Food and Snacks to Try in Norway + Stavanger Food Festival
Are you looking for the foods or snacks to try in Norway? You’ve come to the right place!
When my family travels, one of our favorite things to do is explore the local food scene and markets. We just so happened to book our trip to Stavanger in Norway during the biggest food festival in Norway – Gladmat!
Where is Stavanger
Founded in 1125, Stavanger sits on the Stavanger Peninsula in southwestern Norway, within Rogaland County. It’s about a seven-hour drive from Norway’s capital, Oslo.
Stavanger’s lively harbor, known locally as Vågen, is a vibrant U-shaped inlet bustling with activity throughout the day. It’s a great spot to unwind with dinner and drinks, offering plenty of options.
The Port of Stavanger accommodates a variety of vessels, from cruise ships and ferries to goods and offshore industry traffic. Stavanger is like a fairytale and definitely worth visiting!
Visiting Stavanger during Gladmat
My family and I choose to travel to Stavanger, Norway direct from England in the summer of 2022. We hit the city at exactly the right time to try fabulous new foods (and lots of snacks!)
Unbeknownst to us, our arrival coincided with Stavanger’s largest food festival – GladMat. We were initially nervous that the location we chose (which was right on the harbour) might be an issue crowd-wise, but we were pleasantly surprised.
We were right in the thick of all the fun and excitement!! Our location (airbnb shared at the bottom) was not only set in the beautiful Old Town; but with it being right on the water, we were in the center of all the action for the weekend.
Even though the city was buzzing activity, we still found Stavanger one of the best locations to hone our travel photography skills; my favorite was the Gamle neighborhood.
We only had to walk out the door and down a 150m to reach HUNDREDS of food vendors!
““Gladmat” in Norwegian means “Happy Food”. Since its debut in 1998, Gladmat has firmly established itself as Scandinavia’s leading food festival. “
The Gladmat Festival
This festival was an amazing opportunity for us to immerse ourselves in Norwegian culture and food!
There is a plethora of goodies on offer, and you can get anything from traditional Scandinavian fare to pizza and churros! The GladMat food festival runs the last weekend of June and into the beautiful sunny month of July for 4 days. It attracts over 250,000 visitors every year, making it the biggest food festivals in the country!
Gladmat is an organization in Norway, and is a significant ambassador for food culture and enjoyment all year round. It aims to be Norway’s leading meeting place for chefs, food producers and foodies alike.
The Gladmat festival has been bringing local food producers, great restaurants and delicious street food together for a quarter of a century. They encourage supporting local businesses, and so host as many local and drink providers as possible.
There were over 80 LOCAL vendors in 2023!
Entertainment at Gladmat
The Gladmat festical is not just food to try; there is a large popup tent on the west side of the harbor (it was right in-front of our airbnb) offering up entertainment for all!
Inside you’ll find: culinary competitions, the Kitchen Theater, Kitchen Party and lots of fun for the whole family; from activities for the little ones to children’s culinary courses and entertainment for the teens.
Guided Tours of the Festival and Town
Gladmat also organizes guided tours of the town, and the local vendors. We didn’t participate in this, but it is my one regret!
It would have been a fantastic way to learn a little history about Stavanger, and also get to try yummy food and snacks, all while learning about their history and the local culture.
Parking
With so many people in the center of the city, you can imagine that parking a car would be VERY difficult. We noticed most people came down on electric scooters (which you can rent publicly), or plenty of people were just walking. We were lucky enough to front row tickets from our Airbnb! On the Glatmat website, they recommend arriving by bicycle, train, bus or boat. Parking spaces are severely limited.
Our Favorites from the Festival
My son’s favorite food was the churros. Although not typically Norwegian, they were new to him. My favorite were these donut balls as seen in the photo below call Drommeboller.
My husband’s was a traditional fish wrap that he had while we were on one of the boats in the harbor; we enjoyed our treats with a glass of wine all while taking in the action around us. It was magical!
