>> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following.

♪♪♪ >> Havila Voyages -- sustainable coastal cruises along Norway's beautiful coastline.

>> ♪ Oh, take me home ♪ Take me home where I... >> VGAN Chocolate -- Norwegian flavor.

Available in Walmart stores.

>> Seafood from Norway.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ >> Join me on a journey where we will meet people who live, work, and enjoy life right here in the Far North.

I'm joined by star chef Frida Ronge, who is culinary leader at some of Stockholm's finest restaurants.

She has come all the way up here to look for new creative impulses.

My good friend Stig Bareksten is also coming.

He's the founder of an award-winning Nordic gin distillery, and he's on the hunt for new and exciting flavors.

My name is Arne Hjeltnes, and I'm taking you to meet the fantastic people of the North.

♪♪♪ It's the ocean that's Norway's true value.

On these small hardy islands along a rugged coast, there are small societies where people have found their way of making a living from the sea -- fisheries, trade, or taking care of visitors.

In this episode of "People of the North," we are going to Kvaroy, where one family has created a way of living for a whole society with salmon.

And we are venturing to neighboring islands, where crafty people have made this wonderful archipelago into a home for themselves and a destination for travelers like us.

Welcome to "People of the North."

I'm Arne Hjeltnes.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Welcome to Stott.

We have just landed on one of the pearls on the archipelago of Helgeland.

Frida, Stig, and myself, we are going to meet Eva and the people who make this a wonderful destination.

And we're lucky with the weather, but, you know, on the coast of Norway, it changes all the time.

[ Wind whipping ] I can't understand you.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Eva, we are at Stott, which is one of the significant trading posts along the Norwegian coast.

And what's the story?

>> We are the harbor that you can come and be safe when it's very windy and rainy outside.

My grandmother told me that they had to take care of people that came from the sea that were cold, that were hungry.

So it was very open place to come to.

>> You have preserved this so well, and you can come here and experience how Stott was.

And what are you offering people today?

>> We offer them seafood but also a very good place to sleep.

>> So you can actually, then, experience the vibe of the old trading post like it was in your great-grandfather's days.

>> Yes.

And now I want us to try the restaurant.

>> For more inspiration, visit our website, peopleofthenorth.net.

>> Welcome to Stott.

>> So, Carl Wilhelm, you are the fifth generation growing up here on this island.

>> I moved here when I was 7 years old.

Growing up here and living here and being where my family's from is definitely a special thing which is very dear to me.

>> And you are a chef here.

And how old are you?

>> I'm 18 years old.

>> You're 18.

And you are creating so beautiful food, and everything looks so delicious.

>> Our main product here is seafood.

Local seafood is where we really shine.

It's sort of our main thing out here.

>> You actually have your own hjells where you are drying your fish.

>> Yeah.

We produce our own stockfish out here.

We get fresh fish from the fishers, we prepare it, we hang it, and then we take it down.

>> So more local fish than that can it not be.

>> No.

>> Everything looks so delicious, and I think my friends Arne and Stig really are hungry.

And I think they will be so excited and love it.

>> I think so, too.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ >> Being here in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, it's fantastic to get this kind of quality restaurant.

>> It's amazing.

So please tell our friends what we actually got here.

>> It's the stockfish soup based on the Jerusalem artichoke soup, with bacon and truffle oil.

You have got our own version of a white bacalhau and as well as the fish cake.

I hope that you will enjoy your meal.

And I'll leave you to it.

>> Thank you so much.

>> What do you think about the soup, Stig?

>> It's fantastic.

I have everything I want.

Like, it's creamy.

There's bacon.

>> And what would you serve as a drink to accompany this soup?

>> [ Chuckles ] >> I would say this would work well with Aquavit, but we have a white wine from Burgundy.

>> That also works.

>> That also works.

>> [ Laughs ] One thing that is inspiring with Norway is that you find this fantastic pearl in the middle of nowhere.

You go on this boat on the bumpy ocean, and you come into a place like this, and you get so excited with this fantastic atmosphere and food and people.

>> You don't have this in Sweden.

>> Some places.

>> Actually, you don't have these remote areas in Sweden.

>> We don't have the dry fish, but we have fantastic places, also.

>> Have remote areas in Sweden, but there are no people there.

[ Laughter ] Cheers?

Let's go.

♪♪♪ This is our ride.

We are going on a small expedition, Stig.

>> Yes, we are going to Myken to a distillery.

>> There is a distillery out here on a remote island.

And he's gonna take us there in one of the normal ways to travel along the Helgeland Coast.

>> One of the nice ways to travel.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ >> Stig, we're at Myken.

What kind of place have you picked for us?

