5.9 - Taco and kebab

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After World War II, people from different parts of the world started to come to Norway. This had an impact on Norwegian culture and food, as Norwegians were introduced to new food items and dishes. In this episode, we will focus on taco and kebab.

Taco is a Mexican dish consisting of vegetables, sauce, beans and meat all wrapped up in a tortilla. It was first popularized in the US and industrialized by the fast-food chain Taco Bell in 1962. In Norway, Allert Middelthon, a grocer from Stavanger, started to import taco items for the American immigrants in the city. Most of the Americans worked in the oil sector and the 1960s saw the beginning of the Norwegian oil extraction. The summer Olympics in Mexico in 1968 contributed to the popularity of tacos in Norway, but it was still quite foreign to Norwegians.

It was first between 1986 and 1994 that taco would become a common dish in Norway. In 1986, Mexico was the host of the World Cup in football (or soccer), and in 1994, Norway played a world cup game against Mexico. These events were both important for popularizing tacos in Norway, and today it has become an integral part of Norwegian food culture. 13 % of all Norwegians under the age of 40 eat tacos every single Friday. This phenomenon has created a new word in the Norwegian language: Friday tacos or “fredagstaco” in Norwegian. 84 % of all Norwegians under the age of 40 eat tacos at least once a month, clearly illustrating the importance of the dish in Norway.

Another dish that has enjoyed great success in Norway is the kebab. Kebab is a dish that consists of salad and special kebab-meat which are wrapped in a wrap or a pita. It comes from Turkey and is popular all around the Middle East. It came to Norway via immigrants from the Middle East. The first store selling kebabs was founded in Oslo in 1957, but it did not enjoy much success. Frash Asmaro from northern Iraq is generally considered as the father of the kebab in Norway. He set up a kebab-store in Oslo in 1983. At this time, the kebab was already quite popular in continental Europe, but we were a bit more sceptic here up north. Nonetheless, the kebab became gradually more popular. Today, kebab stores can be seen all around the country, even in small towns. Actually, there is a lot of local patriotism linked to the question about where the best kebab in Norway can be found, illustrating how integrated it has become in Norwegian food culture.