It's laying on my plate staring up at me, one of the strangest food traditions the Norwegian kitchen has to offer. Smalahove origin's from the west of Norway, but today it has become a popular delicacy all over Norway, smalahove is usually served with cabbage stew, potato and of course Beer and aquavit.

In my family it is a tradition to eat samlahove late in December right before Christmas, we gather the whole family for a team building session with strange looking food an plenty of aquavit. The best meat on the smalahove is around the eye and the tongue – the bravest in my family, usually me and my brother, also eat the eye.

As soon as you overcome the grotesque look of the smalahove – either by chemical displacement (aquavit) or by sheer will - the taste of smalahove is very good . So without bragging to much of Norwegian food – which I of course as a Norwegian is an big fan of - smalahove is a world class exotic delicacy :)

The season for smalahove is late fall; November - December