>> Today we're gonna visit the distillery.

>> But this is on an island very far from the coast.

How can there possibly be a distillery here?

>> That's a good question, but we will find out why and how.

>> And what they're making.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ >> Okay, Roar, now we are here at Myken, it's almost -- What's the next country here?

>> Greenland.

>> Greenland, yeah.

And you decided to start a distillery here.

>> The first time we came here, my wife, Trude, and I, we were just passing by and going to Lofoten for holiday.

And we got sort of stranded here because it was bad weather.

We were in our sailboat.

So we got stuck here for about three days, and those three days were enough to just capture us completely -- the people here, the things going on, the views we had of everything.

And so we ended up coming back, taking a sabbatical from work, and just staying here for one year.

And that's just sort of built even more on this desire to be here.

So, we ended up deciding that we had to build ourselves a house.

Then realized that just having a holiday house here wasn't enough.

We wanted to spend our lives here, basically.

So, we started figuring, "What on Earth can we do to allow us to live here?"

Only 12 people live here, so it's not really a thriving working place.

But one late night, deep into a bottle of Scotch whisky, the idea suddenly came upon us, "Why don't we try to make whisky here?

We have the same conditions, same weather conditions, we have the Atlantic sort of sweeping over us as we do on the west coast of Scotland, so..." And the idea was born, and the rest is basically history.

>> I know you have a done a collaboration together with the guys from Kvaroy.

>> Yes, yes.

They approached us maybe a year ago.

Talked about whether we could try to make a gin that would go well with seafood and, in particular, that excellent salmon that they are producing.

And this was what we came up with.

>> Mm.

>> A special recipe where we use a bit of seaweed, again, a little bit of sea salt gets in here through our water and also just the atmosphere.

And quite a bit of citrus just to make it sort of fit with fish, in general, so... >> And I'm looking forward to it.

There's gonna be a big dry martini later tonight, that's for sure.

[ Both laugh ] >> Sounds good if you ask me.

The next stop on our journey is a love letter of a destination, To Elise from Marius.

The name is romantic and so is the place.

I promised Frida some fine dining, and they're famous for generous food and hospitality.

Finally, we're here.

We've been so much looking forward to this.

>> Yeah, welcome.

Welcome in.

>> Ja.

Come in, come in.

>> [ Chuckles ] >> This is gonna be an adventure.

♪♪♪ >> I'm so excited to finally be here.

So, you are running a fine-dining restaurant out here.

>> Yeah.

The concept we call this from field to table, or farm to table, but we call it field to table.

And we define the field as everything -- of course the ocean and the woods and forest and... >> Do you have any signature dishes that always are on the menu?

>> Yeah, we always have any kind of a scallop dish on the menu because the scallop we get up here is amazing.

>> It is amazing.

When you came in with this earlier, I was, like, very surprised, because the size of it, it's amazing.

It's almost like my hand.

You can see that the texture and the quality is perfect.

>> Yeah.

>> I'm so excited because scallop is definitely one of my favorite ingredients.

So, please, can you maybe start to cook your signature dish for me?

>> Yeah.

>> While Marius is preparing some fantastic seafood dishes for us to try later, Elise shows me where we are going to sleep tonight.

Elise, you have to tell me the story behind this amazing place at little Utskarpen.

>> Yeah.

Utskarpen is a little village, and we bought the farm in 2015.

We would like to create a food destination -- that's really what we want -- and we want people to feel at home when they visit us, but also have a high level of quality So you can see that you can come out in really small places but still enjoy good food and drink.

>> I was curious about the name -- To Elise from Marius.

There is a love story here.

>> We are business partners, but we're also together, running the business.

The name comes from we would like to feel like you come home.

You come home to Elise, and then you get food from Marius.

>> Marius is not from here, and you two came here.

>> Yeah, that's true.

He's from middle of Oslo, so it was a big change.

>> How's he doing?

>> Good, good, I have to say.

Really, he's, uh -- >> He's doing okay?

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's the fifth year now, so now he's -- he's staying.

>> So now he's staying.

>> Yeah.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ >> I'm very excited, Frida.

You've been at the kitchen?

>> I definitely think you have something to look forward to.

>> This looks fantastic.

>> So, here you have crab.

You also have fried potatoes.

You have some fried chicken skin.

And then you have grenade from salmon, from Kvaroy.

And the sauce Marius will explain to you.

>> The sauce is made of some of the crab.

You also have a vinegar made of the flowers from the nasturtiums from the garden, a bit of butter, and a little bit of sea urchin.

>> Oh.

>> Fantastic.

>> Amazing.

♪♪♪ Remember when we came in the fjord, on the boat?

>> Mm-hmm.

