Norway Gourmet with Justine Schofield starts on SBS Food 26 October – Justine Schofield is taking viewers along Norway’s coast in an eight-part food and travel series that begins at 7.30pm on Monday, 26 October, on SBS Food and streams on SBS On Demand.
Norway Gourmet follows the Australian chef aboard Hurtigruten’s Original Coastal Express before she heads further north on the Svalbard Line, travelling from Bergen to Longyearbyen. Filmed on board and ashore in May, the programme combines local food, the people who produce it and Schofield’s own cooking inspired by the journey.
For Australian viewers, the series offers more than a scenic tour of the fjords. It traces how food reaches a working coastal ship, why particular ingredients matter to the communities along its route and what happens to waste after guests finish eating. SBS Food’s television premiere and SBS On Demand availability give viewers two ways to follow the full eight-part journey.
From Tromsø to the Arctic Circle
In Tromsø, Schofield visits Raketten, a town-square kiosk bar operating since 1911, for a reindeer hot dog topped with crispy onions and pickled beetroot. On the Lofoten Islands, she meets Tamara Singer and Angelita Eriksen of Lofoten Seaweed in Reine. The pair hand-harvest about 16 tonnes each spring, including a truffle seaweed Schofield uses in her kitchen. Their seaweed also appears in soaps used on Hurtigruten’s ships.
Further north, third-generation Sámi reindeer herder Máret Rávdná Buljo, Hurtigruten’s Sámi Culinary Ambassador, introduces her to reindeer tongue served in coffee. The encounter places Indigenous food knowledge and storytelling alongside the familiar restaurant visits of a travel programme.
At Longyearbyen, Schofield cooks with Alberto Lozano at Huset. The chef harvests salt from local rocks, makes his own soy sauce and works with hunters and fishers in the area. Elsewhere above the Arctic Circle, the menu takes unusual turns: stockfish ice cream is served in the onboard café, while guests taste Havets Bobler, a sparkling wine aged on the seabed and brought up covered in barnacles.
Local producers shape the journey
The series also follows the food chain beyond the plate. In Stamsund, Schofield sees food waste from Hurtigruten’s ships composted into fertiliser for local farms. Produce from those farms then returns to the ships’ kitchens, giving the episode a practical example of how the company’s coastal suppliers and chefs are connected.
Schofield said the voyage introduced her to ingredients and traditions she had not previously explored.
Norway was culinary territory I’d never explored until Hurtigruten invited me. Norwegians are so proud of their food and produce, and it was incredible to see how the producers and chefs along the coast are honouring their traditions and the environment. I’ve come home really inspired in my own kitchen, and I hope viewers feel that same pull to see this stunning coast and try its cuisine for themselves.
Justine Schofield
Damian Perry, Hurtigruten’s managing director for Asia-Pacific, described how the ships’ chefs plan menus around what is available at each port.
The food served onboard is so fresh as it is sourced from the local ports as we sail along the coast. Our chefs call ahead to see what’s available, and that shapes the menu for the days that follow. It means a guest might sit down to a meal of cod, that landed that very morning, in a port they sailed into a few hours earlier. For Australians who are yet to discover Norway, there’s no better introduction than tasting it, and Justine has captured that beautifully.
Damian Perry, Managing Director, Hurtigruten APAC
Norway Gourmet premieres at 7.30pm Monday, 26 October, on SBS Food and streams on SBS On Demand. The release does not specify a separate on-demand drop time or whether all eight episodes arrive at once, so viewers should follow SBS’s listing for episode availability.
For more TV Central SBS coverage, head here. Viewers can find the series through the public SBS On Demand service.
