After twelve going on thirteen successful seasons perhaps any further words about this outstanding program are superfluous. Let's call it a relaxed and fascinating culinary travelogue of Scandinavia: primarily Norway but also Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Shot on location and meticulously scripted and produced, the emphasis is on preparation and cooking of locally-grown or raised, and wild ingredients in outdoor - and usually quite scenic and even breathtaking - settings. The host/cooks offer modern youthful and healthful takes on traditional foods, quite free of the fussing and fawning and mannerisms so characteristic of most kitchen TV chefs. Andreas Viestad is a food chemist and historian, Tina Nordstrom a TV host and personality, Claus Meyer a very successful restaurateur and one of the founders of the Scandinavian slow food movement, and Sara La Fountain a media style star. They prepare their dishes at historical sites, on mountains, glaciers, in forests, the Arctic, at public celebrations, the seaside, aboard ship, spiced with informal cultural and historical commentary. Not just a cooking how-to but a complete entertainment with delights for the eye and ear as well as the palate.
Show is produced by the Norwegian Company Tellus Works for American PBS but has been shown over the years in dozens of other countries. As of this writing PBS(APT) has unfortunately allowed its rights to broadcast the earlier seasons expire. Note: The program is run in many locales on PBS's CREATE TV which peculiarly relabels the later seasons so that Season 7 becomes "Season 1" and so forth which is confusing as well as misleading. Season 13 (CREATE's "Season 7")began airing in the U.S. in November 2016.
