenge Words were: anthology, miscellaneous, and Syttende Mai.  

I was further surprized when my first grader told me that on Friday, the teacher had ask the students for suggestion of Challenge Words.  He had told her "Syttende Mai", and several other kids quickly agreed with him, and it made the spelling list.  

I am amazed at these seven year old children, and the impressions that Syttende Mai must be leaving on them.  I am proud that my child, who is normally shy and reserved, had taken the initiative and spoken up.  Maybe these Norwegian traditions, foods, and rituals are leaving a lasting impression with my children.  I plan to proudly carry them on, into the future...

There is a recently published book that writes about the importance of ethnic cuisine on Norwegian - Americans during the Great Depression (see excerpt below).  I just checked out a copy of the book and realize it identified Klub (which they spell klubb), as well as Rommegrot (which they identify as graut).  I even miss the taste and smell of Sodt Suppe (which is Sweet Soup, a dessert).  Food is an important way to carry on the Norwegian traditions.

Excerpt from pages 248 – 249 from the book, Norwegians on the Prairie: Ethnicity and the Development of the Country Town, by Odd S. Lovoll, published by Minnesota Historical Society Press, August 2006.

“In people’s daily lives, however, ethnic cuisine continued as the most salient and persistent element of loyalty to an ancestral heritage.  Religious institutions honored ethnic foods as well: Our Savior’s Church regularly announced its annual lutefisk supper.  The Great Depression gave ethnic foods a special status; the deprivations it caused made ethnic dishes – simple, affordable, nourishing – daily food for many.  Conrad Urke, a klubb-eating champion, grew up during the Depression: ‘we lived mainly on klubb and graut [potato and cream mush].’  Ethnic dishes were not a later revival, but a continuous tradition, for Urke personally, but also within the larger Norwegian community.”

This is from an interview that the book’s author, Odd S. Lovoll, had with Conrad Urke on June 7, 2002.

On behalf of several Minnesotans, Bensonites, and ORLC members, we are wondering why Marti Skold's Blog has fallen silent since Sept. 11, 2007.  With this submitted comment, this blog entry should move up to be first ranked in "Most Comments" with a quantity of seven.  Maybe someone who reads this can shed some light on Marti's status.  Whether you are a faithful TV viewer of "Good Things Utah" or an interested blogger or an ABC staffer, let us know.  

Marti, please return to blogging.

Another year has passed and another Syttende Mai, Norway's Independance Day (May 17th), has been observed.  Tradition continues in my family.  My four children and I made potato klub (pronounce kloob).  We whipped it up so quickly, and made them smaller so that we were sitting down to eat within an hour after starting the preparation.  There were leftover klub that we cubed and fried in margarine Sunday morning. (Yum!!!)

My dad made the trip with three others from Benson to Granite Falls, Minnesota for lutefisk and all the fixings.  Tradition runs thick, and people need to satisfy their yearning through food and fellowship.  Both of them bring comfort on Syttende Mai.