People of the North

>> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following.

>> Havila Voyages -- sustainable coastal cruises along Norway's beautiful coastline.

>> Oh, take me home Take me home where I belong >> VGAN Chocolate.

Norwegian flavor.

Available in Walmart stores.

>> Seafood from Norway.

>> Join me on a journey where we will meet people who live, work, and enjoy life right here in the far north.

I'm joined by star chef Frida Ronge, who is culinary leader at some of Stockholm's finest restaurants.

She has come all the way up here to look for new creative impulses.

My good friend, Stig Bareksten, is also coming.

He's the founder of an award-winning Nordic gin distillery, and he's on the hunt for new and exciting flavors.

My name is Arne Hjeltnes, and I'm taking you to meet the fantastic People of the North.

We are in Finnmark in northern Norway.

We're on our way through this amazing landscape into the beautiful frozen kingdom of the reindeer.

>> Are these reindeers wild or?

>> There are no wild reindeers, in Finnmark.

These are herded and they take care of their reindeers.

And they have a small mark in their ear so they can separate your reindeers from my reindeers.

But they have to come in here in all kinds of weather to check on their herd.

We have to travel hours away from the nearest road to find the man we're looking for.

Smi fisherman Per Edvard Johnsen actually runs a mountain lodge all the way out here in the snowy nowhere.

To him, living of the barren land is an everyday activity.

The Smi are the indigenous first people in Scandinavia Today spread over four countries -- Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.

>> Oh, here he comes.

>> Oh, look at this.

>> Big pike.

>> This is a fantastic delicacy from Finnmark.

You look around to see there's nothing to eat, but down in the hole, there's food.

Per, you live your life as a Smi here in this tough climate -- how is it?

>> Yeah, I think it's nice.

>> But it seems like there's nothing here.

How do you survive?

Yeah, there's fish in the lake and reindeer and grouse.

>> And where is the lake?

>> Just behind us here.

>> Oh, this is the lake?

>> Yes.

[ Laughter ] >> So what you think is the main knowledge you need to survive?

>> It's a Smi knowledge.

>> Yeah.

It has to do with clothing?

>> Yes.

This is perfect for this climate.

>> If there is a storm, what do you do?

>> Well, I have this, so it's easy to survive.

>> You make it sound easy to survive, but I don't think we would survive many, many days.

>> No.

I guess we also need those clothes if we're gonna survive.

[ Laughs ] >> And 3,000 years of inherited knowledge.

>> Yes.

>> When you grew up, it was not so easy to be from the Smi people.

>> No, it was very tough, tough time for children to be at the school.

>> The government actually took children from their parents and put them into boarding schools.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And you had to go.

How old were you?

>> Seven years.

>> Seven years, you were separated from your parents?

>> Yes.

Yes.

>> And forced to learn Norwegian... >> Mm.

>> ...instead of Smi?

>> Yeah.

First three years, I don't understand what I said, but then I begin to understand.

>> Yeah, because you didn't know the language.

You only knew Smi language.

>> Yes.

We must read and read, and I read, but after three, four years, then I understood what I have learned.

>> It was a tough period, but nowadays, do you feel that the Smi culture is more appreciated?

>> Yes, people are more interested in our culture.

>> You speak Smi language... >> Mm-hmm.

>> ...Norwegian, and since you have some visitors, you also speak English.

>> Yes.

I have learned from my guests.

>> Yeah.

>> Yes.

>> And what did the English teachers say to you?

>> Ah, when I was finished at the school, on the last day, she come with a paper to me and say, "Remember one thing -- don't ever go to England."

[ Laughter ] >> We leave Per Edvard to take care of his other guests and head for a mountain lodge even further north.

We have reached the Jotka, one of the shelters on the old post route.

Lise Kristensen keeps the lodge open for visitors on behalf of the Norwegian government.

Lise took up the position after her parents, and together, her family has run Jotka for 70 years.

>> Please tell me a little bit what you are doing here.

>> I'm making a traditional Smi meal.

It's boiled reindeer meat.

>> Wow!

That's fantastic.

>> And we also made some tongues.

>> Okay.

Smi people like tongues very well.

I have to say that we are very impressed that you came today.

[ Laughter ] >> Because of the weather.

