Christmas Food as a Genealogical Clue
When families start talking about Christmas, they often begin with food. Christmas food may serve as a clue to their origin.
“Grandma always made fattigmann.”
“Christmas Eve was pinnekjøtt, not ribs.”
“We had to have lutefisk and lefse, or it wasn’t Christmas.”
“We always had torsk on Christmas Eve.”
For a genealogist, those details are more than cosy memories — they are clues. Christmas food traditions can point toward region, economy, religion, social status and migration history. In this article, we’ll look at how you can use Christmas menus, including cod and other fish dishes, to learn more about where your Norwegian ancestors came from and how they lived.
Main Dishes: Meat, Fish and Regional Clues
The biggest genealogical clue on a Norwegian Christmas table is usually the Christmas Eve dinner.
Today, the classic “big four” main dishes are often listed as: ribbe, pinnekjøtt, lutefisk and juletorsk (Christmas cod) (Store norske leksikon, 2025; NIBIO, 2021).
Ribbe – roasted pork belly with crackling
Pinnekjøtt – dried, salted (often smoked) lamb or mutton ribs
Lutefisk – dried whitefish (usually cod) treated with lye, then soaked and cooked
Juletorsk – fresh cod served with potatoes and vegetables, sometimes with rich butter or cream sauces
Regional patterns
Modern surveys and food writers show clear regional patterns: pinnekjøtt has its strongest base in Western Norway, ribbe dominates in Eastern Norway and many towns, while fish dishes such as juletorsk and lutefisk are especially rooted in coastal and northern regions, even if they are now eaten all over the country (Hurtigruten, n.d.; Narten Høberg, 2021; Sailing Selkie, 2022; Store norske leksikon, 2025).
What this can mean for you:
A family with a stubborn “this is the only proper Christmas dinner” pinnekjøtt tradition often has roots in Vestlandet or parts of Northern Norway, where sheep-raising and meat preservation (salting, drying and smoking) were a natural part of winter survival (Relocation.no, n.d.; Sailing Selkie, 2022).
A family where pork ribbe (with medisterkaker, Christmas sausages, sauerkraut or red cabbage) is treated as the obvious standard often reflects more eastern and urban patterns, where pork production and ovens spread earlier (Sailing Selkie, 2022; The Hidden North, n.d.).
A family insisting on juletorsk every Christmas Eve may point to coastal traditions, especially in Sørlandet and many parts of Northern Norway, where cod has long been a classic Christmas Eve dish, often served with carrots and mandelpoteter or with a rich butter sauce like sandefjordsmør (Godfisk, n.d.; North Wild Kitchen, 2020; Seafood from Norway, n.d.; Søgne local press, 2024).
A strong loyalty to lutefisk as “the real Christmas dinner” points both to very old Christian traditions (fish during the Advent fast) and to certain coastal and emigrant communities where lutefisk dinners became a hallmark of identity (Janik, 2011; NIBIO, 2024; Visit Norway, n.d.).
Families move, mix and marry across regions, so one dish does not prove a place of origin. But if your great-grandparents defended juletorsk or lutefisk long after moving inland, or insisted that pinnekjøtt was “the only correct” Christmas dinner in Oslo, it is worth asking which fjord, valley, or town that taste originally came from.
Questions to ask relatives
“What was the ‘proper’ Christmas dinner when you were a child?”
“Did anyone complain when the menu changed?”
“Did older relatives talk about how ‘we always had this back home’?”
Those arguments around the Christmas table are often your best regional clues.
Fish on the Christmas Table: Cod, Halibut and Old Fasting Traditions
For many Norwegian families, Christmas still tastes of the sea.
Sources on Norwegian food culture point out that juletorsk and julekveite (Christmas halibut) are long-standing festive dishes, especially in coastal and northern areas (Hurtigruten, n.d.; Institute of Marine Research, 2021; NIBIO, 2024).
A few key points:
Cod and halibut at Christmas draw on Catholic fasting traditions: before the Reformation, meat was forbidden during Advent, but fish was allowed. Cod and other whitefish therefore became natural festive dishes in the mid-winter season and remained popular long after the official fasting rules disappeared (NIBIO, 2024; Institute of Marine Research, 2021).
