9-11 September 2011
Bergen MATFESTIVAL (Bergen Food Festival)
Bergen Matfest is one of the biggest food festivals promoting local food and traditions.
" The festival will help to develop identity and pride attached to the west Norwegian traditions and carry the branding of the west Norwegian food culture as a part of tourism efforts west of the mountains ".
Bergen Matfest brings together over 300 exhibitors, 100,000 visitors and wagering records year after year.
It was a great day! The sun was up and the teamperature was just right. Yin Hao and I walked from our hostel to the Bergen city centre. The festival was at the Bryggen which was closer than the actual city centre area. Before we arrived at the food festival, we saw crowds walking towards Bryggen (an unusual sight). Bergen is usually a quiet and peaceful city with not so many people. The streets are never packed; even on weekends. This probably tells you that the food festival was a huge success.
When we arrived at the venue, I was taken aback! I haven't seen crowds like that in a very long time. The Bryggen area transformed from a peaceful wharf area where people can sit, chit chat and have coffee to an "Orchard Road". Even with the crowds, Bryggen still retained most of its charm and beauty.
Bryggen - MatFestival
Really Crowded...
Sishamo!
I bought a plate of sishamo. Its really expensive (50NOK) but tastes great! It's very fresh and it does not have the fishy taste. The dipped the fish in some kind of batter and deep fried the fishes. Yummy...
Red Red Apples!
Fresh from the farm and quite cheap. Only 25NOK per kg. =)
Organic Farming
This farmer is selling organic plants and herbs. I took a picture of him because he looks truly unique! hahaha...
HONEY!!!
This honey is made from local flowers. It tastes really good. The farmer that we spoke to said that he will be back on every last saturday of the month to sell his honey. I will buy some back home before I leave Bergen. =)
Meat
There was lots of meat on sale. Many different kinds of meat. Lamb... Deer... Beef... Pork...
Traditional Norwegian Flat bread
This old lady was making traditional Norwegian flat bread. I tried it at welcome week. Doesn't tastes that nice. It is more like a biscuit than bread. Like the Indian papadum. But tastes pretty plain. They eat it with smoked salmon and other preserved meats.
Pickled Fruits and Vegetables
This store was selling various types of pickled fruits and vegetables in glass jars. It looks really colourful, but we didn't try it.
Sausages
Sausages of all sorts are popular in Norway. There were several stores at the MatFest selling sausages. We didn't get any because we were sick of hotdogs and sausages. One of the cheapest foods in Norway.
Gourmet Food
Looks really nice and expensive! But all I wanted to do was to take a photo. hahaha...
Fish Sandwich
This chef was preparing some kind of fish sandwich. Looks quite good. Not sure what kind of fish though. There wasn't any free samples.
Smoked Salmon!
Its free! They were giving out free samples. Its really good. As with all smoked salmon its salt, but very smooth. Really good. And the first thought that came to my mind when I saw him was that he looks really young!
Preserved Fish (Salted Fish)
This guy was selling preserved fishes. Looks quite good. Some ladies asked to sample the fish. However, he told them that they had to buy the fish and soak it in water before you can eat it. Weird. hahaha...
Cheese!
This guy really looks like a polish guy from WWII. I guess it was his hat. Painter hat. hahaha... Anyways, he was really nice and accommodating. We asked him if we could try all the different types of cheese that they sold and he obliged. I really liked a mountain goat cheese that I tried. I bought the goat cheese. A small piece costs about 30NOK. Quite expensive, but really good.
Same cheese shop, she was struggling to cut the cheese. The outer shell is really tough.
Butter!
Best butter that I have ever tried! Its really good. Despite the hefty price tag, there were lots of customers eager to buy this exquisite butter.
Street Performers
Cow's HEAD!!!
This is a plate of cow's head with potatoes, scrambled eggs and some kind of drink. Yucks! It's really gross!!! See the brains at the bottom!
And thats the end of my trip to MatFestival!
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