Food and drink in Lofoten

6 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Food in Lofoten follows the calendar of the sea and the pastures. In late winter the skrei arrives, in spring the drying racks fill with cod, in summer the lambs graze the mountain slopes and in autumn the lamb, the berries and the first lutefisk of the season come to the table. Visit Lofoten's list of today's seafood reads like a catch report: cod, herring, halibut, salmon, crab, shrimp, sea urchin and oysters.

Skrei and the winter fishery

Skrei is cod that has reached spawning age. The Store norske leksikon describes the Lofotfisket, the seasonal fishery for this cod, as running from February to April, with the largest numbers arriving in the Vestfjord in February and March; Visit Lofoten gives the season as January to April. The fishery reaches back as far as written history and oral tradition go. In 1896 some 32,000 fishermen took part, and since the 1990s the number has been between 2,000 and 4,000.

A classic dish of the season is mølje, which Visit Lofoten describes as a mix of skrei meat, liver and roe. If you want to understand the fishery before you eat it, the SKREI centre near Kabelvåg, run by Museum Nord, explains it with an aquarium and the Lofoten Museum next door.

Stockfish from the racks

Tørrfisk, or stockfish, is mainly cod that is dried without salt. The fish hang on racks of birch poles, known as hjell, and take two to four months to dry, depending on the weather. Since 2007 a Norwegian regulation has protected the name Tørrfisk fra Lofoten as a geographical designation. In Italian the fish is called stoccafisso, and Visit Lofoten credits Querini, a seafarer shipwrecked off Røst, with making it famous in Italy. Røst is still a major exporter today.

At Å, at the end of the E10, the Lofoten Tørrfiskmuseum is devoted to stockfish, next to the Norwegian fishing village museum. Stockfish is also the base for lutefisk, which Visit Lofoten says is served with mashed peas, boiled potatoes and bacon. At least half of Norway's lutefisk is produced on Værøy, and the first of the season is available in October.

Lofoten lamb

Lofotlam is meat from lambs born, raised and grazed in Lofoten, and Visit Lofoten describes it as a protected geographical indication. The lambs are born in early May and sent to the mountains within their first two weeks, where they graze on herbs, grass and heather on the steep slopes. After five to six months they are slaughtered at the local abattoir in Leknes. Lofotlam can be on menus from August and through the autumn, traditionally as fårikål, lamb stewed with cabbage, or as pinnekjøtt.

Berries, sweets and beer

In autumn Visit Lofoten points to lingonberries on the ground and plenty of chanterelles and boletus in the woods. Lingonberries go into troll-cream, made of whipped egg, sugar and berries, and waffles with troll-cream are almost a national dessert on the islands. Cloudberries and blueberries grow here too, and local producers make ice cream, yoghurt, jam, cheese and beer.

The Lofotpils brewery in Svolvær shows its brewing hall on a guided tour that ends with a tasting of five beers. Norway's age limits apply: 18 for beer and wine, 20 for spirits.

Eating what you catch

Some fishing trips end with a meal. Off Kabelvåg you pull brown crab pots from a speedboat, and the chef at the restaurant on the dock cooks the catch. A shore fishing trip in Vågan cooks over an open fire, and serves a meal even if nothing bites; it needs your own car. On the fishing cruises from Svolvær you take the filleted fish home. Our fishing page compares the boats, and the Nusfjord and Å page covers the old fishing villages where the stockfish trade is still visible.