The ocean platter Ålesund is spread across the mainland and several islands on the west coast of Norway. With the North Sea all but pouring in the door, it is a place with a close relationship to the ocean and everything it has to offer. Klippfiskakademiet has, over the last six years, turned this relationship into not only a business idea, but a way of life.
from seafood to all things green. Our region is full of local treasures supplying us with the best produce a chef could get,” says Nerbø.
By Lisa Maria Berg | Photos: Kristin Støylen
Back to Nerbø and her team at Klippfiskakademiet: it is a fascinating and diverse set-up that they have got going on. Situated on top of Atlanterhavsparken, the aquarium in Ålesund – indeed, very fitting – delivers not just dining experiences, but truly any food-related experience their clients might wish for.
“We do a lot of things. We teach, cook, and invite people to dine and learn new cooking skills, have a good time and, most importantly, learn about food and enjoy the best produce this region has got to offer.” Cecil Elisabet Nerbø is passionate about food and, with her colleagues at Klippfiskakademiet, is determined to spread the love for all things gourmet. “We basically live in the middle of a smorgasbord of seafood. It makes for a great deal of good dishes,” she continues. And at the heart of this west coast cuisine is ‘klippfisk’ – clipfish.
A long history The tradition of clipfish – dried and salted fish, most commonly cod or pollock – 90 | Issue 118 | November 2018
goes back hundreds of years. Like with smoked salmon and ‘rakfisk’, salting and drying was a vital way of conserving food so that it would stay edible for longer. Already in the boat on the way in from sea, fishermen would prepare the fish and place it in salt, and when they approached land, women would stand on the beach ready to wash, prepare and get the fish out to dry. It was, during peak season, a job for the whole community, and every generation would be involved. Today, the techniques have modernised, and clipfish is now made all year round, but the process is essentially the same. So too, is the quality of the product. “Good produce is at the heart of what we do –
The academy