It's just snow everywhere.

So I'm so excited to try your fantastic food in this amazing place.

Do you want some help from me to plate this or?

>> Please, you can go out and sit down, and I will serve you all.

>> Okay, thank you so much.

Just let me know if you need a hand.

>> Yeah, thank you.

>> Okay.

Thank you.

>> The Smi people traditionally boil a lot of their food.

After a long trek here, we are all hungry for a taste, and I want to get to know our host a little bit better.

Lise, we are now in the middle of the Finnmarks Vidda.

It's quite rough here, but you grew up here.

>> Yes.

[ Laughs ] >> How was it to grow up as a kid in this relatively harsh place?

>> I think, for me, it was very good and normal because I didn't know about anything else.

[ Laughter ] But I remember everything.

We had a good life.

In the summer, we were fishing, and in the winter, we were skiing a lot.

>> But as a little girl, you had to be separated from your mother and father because there are no schools actually in here.

>> When I was seven year old and started school, then I moved from home, in a way.

[ Laughs ] >> That's early.

>> Yeah.

I lived with my uncle and his family.

But, of course, it was very sad on Sunday evenings when I had to leave.

>> Now you and your husband, you have your family and you run this because this is a governmental shelter.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And there are many of these in this incredible national park.

And what is the task you have to do on behalf of the government?

>> I have to, yeah, be here every day, have it open every day, because it's for people who are up here for normal tourists, but also if some reindeers and reindeer herders have problems because of weather or... >> So you're a caretaker, making sure that people don't get lost and the people can have a safe place to stay and eat.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And how do you like it now that you are now running this?

Grew up here as a girl.

How is it to live here?

>> I like it very much.

The only problem is, of course, with kids, because they don't stay here.

Only in the weekends.

>> Yeah.

Same as you did.

>> So, I feel privileged.

>> Yeah, privileged.

>> Yeah.

[ Laughs ] To have this job.

>> Yeah.

>> Because if I hadn't had this job, I hadn't met you.

>> It's all about us.

>> And you're taking care of us in the mountain, with our guides, on behalf of the Norwegian government.

>> Yeah.

>> And one could say to the people in the Norwegian government that everything is okay here.

It's taken care of.

Business is taken care of at the Jotka.

>> What do you drink?

I'm quite into drinking.

[ Laughter ] It's a big focus of me, drink culture.

>> I like akvavit very well.

>> Mm!

>> But we also have this red wine.

>> Yeah?

>> It's recommended to this dish.

>> I think we're gonna have akvavit because, when it comes to traditional food, for me, beer and akvavit, that's the perfect combination.

>> Lise, I just want to say thank you so much for this fantastic meal that you cooked for us.

It feels 100% like honest food, comfort food, and for me, this was a fantastic experience.

I've never tried to eat a dinner like this in my whole life before.

So, thank you very much for cooking this for us.

>> I think that deserves a toast.

>> Yes.

>> So... [ All toasting in foreign language ] >> Life on Finnmarks weather can be harsh, but the Smi have been used to it for thousands of years and know a few tricks about how to cope with the cold.

We enjoyed the dessert of traditional Norwegian waffles with cream and cloudberry jam, and head to the sauna to prepare for another day.

For more inspiration, visit our web site, peopleofthenorth.net.

Johnny Trasti is a renowned chef and runs this inn together with his wife, Trine Lyrek.

In the summer, the Norwegian king himself will stay here to eat well and fish salmon in the river that flows nearby.

But during winter, people come here to do something quite different.

Frida is curious to see if she can pick up some unique cooking tips from such a skilled chef.

So, Johnny, now we are in your fantastic little wooden house.

Or what is this actually?

>> It's a wooden logged house that inspired by the Smi culture, so it's made in the same shape.

When me and my wife made this place, I was said I would like to have many places to cook because it's opened my mind, and I will see daylight, and I will be out in the nature.

And this is more be in the nature place.

You have to use all your cooking knowledge to be in here because the people are sitting around and there is no place to hide.

You only have your knife, you have wood, we have stone.

>> So you are not using any machines when you are cooking inside here?

No, and there's no temperature control.

We just have to -- >> Know what you're doing.

>> Have to know what you're doing.

Yeah, the Smi food is based on the reindeer, of course.