Fresh juletorsk is often served very simply — poached or steamed cod with potatoes and carrots, sometimes with a butter sauce, sometimes with red wine and root vegetables — but carries strong emotional weight in many coastal families (Godfisk, n.d.; North Wild Kitchen, 2020; Hurtigruten, n.d.).
In some districts, julekveite (Christmas halibut) has been considered even more luxurious, appearing on the tables of well-off families and in certain urban milieus (Hurtigruten, n.d.; Lerøy Seafood, n.d.).
Genealogical angle
If your family insists that “Christmas is fish”:
You may be looking at coastal roots, especially in Northern Norway and certain parts of Sørlandet and Vestlandet.
Strong juletorsk traditions can point to specific fishing communities or to families tied to the cod fisheries.
Halibut or particularly elaborated fish dishes can hint at higher social status or urban middle-class environments where imported wine, cream and fine tableware were available.
Ask relatives not only what fish was eaten, but where it came from (own fishing boat, local fishmonger, shipped from Lofoten?) and how it was prepared. Those details can map onto specific local practices.
Side Dishes and Preservation: Climate and Economy
Side dishes and preservation methods also carry clues.
Pinnekjøtt with kålrabistappe (rutabaga purée) points to sheep-raising districts with long winters and strong preservation traditions. (Relocation.no, n.d.; Sailing Selkie, 2022).
Ribbe with sauerkraut or red cabbage hints at areas with good access to cabbage and storage spaces — more typical of settled farm districts and towns (Hurtigruten, n.d.; Relocation.no, n.d.).
Fish dinners — whether juletorsk, lutefisk or other cod dishes — often come with potatoes and simple vegetables, showing both older fasting traditions and the practical realities of coastal life, where fresh fish was plentiful but cash and meat might be scarce (Hurtigruten, n.d.; NIBIO, 2024).
Ask yourself:
What is preserved, and how? Drying, salting, smoking and fermenting point to particular climates and economies.
Which vegetables or sauces appear consistently? Carrots, cabbage, rutabaga, peas, sandefjordsmør, red wine sauce — each combination can connect to certain regions and time periods.
“Syv Slag”: Christmas Baking as a Social Marker
Norwegians speak lovingly of “syv slag” / “syv sorter” — the seven kinds of Christmas cookies you were supposed to serve. Having many types of cookies was historically a sign of respectability and prosperity in the household (Adamant, 2024; Norwegian Arts, 2016).
Common “Christmas cookies with a passport” include:
Krumkaker – delicate cones baked on patterned irons
Goro – thin, embossed cookies made in special irons
Fattigmann – rich deep-fried cookies with egg yolks, cream and spices
Sirupsnipper, sandkaker, smultringer, and many more (Nordrum, n.d.; Adamant, 2024).
Historical overviews suggest that:
In the 18th century, Christmas baking at home was limited. Most baking took place in large farms or professional bakeries with ovens (Nordrum, n.d.).
With the spread of household ovens in the 19th century and especially after the Second World War, Christmas cookies became more clearly defined, and the idea of “seven types” took hold as a housewife’s ideal — and a subtle status symbol (Nordrum, n.d.; Adamant, 2024).
Genealogical angle
A family with strong “syv slag” traditions, decorated tins, and handwritten recipe books may come from relatively well-stationed farms or urban households that could afford flour, sugar and imported spices for large-scale baking.
Specific cookies tied to place — for example “Grandma’s fattigmann from Telemark” or a krumkake iron inherited from a farm in Sunnmøre — can point towards regional origins when combined with other sources.
Emigrant Christmas Dinners: Food in the Norwegian Diaspora
In Norwegian-American and other emigrant communities, Christmas food often became the strongest surviving piece of “Norwegianness.”
Lutefisk suppers, lefse, rosettes and sandbakkels show up again and again in church histories, local newspapers and fundraising cookbooks (Janik, 2011; Preserving Nordic American Churches, n.d.).
Typical patterns include:
Lutefisk dinners in Lutheran churches and Nordic lodges across the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest, served in church basements as major social and fundraising events (Janik, 2011; Preserving Nordic American Churches, n.d.).
Strong traditions of lefse served with butter and sugar, and a constant presence of Norwegian cookies like krumkake, fattigmann and sandbakkels at bazaars and Christmas sales (Preserving Nordic American Churches, n.d.).
For the emigrant genealogist, this means:
Old church cookbooks may list contributors with both maiden names and married names, giving you missing links for women in your tree.
