O Lutefisk and Lefse

O Lutefisk

O Lutefisk . . . O Lutefisk . . . how fragrant your aroma
O Lutefisk . . . O Lutefisk . . . You put me in a coma.
You smell so strong . . . you look like glue
You taste yust like an overshoe
But Lutefisk . . . come Saturday
I tink I'll eat you anyvay.

(. . .)

O Lutefisk . . . O Lutefisk . . . now everyone discovers
Dat Lutefisk and lefse makes . . .
Norvegians better lovers

(the song goes on). [Rsn 157]

EXPLANATION. In the US, there are many time-honoured Norwegian dishes adapted to American kitchens, and lutefisk forms part of one such dish. Lutefisk is cod treated in a lye solution and served boiled Lefse is a thin pancake from rolled dough served buttered and folded.

These are quite cultural-iconic foods of Norwegian Americans in the "Lutefisk belt" across parts of the United States - and in other places too.

Lefse Joke

What did the Norwegian say when he saw his first pizza?

"Who threw up on that lefse?" [Rsn 27]

Lefse making is called an art form. Its goal is lefse, a thin, round pieces with not too much flour. Eating lefse and lutefisk is a tradition that Norwegian-Americans continue. Wrapping lutefisk in lefse is a Norwegian-American tradition - part of the diversified lefse ways.

At a standard ethnic fiest among Norwegian Americans you cound be served lutefisk, meatballs, other balls (potato balls with bacon inside, and fish balls), rømmegraut (a sour cream pudding), and lefse.

Literature  

Hp: Rosendahl, Peter J. Han Ola og Han Per. A Norwegian-American Comic Strip. En norsk-amerikansk tegneserie, edited by Joan N. Buckley and Einar Haugen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1984 (Original printed in the Decorah-Posten).

Mop: Rosendahl, Peter J. More han Ola og han Per. A Norwegian-American Comic Strip. En norsk-amerikansk tegneserie. Edited by Joan N. Buckley and Einar Haugen. Bilingual Edition. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1988.

Rsn: Stangland, R. C. Red Stangland's Norwegian Home Companion. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1993.

Trap: Nida, Eugene, and Charles Taber. The Theory and Practice of Translation. Leiden: United Bible Societies / Brill, 1974.



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