Normally, when it's minus-40 on the plateau, it's completely frozen one hour after the reindeer is dead.

>> Yeah.

>> And then only way to get it tender, you have to cook it.

>> Yes.

>> And you put snow in the kettle and then you have the reindeer inside, and then you get two dishes in one.

You have a really very good broth to drink... >> Mm-hmm.

>> ...on the side, and that makes you feel... >> Warm.

>> ...warm, and then you have the meat to eat on the side.

>> Now it's super cold in winter, and in summer, it's no snow, so does the meat have different flavors?

>> Yeah, it is has different flavor, but I'm not sure if you can take it in the blind taste.

Especially if you're not born here.

>> Maybe you can.

>> Maybe I can.

>> Okay, Johnny and Frida, I think that Frida has to contribute a little bit, too.

>> What can you do, Frida?

>> I was thinking to maybe do the dessert, if I may.

>> Yes.

>> You may.

So why don't you find an interesting building in this fantastic camp and see if you can make a desert?

>> Of course.

See you later.

>> See you.

>> Yeah.

I can see that it's not only the grouse, it's not only the reindeer, but there's also food from the sea.

Yes, we have a very, very short way to the Atlantic Sea.

And we have Barentshavet, so we have all the kind of whitefish you can think of.

>> I didn't know that the Smi people also used the resources from the sea.

>> Yeah, some some of them settled down by the seaside.

My mother's side, they was living by the sea, so there was fishing and they have sheep on the farm.

And on my father's side, they had reindeers.

So they were living off the reindeer 10 months a year, and then they were fishing salmon in the summer when it wasn't cold.

>> So when your mother and father met, it was actually a perfect combination?

>> Yes, then you get everything you'd want.

You were a celebrated chef in Oslo, you were cooking for the prime minister, living in the big city.

And then, you decided, with your wife, Trine, to open this camp.

What was your vision?

>> I was a little bit tired of cooking in a big city and using garlic and olive oil because it was so easy to get food tasting very good.

I would like to go to the north to get less to cook with and have to be more creative and be inspired by the nature around me instead of a supermarket.

And that was the main reason.

>> And when we come here as tourists, what would you like for us to take with us when we leave?

What should be your message?

If you're leaving us with some knowledge about the way we are living and the food we are serving, if you have learned something when you're leaving Finnmark, it would please my heart.

>> You live a little bit wiser and, of course, very full of your delicious food.

>> Yes, thanks.

>> Now I got the picture of your passion.

>> Yeah.

>> I'm gonna talk to Trine about her passion.

>> Yes.

>> Trine, you're the other half of Trasti & Trine.

>> Yes.

>> How did you end up in this wilderness?

>> Well, I'm from the south of Norway, but I moved up when I was 19, and I was able to sit in a dogsled the first year I was here, and I fell in love with dog mushing.

>> It's cold, it's long, and you are there alone with your dogs.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> What is the attraction?

>> I think it's the attraction of just testing yourself.

How tough are you really?

You can only trust yourself.

And of course, you trust the dogs, as well.

But you have to do all the work and you have to make all the right decisions.

We hardly sleep.

Maybe we one to two hours a day.

It's just something for some of us, and we just like it.

>> But, luckily, you have a light version for us tourists.

>> Yes, we do.

>> And that's what you offer people who come, the guests?

>> You can come and just try it for three hours.

You can come for a full day.

And then, we have three-, four-, eight-, and five-day trips up in the mountains.

You can come totally unknown about dog mushing, and you will know a lot when you leave.

>> What do you want people to take home after staying with Trasti & Trine?

>> I want them to feel that they have accomplished something.

Maybe something they didn't think that they will be able to do.

We put a lot of effort into it that everybody should feel like, "Yes, I did it," when they come back to the dog yard.

>> Trine's daughter, Hanna, also started early with dog sledding.

Hanna, this is something else, something more.

>> Yeah, mushing is my life.

When I finished high school, I took a couple years off only to focus on my dogs and train them.

And of course, they've been here since they're puppies.

I know them very well.

If you're a happy musher, you have a happy team.

And if you have a happy team, they could go through any weather, any trail.

They'll go for as long as you ask them for.

>> And now you're going to fulfill one of your dreams.

