Food Security in the High North

Contemporary Challenges Across the Circumpolar Region

Kamrul Hossain, Lena Maria Nilsson, Thora Martina Herrmann, Kamrul Hossain, Lena Maria Nilsson, Thora Martina Herrmann

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000095272
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Sustainability in Architecture

This book explores the challenges facing food security, sustainability, sovereignty, and supply chains in the Arctic, with a specific focus on Indigenous Peoples.

Offering multidisciplinary insights and with a particular focus on populations in the European High North region, the book highlights the importance of accessible and sustainable traditional foods for the dietary needs of local and Indigenous Peoples. It focuses on foods and natural products that are unique to this region and considers how they play a significant role towards food security and sovereignty. The book captures the tremendous complexity facing populations here as they strive to maintain sustainable food systems – both subsistent and commercial – and regain sovereignty over traditional food production policies. A range of issues are explored including food contamination risks, due to increasing human activities in the region, such as mining, to changing livelihoods and gender roles in the maintenance of traditional food security and sovereignty. The book also considers processing methods that combine indigenous and traditional knowledge to convert the traditional foods, that are harvested and hunted, into local foods.

This book offers a broader understanding of food security and sovereignty and will be of interest to academics, scholars and policy makers working in food studies; geography and environmental studies; agricultural studies; sociology; anthropology; political science; health studies and biology.

PART I
Food security, traditional knowledge and livelihoods

1 ‘The role of stockfish in local food security

Traditional knowledge, transmission and change in Lofoten, Norway’

Johana Evelyn Montalvan Castilla

DOI: 10.4324/9781003057758-1

Introduction

Lofoten is an archipelago located in Nordland county in northern Norway. National and foreign travellers see it as exotic, and it is a remote yet popular destination. Lofoten is characterised by high, steep mountains and dramatic, abrupt peaks, untouched portions of land, beautiful beaches and bays, and the rich, open ocean surrounding the islands.

Despite its location in the Arctic Circle, the archipelago has relatively mild temperatures and a subpolar-type oceanic climate. This temperature anomaly is caused by the Gulf Stream. The North Atlantic Current and the Norwegian Current, both extensions of the Gulf Stream, contribute to higher temperatures at this high latitude.

Arctic societies have flourished for thousands of years along the coast; their livelihoods have always been strongly connected to the sea. In Lofoten, the earliest archaeological sites evidencing human settlements are about 5,500 years old (D’Anjou et al. 2012). The presence of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) has been of pivotal importance for the subsistence and development of early and modern societies in this region.

Drying is one of the oldest food preservation methods known to mankind. To secure nutritious food supplies throughout the year, northern Norwegians learned to preserve fish, particularly Atlantic cod, by hanging it until it dried. The end result is a product known as stockfish. It can have a shelf life of more than five years.

Although much has been written about stockfish, fisheries, and the economic importance of fish for the country (i.e., Hovelsrud et al. 2010; Perdikaris 1996; Sønvisen et al. 2011; Sørheim 1997; Standal and Sønvisen 2015; Standal et al. 2016), few current or contemporary studies address changes in the transmission of traditional knowledge in an Arctic marine context.

This chapter explores the importance of stockfish today, especially its significance for food security in Lofoten and the Arctic region. It particularly focuses on the transmission of traditional knowledge involving stockfish. The potential of stockfish to enhance food security and the resilience of the local food system is highlighted as well.

Resilience refers to the degree of a system’s ability to withstand a shock and remain stable, to promptly adapt to new situations, or to function unhampered by catastrophic changes (Pingali et al. 2005). Household production of stockfish provides a long-lasting source of nutritious food, contributing to the resilience of the local food system.

In the Arctic, foods sold in stores are often imported from ecosystems located far away. Consequently, their availability and prices can be affected by changes in ecosystems and markets elsewhere in the world (Nilsson et al. 2013a, 114). To examine the resilience of Arctic food systems, the multiple variables and current changes that affect Arctic food security must be understood (Nilsson et al. 2013a). This chapter seeks to contribute by shedding light on this topic.

The chapter uses historical and archaeological sources along with the findings of ethnographic research conducted in May and July 2018 in the Lofoten archipelago. The first part of the chapter addresses the particularities of the region’s climate, environment, and geography. These particularities create the conditions that allow the production of stockfish. Next, the process of hanging and drying codfish to make stockfish is explained. The longstanding historical importance of stockfish to Norway is also explored.

After evaluating and contextualising the importance of stockfish to the region’s food security in the past, this chapter examines the changes surrounding the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and the present concerns of local inhabitants about its transmission. Original fieldwork findings are summarised in this section. The findings from the interviews, conversations, participant observation, and other fieldwork conducted in Lofoten are discussed. The implications of these findings are also explored, particularly in relation to the potential of stockfish to enhance or strengthen food security and the resilience of the local food system.

Methodological considerations

This study was conducted in the town of Svolvær on the island of Svinøya and in the villages of Kabelvåg and Henningsvær in Lofoten. These areas belong to the Vågan municipality in Nordland county. Svolvær is the administrative centre of the municipality.

These locations were chosen for their proximity to each other and geographical accessibility and because they have been traditional northern Norwegian fishing villages for thousands of years (D’Anjou et al. 2012). Svolvær has 4,630 inhabitants (SSB 2017); Kabelvåg and Henningsvær have 1,801 and 457 inhabitants, respectively (Vågan kommuneplan 2017).

Social science research methods, including participant observation and other ethnographic methods, were used. In participant observation, the researcher spends time with the local community and takes part in at least some activities in the community (Becker and Geer 1957). In this ethnographic method, data are collected by observing the behaviour and experiences of the participants in particular social contexts. This method also considers participants’ own interpretations of their experiences and behaviours, as these are often shaped by the constraints of their society (Dewan 2018). As such, rather than ‘studying’ people, ethnography means ‘learning’ from the people we encounter (Spradley 2016, 3).

