Set sail on a culturally enriching Scandinavian voyage

Scandinavia boasts strong and diverse culinary traditions, which include game meat from the north, fish from the coasts and other products from across the region. Here are some renowned Scandinavian dishes and beverages:

1. Köttbullar (Swedish meatballs)

Prepared with fresh minced meat, seasoned with aromatic spices and browned to perfection, these savory meatballs are paired with a traditional creamy, gravy-style sauce with allspice and a lingonberry condiment to balance the richness of the sauce.

2. Fårikål (Mutton in cabbage)

Norway’s national dish consists of mutton (or lamb) and cabbage, slowly stewed together with whole black peppercorns. Typically served with boiled potatoes, it is the perfect complement to a cool autumn day.

3. Nordic Gravlax

No smørbørd (open-faced sandwich) would be complete without smoked salmon, one of Scandinavia’s most distinctive dishes. “Gravlax” literally means “buried salmon,” referring to the ancient practice of curing raw fish by burying it in sand by the seashore to be saturated and cured by ocean tides. These days, fish is salted and seasoned, weighed down and refrigerated until cured.

4. Vafler (Norwegian waffles)

These lightly sweetened, heart-shaped treats are thinner than Belgian waffles and can be enjoyed with a variety of toppings, including sour cream, fresh berries, Norwegian brown cheese (brunost) or jam.

5. Aquavit

Dating to the 1500s, Scandinavian aquavit—which takes its name from the Latin aqua vitae, or “water of life”—captures pristine Nordic beauty in a bottle. In its cleanest form, it is a neutral, flavorless spirit distilled from grain or potato. Infusions of botanicals—such as caraway, dill, anise, fennel, coriander or cardamom—transform it into a pleasing elixir.

One of the boldest voyages across the Pacific Ocean, the Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947, was launched to prove a theory. Norwegian explorer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl (1914–2002) believed that Polynesians were descended from people who crossed the ocean from South America. He based his hypothesis on the enormous statues and stepped pyramids of Polynesia, which resemble those in Peru. Heyerdahl had also heard tales of early Europeans who had encountered islanders with a light complexion, which was consistent with stories of ancient, fair-skinned Peruvians.

To demonstrate his theory, Heyerdahl and five additional crew members built a raft from balsa logs and other Peruvian materials. They also drew references from old drawings made by Spanish conquistadors of pae-paes, large Inca rafts with sails and a small hut. Heyerdahl’s journey on this raft, bolstered by westerly trade winds, lasted 101 days and covered 4,300 mi (6,920 km).

Despite the successful voyage, Heyerdahl’s theory did not gain traction among his peers, who accepted that a west-to-east migration had populated Polynesia. Linguistic, ethnographic and botanical evidence also point to a deep connection to ancient Southeast Asian cultures.

Today, the Kon-Tiki raft is on display at the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway. Film lovers might remember it from the Oscar-winning documentary film released in 1950, named after the famous vessel.

The Vikings were a group of Scandinavian seafarers who originated from areas in modern-day Norway, Sweden and Denmark. These people did not belong to a particular race or culture. Instead, the name Viking originated from the Old Norse word vik, meaning bay or creek, which in turn formed the root of vikingr, an Old Norse verb meaning to go on a waterborne journey, whether by river or sea.

The Viking Era lasted from 782–1066 AD. During that time, Vikings expanded their territorial reach far beyond their Scandinavian homelands. As pioneers in shipbuilding and navigation, they are considered by many to be the ultimate in trailblazing early explorers, with expeditions by land, river and sea. In addition to longships, Vikings’ vessels came in various forms like wide-bellied cargo ships. They had an edge over their contemporaries, as Viking ships were constructed with watertight clinker-built shells where the edges of hull planks overlapped with one another. This sturdy foundation remained a universal method of shipbuilding throughout northern Europe until the Middle Ages.