You're going to race the number one race in the world, the Iditarod in Alaska.

>> The Iditarod is probably the biggest thing you could do as a musher, in my mind, and it's been my biggest dream since I was four years old.

Now, hopefully, I can be able to take part in it.

Just thinking of that is so unreal.

>> But you've been saving, too, because it's very expensive.

>> Very expensive, so I've been saving for quite a few years now just to afford it.

>> Before you go to Iditarod, I have a small challenge for you.

I have my friend, Stig, here.

He wants to go on a ride here locally.

Can you take him?

>> I think we could make something work.

So we're gonna harness the dogs, and you can hold the harnesses.

And we're gonna have six dogs in our team, and we're going to put their harnesses on, and then we'll just let them loose.

So, once we let them loose, it's probably going to be a bit crazy here and a lot of noise.

But it's part of the fun.

>> Ha.

I'm looking forward to that.

>> Okay, so, now we're going to put them in the team.

So we're gonna have Keen and Sammy in the front, and then we're gonna have Tatum and Pit in the middle, and Rover and Couture in the back.

>> In 2019, Hanna became the youngest winner of the 1,200-kilometer-long Finnmark race.

That is over 745 miles through biting wind and snow.

>> It was almost magical when we left the farm.

>> All the dogs are so worked up and ready to go, and then, once you leave and they start pulling, it just -- it's quiet.

So it's -- It's probably the closest thing I've come to meditating, just being on a sled and being outside with the dogs.

>> I have to go now and buy me some dogs.

>> They say, if you get one, and then you have two, and then, suddenly, you have 10.

So once you start, you're hooked.

>> [ Laughing ] >> For more inspiration, visit our web site, peopleofthenorth.net.

Back in the cabin Frida has been cooking up something very special for our dessert.

>> I was thinking to actually do a vegan dessert for us tonight.

It would be fun for them to taste what we are eating in the cities also.

>> Yeah, and since they are so kind to us, we should bring something to them.

And it's a chocolate mousse?

>> Yeah, exactly.

So it's chocolate mousse with this cloudberry syrup, and we're gonna top with this homegrown Oxalis.

>> But you know that they also have moose hair in the forest.

>> Moose?

>> Yeah.

>> [ Laughs ] >> It's a different -- It's not the chocolate.

It's the one with the horns.

But -- So, if you -- >> Yeah, I've seen those.

>> Yeah.

That's a different moose, but you're making a chocolate mousse.

>> Exactly.

>> While Frida and I are working on the dessert, Stig has returned from his sledding.

He's talking to Johnny about some very special plans he has for the unique flavors we will encounter on our journey.

>> I'm going to make a kind of dry martini, and I will do that with only local ingredients.

I'm going to use a local gin, produced in Lyngen.

>> Nice.

>> And I'm going to use their herbal liquor that has quite a lot of botanicals.

It goes, like, one kilo to make this small bottle.

There's no vermouth there in the north, so I think this herbal aroma will fix that issue.

But I also want to use lingonberries because, in a traditional dry martini, you will have some citric fruits like lemon zest or something.

And I think the lingonberries will add the fruitiness and the freshness that I need.

What do you think?

>> Yes, we use a lot of lingonberries, and the color, the taste, the bitterness, the little tannin taste is also very good in the food.

So we use it instead of a lot of wine in the sauces.

>> And I know tonight we're gonna have some grouse, we're gonna have reindeer.

>> Yes.

>> And this is part of their food.

>> Yeah.

>> So I think this will be perfect.

So I'm gonna just add a couple of these lingonberries.

They will give a super nice color, as well.

>> Yeah.

>> But I use it mainly for the fruitiness and the freshness.

Then I'm going to use this gin.

It's from the northernmost distillery in the world.

And they use a lot of local botanicals, also local wild berries, as well.

I'm gonna do a friendly pour here.

This is for you, Johnny.

>> Oh, nice.

>> Then, this local bitter.

As I said, they use one kilo of herbs and botanicals just to create this small bottle.

And that's done.

We have to stir it.

Ice cold.

Since it's gonna have a lot of the fruit left, we're gonna strain it into the glass.

Look at this amazing color, look.

>> Oh.

>> I know this will work extremely well with the wild game we're gonna have today.

