"A slab or slice or chunka, A snack that is a winner,
And…read moreyet won't spoil my dinner, I hanker for a hunka cheese" ~Time For Timer, Schoolhouse Rock
Geitost or Brunost? Whatever you call Norway's beloved, brown, caramel-like cheese, and whichever way you slice it, you can grab your own hunka cheese and other tomatoes/tomahtahs at Underdalsbui/Naerbutikken. Take a cue from Timer and fashion a wagon wheel from cheesy bits while you're at it!
Underdalsbui is like the Oleson's Mercantile of Underdal, sans Harriet and Nels, or Willie stealing candy on the sly. It is the only general store in this isolated fishing village where you can mail your postcards, pick up some souvenirs, get your groceries, and best of all, check out a vintage Hüsker Dü poster (rock band from Saint Paul, MN)! It is also the spot to sample and buy some local goat sausage, along with white and brown goat cheese for lunch or an afternoon snack .
Underdal brown cheese is the iconic rock star of Norwegian Geitost, so go ahead and snap some cheesy selfies in homage (or in fromage) ...you might even get photobombed by one of the 500 local goats! "Oh hey there, goat!" The salty white Underdal cheese is also a winner, taking "Best Cheese of the Year in Norway in 2011 and 2012--toss that in your cart as well.
I like to imagine that Underdalsbui is run by a big cheese similar to Ramone from "The Proposal"...someone who also officiates weddings, waits tables, and smashes karaoke in his free time...but has the last name of Underdal. Because everyone living there has a last name of Underdal. Everyone. That is in fact why we came to visit the village, because my great grandfather came from there, changing his last name from Underdal upon arrival in the US.
The extreme isolation of the village is what caused many people to leave in search of better lives over the years (the population is currently around 100, not including the goats), but has also left the landscape of the village to remain largely unchanged. We felt like we were seeing the village almost in almost exactly the same condition as when my great grandfather grew up there.
Underdals have lived here for centuries, breeding goats and producing cheese, with some farmers still migrating with their goats and cheese equipment to three different mountain farms over a single summer! Wow!
Still today brown cheese is made by hand in the traditional way. The whey is boiled in a copper vat over a wood fire until the lactose sugar caramelizes and the whey thickens. It really makes you appreciate that brown cheese atop a heart-shaped Norwegian waffle when you think of all the hard labor involved in making it.
Add this village to your itinerary for a step back in time, and visit Underdalsbui while you're there--you'll be "grateful" you did. If you come during Norway's largest brown cheese festival, you might even get to celebrate with some GOAT BINGO!
"A hard-boiled egg, a chicken leg, or cheese or luncheon meat,
Or a peanut butter sandwich, Any time of day's a treat!" ~Timer
"To the window, to the window, to the walls, to the walls." ~Sandra Bullock, "The Proposal"