>> I said to you that one of Norway's top restaurants was in this fjord.

>> Yeah.

>> Very isolated from, I would say, the big cities.

Was I wrong, or was I right?

>> [ Laughs ] You were, you were definitely right.

It's -- It's totally amazing.

All flavors are so excellent together, and Marius is a really, really skilled chef.

>> A normal evening here is eight dishes like this.

And I don't think we can film all eight courses.

It's gonna be too long, and...

Probably the long version you can get on DVD.

[ Laughter ] To honor the love that has built this place, we have challenged Stig to make a drink in the name of love and romance.

♪♪♪ >> This gonna be a romantic cocktail without any citric acid at all.

So, and all the freshness come from the raspberries, the red currant, and the rhubarb.

Is this romantic enough?

I think so.

>> Oi oi oi!

>> Oi oi oi!

>> I'm curious now because we gave you the challenge of making something very romantic.

>> I used this vinegar with the elderflower.

That gives it acidity.

I used rhubarb -- super fresh.

And a red currant and raspberries.

All of them has quite the high acidity.

So -- And that together with the vinegar is -- you don't need lemons.

>> And it's an old way of conserving fruit and vegetables.

>> Conserve fruit, yeah.

>> We have to taste what it -- Ooh.

>> And it's smooth?

>> It's smooth.

>> Balanced and elegant.

>> Yes, that's what you promised.

And what are we gonna call this romantic, special drink from Utskarpen?

>> A perfect name for this would be To Elise from Stig, maybe.

>> Yes?

>> Let's hope that doesn't create any... >> Drama in the kitchen?

[ Laughter ] ♪♪♪ >> Our journey continues by boat to Kvaroy, where people have modernized the fishing industry amid the forces of the Atlantic Ocean.

Yeah, man, I wanted to take Frida and Stig out so that they can see how you make a living here at Kvaroy, the wonderful fish you have, and why there's actually people living in a place like this.

So, go with the young man and get wise.

>> So exciting.

>> Safe travels!

>> See you!

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ >> So, the feed that we are using for our salmon is composed of different vegetable mixes -- soy beans, rapeseeds, and there's some fish meal and fish oils in it, also.

>> So it's mostly with vegetables, you're saying.

>> Mostly vegetables.

>> Oh, okay.

>> But there is not enough fish meal and fish oil available.

>> Because you want to eat that fish instead of putting it into feed, right?

>> Yes, it is a good solution because your fish that could be used for human consumption should be used for human consumption first.

>> Exactly.

>> The feed conversion rate for salmon is also very high.

So if you compare it to other protein sources, like pigs or cows, then salmon is the super-efficient way of using the vegetables to create the proteins.

>> So you can say that it's more sustainable to eat salmon now than before.

>> Yeah, maybe, but there's a lot more people in the world now than before.

>> That's true.

>> So that's also the biggest part of the problem, maybe.

We have to use all the proteins in a smart way.

>> Let's take a quick tour around the pens so I can show you the fish inside.

>> Of course.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ So, now we are inside the control center.

>> Yes, this is the control center for our business, and the people in here, they are monitoring all of the production that Kvaroy has.

Every pen is monitored in here by cameras so that we have full control of the feeding in all our pens.

What's important for us is to make sure that every fish gets the feed that it wants every day, but we would also have to make sure that we are not overfeeding or underfeeding the fish.

>> They look very concentrated here by the computers.

>> Yeah, I think they're faking it just because we're here.

>> Now, when we know that the fish is in good hands, I have an appointment with a very important man on Kvaroy, Mayor Hakon.

He likes to meet people he represents.

Let's see, here at the Kvaroy handel the only store in Kvaroy.

There's actually a small poster.

"Do you wish to meet the mayor for a nice and informal talk?"

He's available in these different parts of the municipality of Luroy, and the mayor is inside here and I'm gonna talk to him.

♪♪♪ Hakon, you're the mayor for Kvaroy and this whole -- >> Luroy.

>> And how is it to be mayor of this fantastic archipelago?

>> It's a very nice job to be a mayor of this.

>> Before you became a mayor, you were actually also running a shop on another island.

>> Yes.

[ Chuckles ] >> How many people live in Luroy?

>> 1,900.

>> 1,900?

Mayor, I have a surprise for you.

I have a friend with me on this journey, and he has a very special product from Kvaroy, and I don't think you've tasted it before.

Come on.

>> Okay, let's taste it.

♪♪♪ >> Here comes Stig.

Sit down, Stig.

This is -- This is the mayor.

>> Hi, Stig.

Hakon.

>> This is a sausage made of salmon from little Kvaroy.

And it goes out into the world and it's a big hit.

