Reke Kabaret

It will be ten years ago in August that I married my husband and ten years ago that I first traveled to Oslo, Norway. Since that time people always ask us about the food and we enter long comparisons of cultural food products in both countries. There is a list of American food items that always come up with the Norwegians – root beer, pumpkin anything, etc. On the Norwegian side, the big joke always seems to be Lutefisk, but that is only because no one really knows about Kabaret.

Flash back ten years and imagine my horror when my dear sweet mother-in-law presented the most amazing gelatin concoction in the center of the dinner table and handed me the serving spoon. It was large semi-spherical shape of a light golden color. Suspended in this sculpture were bits of vegetables, eggs, and shrimp – among other things. It was quite something to look at, but I really didn't want to put it in my mouth and I really didn't want to hurt my new mother's feelings. My husband of a few days proceeded to take a slice of bread, pile the Kabaret on top of it, and then smother it in remoulade. He devoured it in such a way that can only be triggered by a long lost food of youth.

Fast forward ten years – he walks out of the grocery store a couple of days ago with a bag and I look in it. There is small clear plastic container with a reproduction in miniature of this substance. Oh, my god, it has gone into mass production – or perhaps it has been all along...

Is there some childhood food of mine that conjures the same horror for him? Yes, Fried Green Tomatoes, to name just one.