Traditionally, family gatherings have the potential to be an emotionally taxing event. Complex, political arguments aside, the preparation of specific food has the ability to become a very contentious and polarizing experience. For example, the Norwegian dish of lefse, a flat potato pancake, possesses a subjective ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ method of baking and consumption. As revealed through several interviews, not one participant could agree on the ‘proper’ method of serving this complex yet simplistic dish. “Serve it with butter and then maybe some more butter,” stated one subject while another maintained that the only ‘true’ approach was to serve lefse with sugar and cinnamon. Beyond the prevailing passionate opinions on how the dish should be prepared, lefse exists also as evidence of a dynamic relationship between food, female identity and the immigrant experience. Customarily produced by the women of Norwegian-American immigrant communities, passed on from generation to …show more content…
Contemporarily, however, lefse is described as a potato based flatbread enjoyed by families primarily during holidays or special occasions. Often served alongside other traditional Norwegian cuisine, typically lutefisk, lefse is a combination of potato, flour, cream and sugar, hand-rolled and cooked over a hot griddle. Initially, however, the dish did not contain potato. In what is now referred to as ‘Old Norway’, lefse was produced by the women of communities in preparation for the winter season. Stored within barrels, 1 year’s worth of lefse would be made by the women of the entire community, usually taking up to 4 days to complete. Potatoes were introduced to the winter recipe upon the increasing popularity of crops of the stem vegetable during the mid 18th