>> Oh.

That's good.

Taste this.

Oh.

>> The people have always lived by the sea here.

>> Yes.

>> And they find new ways, they must be very creative people in your municipality.

>> Yes, creative people.

It is.

>> And you say that there's a future on these small islands on the rugged coast of Norway?

>> Yes, of course, of course.

[ Laughter ] >> In Kvaroy, it's not a hot dog, it's a salmon dog.

>> Salmon dog, yes.

♪♪♪ >> Hey.

>> Hey, hey.

>> Hey, hey.

Frida needs ingredients for a special meal she's preparing, and on Kvaroy, there's only one place to get the groceries.

>> Yeah.

Hello.

>> Hello.

>> How are you?

>> I'm fine, thank you.

>> Such a pretty little store here at Kvaroy.

Is this your store?

>> This is my store, yes.

>> So cool.

And how long have you been running it?

>> For over 30 years now?

>> Have you grown up here or?

>> No.

I'm from the neighbor island, so I'm not so far from home, but I have been living here for almost 40 years.

>> And how did it come that you moved to Kvaroy, then?

>> I met my husband.

That's the old story.

>> I guess this is a very social space for everyone to come to shop.

>> Yeah, it is.

The neighbors meet here and... >> So you know everyone at -- >> I know everyone, yeah, yeah.

And everyone knows everyone.

>> Thank you so much.

Very nice to meet you.

>> Yeah, have a nice day.

Bye.

>> See you later, bye.

♪♪♪ >> For more inspiration, visit our web site, peopleofthenorth.net.

To impress her new island friends, Frida has decided to serve an extraordinary salmon burger for lunch.

Let's hope they can handle spicy food and new flavors.

♪♪♪ >> [ Chuckles ] Are you excited to try your own fish burger?

>> Yes.

>> Yeah.

>> So, this is a burger that I made from black sesame seeds as like a steam bun.

The mayonnaise is flavored with dill so it matches the salmon burger.

It's a salad.

It's a fried egg.

It's jalapeños, some herbs, and local chips with seaweed.

Please enjoy.

>> Looks fantastic.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Mm, mm, mm!

>> What do you think?

Do you like your own salmon burger?

The burger is fantastic, and the tastes, all the tastes together was amazing.

Just spot on.

Actually a little bit sweet with all the chili and the eggs and everything.

>> Yeah?

>> Very good.

>> Thank you.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Havard, you have seen the development here.

It started around... >> '76, 1976.

>> And how did it start?

>> It started with my grandfather.

He was a fisherman and they had the only the season when they were fishing and needed something to do the rest of the year.

So we started with the fish farming and put out 3,000 salmon, harvested a couple of hundred of them, so...

But not the easy start, but it does grow really big.

>> And what kind of society was this historically, Kvaroy?

>> It was a small society with fishermen and some farmers, but never been any bigger than this.

>> And what would your grandfather have said if he saw you eating a burger here at Kvaroy with salmon from Kvaroy?

>> He was a poor man, and if they fished the salmon, they would just sell it.

>> Couldn't afford to eat it.

>> Buy something from a can?

>> Yeah.

>> Salted fish instead.

[ Laughter ] >> The burger was approved, and now Stig is more than ready to make a dry martini for the guys.

>> Alf-Goran, I've been visiting a distillery today, and they told me that they made a gin together with you guys that was meant to be matching salmon 100%.

>> We decided to, yeah, let's have some fun, make a gin that specially adapted to the way we produce our salmon, the way the taste of the salmon, and see if that's going to be a success.

>> Today is going to be a super dry, nice dry martini.

It's actually five components.

It is ice, it's vermouth, it's gin, and there is some garnish.

♪♪♪ We are ready for the big test -- gin with your own smoked salmon.

♪♪♪ >> It's perfect.

>> Skal.

>> Skal.

>> At last, it's time for dinner, and we have been invited to have a traditional meal with the whole family.

Stig, have you experienced anything here at Helgeland that has surprised you?

>> They have a distillery just a couple of islands out there, and that warms my heart.

[ Laughter ] >> Everything's just a couple of islands away.

That's the charm about Helgeland.

The coast of Helgeland is still both a home and paradise for those who make a living from the sea.

We leave with the highest affection for the family who keeps this little community alive and well.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ For more inspiration, visit our web site, peopleofthenorth.net.

>> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following.

♪♪♪ >> Havila Voyages -- sustainable coastal cruises along Norway's beautiful coastline.

>> ♪ Oh, take me home ♪ Take me home where I belong >> VGAN Chocolate.

Norwegian flavor.

Available in Walmart stores.

>> Seafood from Norway.

♪♪♪