Take your time and look around – there is so much to see, do & eat!
Learn more about the Glatmat Festival on their website!
Local Treats to Eat in Stavanger, Norway
Whenever we go away on holidays somewhere, one of my favorite thing to do is go grocery shopping. I know, I know… sounds pretty boring right? NEVER! I LOVE seeing new cultures from all angles and that also means their food, and how they shop during their daily lives.
I really don’t think you can get a good idea of the local scene and people until you’ve visited a typical supermarket to try the food and treats.
Just as a warning to North Americans - the grocery stores we visited were QUIET. I mean.. 'library quiet'. It was VERY noticeable to me because my two boys can be very loud. We are not American, but sometimes Canadians speak at a higher volume than absolutely necessary, and it becomes apparent in Europe when others stop and STARE. I don't ever want to dull anyone's sparkle by telling them to shush, but I do believe in being respectful of local culture, traditions and customs when I'm in a foreign country.
On to OH SO YUMMY treats we tried… as we are fairly close to where the good chocolate comes from in Europe, (Switzerland & Belgium) Norway was no exception in that department! Full creamy milk and caramels were a blissful delight.
The chips we found were in new and interesting flavors. Then we spotted some treats that seemed like they were rebranded in Norwegian, and bore a striking resemblance to food like KitKat that we’re used to getting at home.
I really enjoyed the sour cream and onion Chip Nuts which were just like corn chips.
My son loves trying different flavored Mentos; the flavor below is Cola.
Then there is the Hobby bar which is described as “a layer soft, lightweight foam and a layer of jelly with banana flavor coated with milk chocolate.” Not my favorite!
The bag above is an assortment of delightful chocolates from the company in Trondheim, Norway called Nidar. The bag contains a crispy rice chocolate square, a solid milk chocolate bunny and a oozy caramel filled square. These were amazing! I definitely recommend trying this companies chocolates while away.
Another recommendation from the Nidar company is the brand Smash. They are like salty, chocolate covered bugles. YUM YUM!
The Non Stop are candy covered chocolate similar to smarties. The tiny box in the photo below is a brand named Zoo. They are sweet and chewy candies in miniature.
Of course in the grocery stores lefse is EVERYWHERE. You want a cheap snack? lefse. Definitely the most economical thing to buy in Norway.
All these treats were actually pretty expensive. We believe the country taxes food that isn’t the most healthy for you. For example, the diet coke was cheaper than regular coke. Some places call this a “fat tax”.
WARNING!
There is one food that I have to warn you about – it was something I’d read that we should try while in Norway. Maybe you’ve heard of it – Scum Candy.
As the name suggests, maybe not the sweet candy confection you’d typically expect. Give it a try if you like, but I wasn’t a fan. The flavors can be described as salty licorice. This seems to be a popular treat, and maybe it is if you’ve grown up in Norway.
I can see no good reason why you would purposely subject yourself to this particular “treat” though! You can find it in bags like the one below, or in the bulk candy section at the grocery store.
Look for the black candies with a white coating. Let me know if you try it and what you think!
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed reading about the fun new foods and treats that we tried while in Norway! The food scene is honestly amazing and if I were to go back, I’d be booking myself a table at one of the four fancy Michelin starred restaurants that are located in Stavanger.
The country itself boasts 44 Michelin starred restaurants! It seems that Norwegians really know their food!
They have some of the freshest fare available in the world, and an eye for flavors that just blend really well. Just make sure you take a wallet full of money if you do!
It’s true what they say about Norway, it is an expensive place – but the adventure and beauty are so worth it!
There is so much to do in Stavanger, including Amazing Guided Hikes and exploring outside of the city center. If you’re in a time crunch, you could always book a Helicopter Tour of the nearby Lysefjord & Pulpit Rock! Trying new things and adventure is the name of the game here.
Until next time “Ha det bra” (goodbye) for now!
Xoxo Tanya
“The impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of life.”