I recently rented and watched Kitchen Stories (Bent Hamer, 2003) or Salmer fra Kjøkkenet from the library. It is a fictional story about a Swedish observer sent to Norway to observe the kitchen habits of a Norwegian bachelor farmer.

The movie was very good and funny but I am sure I missed out on some of the humor and other plot lines. This movie takes place in the late 40s or 50s. It seems there was some resentment that Norway fought in WWII but Sweden did not. It is hard for me to understand because I do not know much about the history and culture of these two countries. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of friendly Norwegian & Swedish jokes and stereotypes flew over my head. I did like the movie though. Some of the highlights for me personally was seeing the Volvo that the main character drove and also seeing the sled/toboggan that the farmer used to get around. (I am not sure what it is called so if you know please leave a comment to enlighten me!) I also liked to see the snow.

Kitchen Stories

I would recommend it! It made me smile and did a good job of showing the simple life and how fulfilling it can be.