Moderation

ignorance and bad housing conditions. In other words, each member of Norwegian society should have equal access to work, education, healthcare and a house to live in. An introduction to the Norwegian welfare state can be found in chapter 5.

Nevertheless, egalitarian values are actually very controversial at the time of writing this chapter, 2021. One issue is the length of paternity leave. Today all men are granted a 10 week leave, and many people want to extend this. Homosexuals gained the right to marry under a marriage act in 2009, while the Norwegian state church allowed two persons of the same sex to marry in 2017. There is also an ongoing and heated discussion concerning egg donations and surrogacy.

Equality had become an increasingly controversial value in Norway during the past 30–40 years. Some argue that egalitarianism suppresses the quest for freedom, such as the ability to do things your own way, to move boundaries, to achieve your true potential. Others argue that Norway is becoming more diverse. We are in a process of integrating immigrant minorities, and in this situation all talk of equality will only cause alienation and resentment. It is, according to these critics, vital that we do not develop a segregated society of ‘Norwegians’ and ‘immigrants’. A more detailed discussion of whether Norway may be considered an egalitarian country today, and whether equality is a desirable value or not, is found in chapter 6.

One approach to understanding a social system is to explore the way people prepare and eat their meals. In many countries, people put a lot of energy and consideration into the preparation of meals.

In Norway, simplicity and moderation in preparing food have been virtues. Returning to Norway on a charter flight from the Azores in 2004, I observed a group of Norwegian tourists eating their lunch.We had been given the choice between making our own packed lunch (matpakke) at the hotel or buying a $5 sandwich on board the aircraft. Most of the tourists around me had chosen to wrap their food in sandwich paper at the hotel, and then eat it hours later. They were wealthy and over 50. They could afford to fly for hours to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean for a week of sunshine.

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Most of them would have an expensive car and a spacious house back home, but buying a $5 sandwich on board was unthinkable. An obvious conclusion is that the relationship between Norwegians and what they eat is not a matter of economy, it is rather a question of ethics and morality.

Historically, Norway has not been a land of milk and honey. The natural surroundings have not provided for a life of material abundance. Consequently, moderation and thrift became virtues. It may be difficult to observe these values in Norway today if you look at the houses in which people live or the cars they buy. But it is still possible to see it in the ways they eat. Two of the most successful entrepreneurs in Norway are examples of a frugal way of life. There are many examples of this in relation to the real estate developer Olav Thon (1923–). He would often turn down invitations to business lunches and instead eat a carrot he had in his jacket.3 It has also been said that shipowner Fred Olsen (1929–), one of the wealthiest people in Norway, used to make his own matpakke with crispbread and Norwegian brown cheese (brunost) every day while working.

The cheese slicer is a true Norwegian invention. Its purpose is to slice the cheese as thinly as possible.

3 https://www.ut.no/artikkel/1.11097872/

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The ideal content of a matpakke is a few slices of brown bread with butter and a slice of white, mild cheese or Norwegian brown cheese. The cheese is cut with a true Norwegian invention, a symbol of moderation: the cheese slicer. The purpose of this invention is to cut as little cheese as possible, an invention that has never been successful in France. A matpakke is cheap, ascetic and believed to be healthy.

The tradition of the matpakke is not very old.4 It dates back to the 1930s when parents in Oslo were encouraged to give their children nutritious bread, milk, raw vegetables and maybe a piece of fruit in a matpakke. In 1991, a survey showed that 95% of all children in elementary school brought a matpakke to school every day. When the kids get older, some throw it in the dustbin and buy buns and Coke instead, while others have become focused on wholesome food and make their parents prepare a matpakke without sugar or meat. However, it is still a widespread tradition to bring a matpakke to work. Norwegians spend less time than other Europeans on meals, and the tradition of the matpakke contributes to this. Even in neighbouring countries like Finland, Denmark and Sweden people usually have a long break in the middle of the day to eat a warm lunch. A famous Norwegian chef, Trond Moi, claims that in France, people drive to lunch on their scooter, and then eat a three-course lunch, while in Norway, people drive to lunch in a Mercedes, and then eat their matpakke.

Eating a matpakke is something every Norwegian should do. You often meet this moralistic attitude among teachers claiming that there is a close correspondence between eating a matpakke and having good manners. If you eat bread and cheese during the week, then you can go wild and have unhealthy white bread, Coke and sweets at weekends. On Saturdays and Sundays, Norwegians tend to forget the value of moderation in several spheres of life: they consume excessive quantities of alcohol, and some even spend money on taking a taxi.

The matpakke is not only eaten in schools and in workplaces. It is also a central factor in Norwegian outdoor life, which brings us to our last value: nearness to nature.

4 Døving, R. Matpakka. Den store fortellingen om familien og nasjonen. Din: Religionsvitenskapelig tidsskrift, 1(199), 4–12.

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