Newspaper adverts for lutefisk dinners or “Scandinavian smorgasbord” point to specific congregations and ethnic clusters.
Photos of Christmas suppers at Sons of Norway lodges or church basements show which families remained active in Norwegian environments — and who married into them.
Turning Food Memories into Research Leads
You can treat Christmas food memories just like any other genealogical clue — carefully, systematically and with sources.
Interview relatives with food-focused questions
“What had to be on the table, or it wasn’t Christmas?”
“Who cooked which dishes, and where did they learn them?”
“Did older relatives refuse certain dishes because they were ‘too modern’?”
“Did anyone talk about Christmas food ‘back in Norway’ or ‘back in the valley’?”
Build a “Christmas Menu Timeline”
For each generation you can reach, note:
Main dish (ribbe, pinnekjøtt, juletorsk, lutefisk, etc.)
Sides, desserts, drinks
Place (farm, village, town, country)
Sources (oral interviews, letters, diaries, cookbooks, photos)
Combine food clues with written sources
Bygdebøker and local histories describing Christmas customs in your ancestral parish
Digitised newspapers with Christmas recipes and menu suggestions
Household accounts and letters mentioning sugar, spices, flour or animals and fish bought for Christmas
Photographs showing tables, cookie tins, fish dishes and the famous krumkake iron on the stove
Preserving Today’s Traditions for Tomorrow’s Genealogists
Finally, remember that you are someone’s ancestor.
A few simple actions will turn your own Christmas table into a resource for future researchers:
Write down your current Christmas menu and where each recipe came from (“Grandma Ragna from Karmøy,” “learned in Minnesota,” “from an old cookbook from Telemark”).
Photograph the food, the cooking process and the recipe cards, and save them with captions.
Record a short audio or video where you describe why your family eats what it eats at Christmas.
In 80 or 100 years, a descendant leafing through your notes — may discover that their love of juletorsk, pinnekjøtt, fattigmann or lutefisk is not random at all. It is a thread running back through generations, across valleys, fjords and oceans.
If you have special memories linked to Christmas food. I would love to hear about it, and also where in Norway your ancestors came from. Comment below.
References
Adamant, A. (2024, April 4). 21 Norwegian Christmas cookies for a Scandinavian holiday. Adamant Kitchen.
Godfisk. (n.d.). God jul med torsk på festbordet. Norwegian Seafood Council.
Hurtigruten. (n.d.). Christmas food in Norway. Hurtigruten.
Institute of Marine Research. (2021, December 20). Derfor spiser vi fisk i julen. Havforskningsinstituttet.
Janik, E. (2011, December 8). Scandinavians’ strange holiday lutefisk tradition. Smithsonian Magazine.
Lerøy Seafood. (n.d.). Julematen som både smaker og gjør godt. Lerøy Seafood.
Lofoten.com. (n.d.). Julemat. Lofoten.com.
Narten Høberg, E. (2021, December 20). Geografi og tradisjon bestemmer hva du spiser til jul. NIBIO.
NIBIO. (2024, December 13). Norwegian Christmas traditions: A rich cultural heritage shaped by food, drink and nature. Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research.
Nordrum, D. (n.d.). Norwegian Christmas cookies & baked goods (Julekaker). North Wild Kitchen.
North Wild Kitchen. (2020, December 17). Juletorsk (Poached Christmas Cod). North Wild Kitchen.
Norwegian Arts. (2016). Norwegian Christmas staples: Syv slag. Norwegian Arts.
Preserving Nordic American Churches. (n.d.). Food, festival, and recipes. NordicAmericanChurches.org.
Relocation.no. (n.d.). Norwegian Christmas food. Relocation.no.
Sailing Selkie. (2022, December 6). The big five traditional Norwegian Christmas dinners & recipes. SailingSelkie.no.
Seafood from Norway. (n.d.). Norwegian cod for Christmas. Norwegian Seafood Council.
Store norske leksikon. (2025). Norsk julemat. Store norske leksikon.
The Hidden North. (n.d.). Norwegian Christmas food. TheHiddenNorth.com.
TORO. (n.d.). Juletorsk med grønnsaker og Sandefjordsmør. TORO.
Visit Norway. (n.d.). Lutefisk: A very unique Norwegian Christmas tradition. VisitNorway.com.
