Where could I find my fish?

by Aili Wang (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

Making a local connection Norway

In which direction must you float to reach the land entangled with the ocean with its long and winding coastline shorter only than that of the US? Norway my dear, melts into the ocean’s arms. This nation grew from just one thing – fish. How? The best place to find this out was Bergen – the place where all the fish trading happened. I went straight to Bergen’s famous fish market at the Vågen harbour once I got off the bus. The rain was drowning me with its rivers flowing down my hair and blocking my vision. I could just about see the front-of-postcard Bryggen wooden houses on the other side of the harbour. Their colours weren’t as vibrant as they looked in photos. I bought a heavily-overpriced whale burger from the market out of curiosity. The owner had a strong Eastern European accent, he wasn’t the local I was hoping to find for my story. And with great disappointment, I found that none of the fish at the market were actually caught in Bergen but were instead delivered from somewhere else. The sea wind smelt of a hint of poignancy and seagulls were fluttering around filing complaints. The next morning, I had to go to the harbour again to get the shuttle bus to the fishery museum, with the hope I could get close to finding Bergen’s true personality. The museum was built inside an authentic 18th-century wharfside fish warehouse. Walking up the stairs of this timeless building, the wooden timber floor welcomed me with heart-warming creaks. Amongst the exhibits were bundles of stockfish. Early in the Middle Ages, Norwegians were short of natural resources and had nothing to rely on, until they invented the revolutionary technology of preserving fish, by drying them and making them into stockfish. Ever since stockfish had accounted for most of Norway’s trade income until the end of the Medieval period. Stockfish was mainly made using cod, which was captured mostly in Northern Norway. The Bergen port, lying at the perfect location between the large fisheries in northern Norway and its European trading partners, was therefore founded in the 11th century with the main aim of trading stockfish, and quickly became Norway’s most important centre for stockfish exports. I realised that Bergen has always been the same – the cod for the stockfish was never caught here, and from the 14th to the 18th century, it was German Hansa merchants who had almost monopoly of Bergen’s stockfish who were trading them, not the Bergen locals either. The old traditions have in a way been preserved. The sky cleared out a tiny bit. I wandered into a pub, ordered salmon and sat down. It was served faster than I expected and I started eating. “Tastes good?” A deep brassy voice asked. I looked up. A grey-bearded old man laid down his glass of Pilsner at my table and sat down. “Very tasty.” I greeted his company with delight. “Salmon here tastes better than salmon anywhere else,” he said with pride. “You know why?” He raised his eyebrows. “Because they have more fat in their body to stay warm in the cold Norwegian seas,” he grinned. He told me that his family have been fishermen for three generations and before I left told me, “Stockfish tastes great too, you should try it one day if you get the chance!” I waved and thanked him and we said goodbye. The rain kept falling as if the city was trying to hide its past to protect it from being found/damaged. Two old folks were catching up on a sheltered bench watching on to the harbour. I stared at the Bryggen wooden houses before I left with a smile of relief, that I found Bergen the way it always has been.