Norway Ends Search For New National Dish

After a six-month search to elect an exciting new national dish for Norway, the country's voters have decided they'd rather just keep the old one.

According to The Local, Norway's official national dish since 1972 has been fårikål, or "sheep in cabbage," a thick, hearty stew of mutton cooked for several hours with cabbage. The decision to update the country's signature dish came this year from Norway's food and agriculture minister, Sylvi Listhaug, who thought it would be a good way to celebrate the 200-year anniversary of the Norwegian constitution.

To be a national dish contender, a dish had to be made from ingredients sourced in Norway. Some of the options included Norwegian meatballs, a potato dumpling, and the lamb's ribs traditionally served at Christmas in Norway. Listhaug commissioned a nationwide survey to elect the new dish, and when the results came in, fårikål was still on top with 45 percent of the vote.

Going through all that effort just to wind up with the same dish is a bit of an anticlimactic result, but Listhaug did not appear to be displeased.

"Fårikål is a worthy winner," she said as she announced the poll results at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. "It shows that the tradition is strong among adults."