Bossekop Market
The Bossekop Market in Alta is a tradition that dates back to the 1400s. It was made ‘official’ in 1836. The Sami would make their way twice a year, in March and December, to Bossekop (Sami for Whale Bay) to sell products to traders.
Today the the market sells traditional Sami products as well as modern nicknacks. You can find baskets, woolen felt shoes, reindeer meat and skins, Sami clothing and hand-made products.
This year they had lots of stalls and lots of products but where were all the people? It might have been because of the cold snap, we had been braving -23C temps all week. But on turning the corner, there they all were…
…lining up at the smultringer van. Smultringer are ‘lard rings’ or a Norwegian donut. They are best warm and covered in cinnamon sugar. They were certainly going down well at the market.
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Norwegians are starting to get adventurous with cooking on the barbie.
Traditional Norwegian cuisine is based on natural resources.
How do you like the darkness?
There is an opposition in everything. At the darkest time of the year, we celebrate Christmas. And at the exact opposite end, when the midnight sun is at its highest, we celebrate Midsummer.
Knowing what will keep your baby warm in Norway is common knowledge passed down from mother to mother…
Could you please send that van to Tromsø?
The funny thing is that I saw it up in Vadsø in October, and I took a photo of it too 
(http://images.hanneketravels.net/hurtigruten_vardo03.jpg ) It was my first taste of smultringer that didn’t come from the supermarket, and they were SOOO good!!
I wonder if the van really drives around such a large area, or if there are several driving around. Either way, I hope it comes to Tromsø one day
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from L-Jay:
When we were in Tromsø there was another van that parked at the carpark at the shopping centre on the mainland which sold lovely fresh smultringer at Christmas time. I don’t know if was the same company as the van was smaller and served from the side but the ringer was just as good!
Actually, before Alta had a shopping centre there used to be a van traveling around Finnmark selling ‘immigrant’ products. They were very hard to catch…lol. We only have one immigrant store here but (after I went in one day and they didn’t have spring roll pastry) now have installed a freezer and sells spring roll and wonton pastry! Now to encourage them to sell real Hoi Sin sauce.
I wish I was there to see and buy a lot of thos really good products! We easily see that the quality is better than the one of the products we can find in our cities.
Oh how I miss reindeer meat!
-23º!!!! wow! Just out of curiosity, what kind of clothing does an adult person have to wear in order to endure that temperature?
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from L-Jay:
A lot depends on how long you stay out. As we had kids with us we were only at the market for 15mins before going inside to the shops. The kids were dressed really warm with jumpsuits and wool etc. But I (an Australian who loves the heat) was only dressed in t-shirt, hoodie, and a long autumn jacket that I would wear in Australia and beanie and scarf. For the bottoms I wore leggings under jeans, two pairs of socks – woolen and cotton. Thats it. Moose was wearing less than me – no hoodie or woolen socks or scarf.
At such low temperatures we have to heat up the car before staring it. Cars here have heaters in the engine and you just plug power into it to start it. When the car is going you also you heating in the seats so you don’t have to dress up as much.
I have been to the Bossekopp Marked and I learned a great many things there. We went into a Sami Tipi that had a sign out front selling Reinsdyr kjott, Alt som du kan spise 70kr. So we went in and we were eating and eating. I dipped into the kettle for my third or fourth helping and ended up pulling up a reindeer’s jawbone and I was done for the day. I’ve often wondered if that was planted in the kettle just to shut down the hearty eaters like me.
I also learned that asking a Sami how many reindeer they have is about as personal a question as you can ask a Sami and the quickest possible way to offend them.
Good times. If I remember, the Marked was in November when I lived in Alta and it coincided with the last sunset of the year.
God Jul!!