🍽️ Food in Varanger

King crab — king of the table

A king crab caught in the Varangerfjord and eaten the same day is one of the finest things you can put in your mouth. The meat is white, firm and sweet — completely different from what you buy frozen at a supermarket. Most safaris include catch and dinner: the crab is boiled on board or at the dock, served with butter-fried bread and lemon.

King crab meat sits in the claws and legs. Eating it is a craft — and that's the point. Take off your jacket, roll up your sleeves and get going. It's part of the experience.

Halibut and skrei from the Barents Sea

Halibut is the largest flatfish in the Atlantic — and in the Varangerfjord it is present for much of the year. A piece of halibut from a local fish shop, pan-fried in butter with salt and pepper, is unpretentious and magnificent at the same time.

Skrei — the Arctic cod — migrates toward the coast of Finnmark in late summer and autumn. Local cod is a different creature from farmed fish: firmer, whiter, with a clean flavour of the sea. Stockfish from Varanger is prized around the world, and for good reason.

Sea Sami food culture

The sea Sami food tradition is closely tied to the sea and the plateau. Dried and smoked fish, bidos (a traditional stew with reindeer meat), and berries from the bogs have been cornerstones of the diet for thousands of years. Varanger Sami Museum in Varangerbotn has exhibitions showing food culture in the context of coastal life.