>> Yeah, because this drink has a lot of ingredients that we use in the menu we're serving and game we're serving, like lingonberries and juniper, for example.

>> But I was so inspired earlier today when you were talking about using the whole animal.

And you have a traditional dish here.

It's a pancake made out of the blood of the deer.

>> From the reindeer, yes.

>> So I think this is going to be a perfect topping on this one.

>> It looks very, very good.

Mm.

Very good.

This is... >> Do you think the other guys will like it?

>> Yeah, this is the whole menu in a glass and a topping.

So I think it's going to be perfect for them.

>> I believe so.

>> Yes, good.

>> So now you mix the chocolate?

>> Exactly.

>> And the cream?

>> You just melt the chocolate and add it to the cream.

>> Oh!

Tastes like chocolate mousse.

So, it can be chocolate mousse.

>> So this is the cloudberry syrup... >> Yeah.

>> ...that I think will fit perfectly.

But of course, you can use any syrup or berries or, yeah, what you feel for.

>> So what kind of flavor will Oxalis add to this dessert?

>> It's kind of sour.

It's really fresh.

>> Yeah, very fresh, and very different from the other flavors.

>> Exactly.

Because the mousse is, like, kind of heavy with the chocolate but still light with the whipped cream.

>> Okay.

You're done at the bakery?

>> Yes, I am.

>> It's ready.

>> It's ready.

>> We will bring them to our hosts.

>> Fantastic.

I hope they will like it.

>> I'm sure.

Now that the dinner, dessert, and cocktails are all ready, the only thing left is to enjoy it all.

>> Here we have a cocktail.

This is how a dry martini probably had been looking like if it was enacted here in Finnmark.

Made with a local herbal liqueur, a local gin, and some lingonberries.

And on the top, it's actually a blood pancake.

>> Sounds like a perfect amuse-bouche.

>> Yes, it is.

So I think the way to drink this is have some of the cocktail first, have a little bit of this, and then, more of the fantastic cocktail.

>> So nice and balanced and such a beautiful color, as well.

>> Cheers from upstairs.

>> Skol!

>> Cheers from upstairs.

>> Fantastic pancakes.

Is it your work, Johnny?

>> Yeah, yeah, of course.

It's when you're getting fresh blood with the reindeer when you serve and deliver it so that -- >> It's healthy blood with lots of vitamins.

>> Yeah, yeah, of course.

>> And a healthy drink from Stig.

>> I don't know about that.

But the blood, I know a lot.

>> It's a good drink.

>> It's a double gift.

>> Yeah.

>> Hear that?

This is a reindeer from Johnny.

What's your impression?

>> I think it's delicious and it's so tender.

It feels so fresh but still a little bit fatty.

And that's a perfect match.

>> I think I'm ready for dessert.

>> Oh, are you?

I'm so happy that you say that.

Okay, it's chocolate mousse made from VGAN Chocolate and whipped together with a cream made from oats.

I topped it up a little bit with syrup from cloudberries that you have here and the homegrown Oxalis.

>> Very good.

>> Yeah?

>> Mm.

>> Thank you so much, Trine, for this wonderful evening in this wooden Smi cottage.

>> Very welcome, and welcome back, everybody.

Thank you so much.

>> Thank you, also, for lending out your husband to prepare these wonderful dishes.

>> I can share him a little bit.

>> He's a good guy.

>> Yes, he is.

>> Cheers.

>> Skol.

>> Skol.

I think I'll have some more of the chives.

>> Yes.

Or the dessert.

>> You can have my dessert if I can get more of the chives.

Having stayed with three wonderful Smi innkeepers, Frida, Stig, I all feel filled to the brim with both enriching stories and delicious food.

Our quest to meet the people of the north have just begun.

And as we are talking into the night, savoring the culinary creations of Johnny Trasti, I find myself thinking ahead to the many adventures that await us here on the very top of the world.

For more inspiration, visit our web site, peopleofthenorth.net.

>> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following.

>> Havila Voyages -- sustainable coastal cruises along Norway's beautiful coastline.

>> Oh, take me home Take me home where I belong >> VGAN Chocolate.

Norwegian flavor.

Available in Walmart stores.

>> Seafood from Norway.