Qualitative data collection methods, such as semi-structured interviews and formal and informal conversations, were employed. Central themes and arguments that illustrate the perceived importance of stockfish were identified from the responses. Among these, several points were highlighted: the availability of stockfish; its financial benefits and the security it offers (at the local and national levels); its nutritional content and other health-related aspects; its role in decreasing dependence on imported foods; the lifespan of stockfish; and its cultural, social, and historical dimensions. In total, about 15 people (male and female) aged 16–85 participated. Some of the participants were locals that the researcher met during the first field trip and their friends and relatives. They were contacted via snowball sampling. Other participants were local people of diverse backgrounds who willingly initiated contact. These participants learned about the study from an article in the local newspaper or through social media.

Informal conversations with locals and travellers also took place on the main square or in the open marketplace in Svolvær and other public places. All semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded. When I was invited to continue the conversation at the homes of local families, only written notes were taken. The study followed the guidelines of the Norwegian Data Protection Centre (NSD 2018). All information was anonymised. Personal or sensitive data about the participants were not recorded.

The questions in the semi-structured interviews addressed the transition of traditional, local knowledge within families and the local community. The importance or lack of such knowledge and changes in its transmission were addressed. Further, the questions allowed the participants to express their opinions about food security in the region and the role stockfish plays in it.

Stockfish

Stockfish is cod fish (particularly Atlantic cod) that has been dried solely by exposure to cold wind and air. Unlike other fish-preserving methods, no salt or other additive is used. The production of stockfish is common in the Lofoten and Vesterålen islands; it requires very specific climatological conditions which are perfectly met in these two parts of Norway.

Traditionally, cod are fished during the winter and then gutted and beheaded. The bodies are then hung by the seashore on traditional wooden racks known as hjell. The fish are usually hung to dry from January to early April. They are placed at particularly windy locations to air dry gradually. Very cold nights freeze the fish, while daytime temperatures thaw them slightly (Perdikaris 1999). These small but continuous temperature variations are all that is needed to produce high-quality stockfish. Once dried, stockfish has a storage life of several years (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Stockfish hanging from the racks in Svinøya, Lofoten. Photo by the author.

In Norway, cod fisheries are seasonal and rely on cod spawning areas that extend from Troms to Møre (Sunnana 1992, in Perdikaris 1999). Cod traditionally migrates from the southern part of the Barents Sea to the Norwegian coast in the winter and early spring. The spawning grounds are very extensive and close to the shore (Nakken 1993). This enables fishermen to harvest a great deal of fish.

The special climatological conditions of Lofoten deserve some attention. The climate of Lofoten is abnormally mild for its Arctic latitude due to the warm streams from the North Atlantic Drift (Ryvarden 1991), also known as the Gulf Stream. The archipelago experiences strong winds, particularly in late autumn and winter. Snow and sleet are not uncommon in winter, when cod are fished. The cold winds and temperature variations enable the production of stockfish (Figures 1.2 and 1.3).

Figure 1.2 Fish hanging and drying from racks in Svinøya, Lofoten. Photo by the author.

Figure 1.3 Stockfish production in Svinøya, Lofoten. Photo by the author.

‘Stockfish built this nation!’: stockfish through history

As the Norse King Sagas of Snorre Sturlason (1226, in Aak et al. 2011) mentions, fish-drying techniques in northern Norway date back more than 1,000 years ago. Archaeological research in the Norwegian Arctic indicates that intensive dried fish production extends back into the Iron Age (ca. 500 BC), giving cured cod a substantial role before the historical stockfish trade that began around 1200 AD (Perdikaris 1999).

Jenssen (2012, 8) asserts that without cod, the Vikings would not have survived. Lacking salt, they learned to dry cod. It soon became an important source of food and trading item. Dried fish were taken on sea journeys. As a nutrient-rich food with an unlimited expiration date, codfish enabled the Vikings to survive long trips to Greenland, Europe, and the United States of America, which they reached 500 years before Columbus’ arrival.

Preserving fish has long been important, not only among northern Norwegians, but also among Sea Sami populations, especially because of local variations in the use of natural resources (Berg 2014). Commercial fisheries began using traditional hanging and drying methods around 1150–1200 AD (Bertelsen 1992); at that time, Lofoten and Vesterålen provided stockfish to urban and rural populations.

During the fourteenth century, the Hanseatic League monopolised the distribution of stockfish, which was mostly exported from Lofoten to northern Norway. The Hanseatic League was a German trading company that operated in the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions. They established an office in Bergen between 1360 and 1761.

While massive amounts of stockfish, cod liver oil, hide, butter, fur, and tallow were exported from the North, grain was imported from the Baltic countries. Norway thus received goods such as flour, malt, salt, beer, and hemp, along with fabrics, hardware, and glass (Trebbi 1996).

(Insert picture: Hanseatic League headquarters and storage rooms are still well preserved in the city of Bergen on the western coast of Norway.)

Stockfish provided a vital source of revenue for the king and church, and became an essential object of regular tax policies in the kingdom of Norway (Bjørgo 1986, 42). It was cod that gave Norway the economic power to establish churches and cathedrals, to consolidate the monarchy, and to establish bureaucracy, government, and a parliament (Jenssen 2012). The city of Bergen would not have flourished without stockfish. As many study participants expressed it: ‘Cod and stockfish built this nation!’

Today, most people have modern refrigerators and freeze...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Preface
• Introduction: conceptualising food (in)security in the High North
• Part I Food security, traditional knowledge and livelihoods
• Part II Multi-disciplinary perspectives on food (in)security
• Part III Arctic food security keys to the future
• Index