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What do you think of Lutefisk?

Do you know this word? If you are not Scandinavian, you may never have heard it before. If you are, you may be wishing you hadn't.

I've never actually tasted Lutefisk which is a soup made from dried salted codfish treated with lye. The reason I've never tried it is that my parents, who argued violently about almost everything else, agreed on this one thing. They were in harmonious accord in resolving that Lutefisk was the one torture they would never inflict on their children. The picture they banded together to paint of how Lutefisk smelled and tasted was so graphic that to this day I have never been able to bring myself to even try the stuff. Other people have been more daring, though and their regard for the dish in question has not been stellar. Although Grandma said "Nonsense, it is delicious," the balance of evidence has tipped my food censor scales in the other direction.

You might well ask why, if I have never even tried it, am even writing this? It was my husband's idea. He loves to say the word Lutefisk and then laugh at the bewildered expression just hearing that word still brings to my face. He's mischievous that way. I think he just loves to terrorize Norwegians. Familiar with my family's Lefse wars, he thinks Lefse is funny, too, but not nearly as funny as Lutefisk.

When my parents did something bad to us kids and any of us complained, the answer was always the same. One would say "Things could be much worse for you. Our parents made us eat Lutefisk." Then the other would reinforce this with a serious look and a knowing nod.

When Ma decided to punish me for having refused to eat all of the overcooked spinach she had piled on my plate the night before, she put it on top of my oatmeal the next morning and demanded that I finish it. Incredulous, I looked up only to see the stern look on one side of the table and on the other side hear her say, "Quite whining and eat it right now. After all it's not as bad as Lutefisk!"

In theory, Lutefisk is not bad at all. Before refrigeration, anyone living more than a few minutes from the seashore had to count on dried fish. Trust me. I have seen the fish before cooking and it looks extremely dried, like cured tobacco, in fact. I haven't tried eating that, either. However, drying the fish in this manner made it possible for food to be stored inland for months. This was necessary, Grandma said, because in times of famine there wasn't any other food. Back in the old country, she added, people considered themselves lucky to get a little Lutefisk. She knew the streets of St. Paul, Minnesota were not paved with gold, but a family agreed to sponsor her immigration if she would accept employment as their domestic. They could not pay her anything, but they did promise that there would always be fresh peas in her Lutefisk. She came.

I really think that given the opportunity now I would at least try a little taste of Lutefisk once just to see what all the fuss was really about. After all the ribbing I've put up with, it would seem only fair to make my husband try it, too. I just wouldn't go very far out of my way to locate any.

Learn more about this author, Janet Jenson.
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