Norwegian farm women and the cultural meaning of food

Abstract

The article deals with the cultural meaning of food among farm women in a rural community in middle Norway. Cooking has always given farm women high prestige in relation to both women and men. Good cooking contributed to the farm's reputation in the surrounding rural community and within the household it created a sense of well being. The cultural significance of food is also apparent in the way work was shared among women in the household. Food preparation was linked with the highest position in the female hierarchy, senior women being reluctant to leave this work to daughters or daughters-in-law. At the same time, the older woman socialized the younger into the farm's cooking traditions. The fact that Norwegian farm women today still place much emphasis on food is perhaps best understood as a relic of much older ideals than the post-war stereotype of the housewife.