Does This Country Not Trust The U.S. World Cup Food?

If you’ve been paying any attention to the World Cup matches so far, then there’s a couple names you just know: Messi, Ronaldo, and Haaland? The first two are forever going to be a part of the soccer zeitgeist. The last is a renowned soccer player that generally plays for Manchester City, but now that Norway (his home country) has made it into the World Cup for the first time in 28 years, his international notoriety is unquestionable. Haaland’s a superstar. 

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Beyond Haaland, the formidable Norwegian team hasn’t come all this way to mess around. The deeply nationalistic team and country is giving the tournament their all having scored 8 goals in their first three games alone and ranking second in their group. The “Dark Horse” might be crushing it on American soil, but they’re wary of its bounty… or so the media would have you believe. As it turns out, the Associated Press debunked this accusation and the Norwegian team’s head chef broke it all down for us. 

Why Import Food?

The Norwegian football team has brought a lot of food with them, according to their head chef Aron Espeland. But he made the important distinction that the team has bountiful access to high quality ingredients sourced local to Greensboro, North Carolina, where the team is being hosted. In fact, much of the food they’re eating falls into that category.

Despite the access, the Norwegian team brought around 1,276 pounds of food with them to maintain consistency in nutrition and diet. Included in the import is 660 pounds of Norwegian salmon, 220 pounds of halibut, 176 pounds of Norwegian brown cheese, and 220 pounds of Jarlsberg cheese. I’ve spent my fair share of time in Norway traveling the country with my Norwegian partner, and let me tell you, these ingredients are diet staples. Espeland went so far as to say that part of the reason for the shipment is to be able to offer the players a taste of home as they take residence in a foreign country for the summer.

One thing that the media has been reporting is that a bulk of the shipment made up of oranges due to the way they’re processed in the U.S. Espeland said that couldn’t be more untrue. In fact, the Norwegian players are served freshly-squeezed orange juice each morning, but it’s been made from American oranges each day.

Nothing New

It’s also important to note that this is far from a novel concept, and it has nothing to do with distrust. Nutrition for professional athletes is down to a science and to think that they would be able to uproot their systems and comforts during the biggest sporting event in the world is naïve. Plus, lots of teams do this. Even the U.S. team travelled to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup with their own supplies.

The recent spin on the Norwegian team’s decision does seem odd in that regard. But honestly, even if they made the decision based on the food quality in Norway being more preferable, why is that such a crazy idea? Wouldn’t you want the best for your star athletes? Some of the best restaurants in America even source their prized salmon cuts directly from Norway! I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see if the effort to transport their fish and cheeses to the U.S. payoff as the rounds progress.