a speciality of Norway and Sweden, also the Swedish-speaking part of Finland and the Norwegian and Swedish communities in N. America. It consists of stockfish (dried cod, usually, but ling and pollack have been used) which has been soaked, steeped in a lye solution, and then rinsed lengthily under running water before being boiled. This treatment gives the fish a jelly-like consistency. It is served with boiled potatoes and flatbread. Pepper and melted butter are necessary accompaniments. Regional variations of this standard service exist in both Norway and Sweden.
Whether the origin of lutefisk was in Norway or Sweden is debatable, and debated. What seems clear is that its history goes back to the early 16th century or earlier; and that speculations about how it first came into being (most of these postulate a series of accidents befalling medieval fish curers and/or housewives) lie far outside the boundaries of possible verification.
It is, however, possible to explain its limited geographical distribution. Lutefisk was, and is, eaten in winter, when it is very cold in the Nordic countries. If one postulates as necessary conditions for the emergence of lutefisk (a) a strong tradition of fishing and of drying the catch, (b) a climate so cold as to permit use of the technique in the days before refrigeration, and (c) forests or woods to supply wood ash to produce the lye; then the best candidates in Europe would be Norway and Sweden.
‘Lye’ is a term which has changed meaning over the centuries. It always indicates an alkaline product, and it is the action of alkali on the flesh of the fish which produces the distinctive result. But lye in late medieval times, when it was an all-purpose cleaner, would have been what is also called potash, K2CO3, easily prepared for kitchen use by boiling wood ash (ideally beech for lutefisk, but usually birch) in water and straining the result. More recently it would be caustic soda, NaOH, which is stronger; and this is what is currently meant by the term ‘lye’. Ordinary washing soda, Na2CO3, produced by boiling ash from burned seaweed, has also been used. The addition of lime helps to make the fish whiter and may help in other ways. Both the history and the chemistry of lutefisk have been ably explored by Astri Riddervold (1990a).
The same author provides interesting information about the importance of lutefisk as a cultural symbol, especially for Norwegian and Swedish immigrants in N. America. Historically, lutefisk was eaten for supper on Christmas Eve, usually in association with rice pudding, and on Good Friday and Easter Day, and more generally during the whole period from Advent to Easter. At the end of the 19th century, however, came change; roast rib of pork began to usurp the place of lutefisk as the main dish for Christmas Eve supper, while lutefisk moved to another day of the Christmas season and rice pudding, in this particular context, began to disappear.
There might have been further, and more drastic, changes in the last quarter of the 20th century, when statistics showed that both in the countries of origin and among the immigrant communities in N. America the consumption of lutefisk was declining steeply. However, a public relations campaign in the USA halted and reversed the trend there; and it was followed shortly afterwards by a similar campaign in the home countries. Riddervold reproduces samples of the bumper stickers which played an important role in the campaigns, and shows how some of the slogans tended incidentally to create a new myth, that lutefisk is an aphrodisiac.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Riddervold, Astri (1990b), ‘The Importance of Herring in the Daily Life of the Coastal Population of Norway’, in Staple Foods, Oxford Symposium on Food History 1989, London: Prospect Books.
