Around the holidays, it is no surprise that food tends to be top of mind for many. What will I make for Christmas dinner? How many Christmas cookies should I make? What will be served at the lodge julebord?
While we spend time thinking about the delicacies of the season, we don’t necessarily think about the possibility of lack of food – specifically, ingredients. However, if you were in Norway in 2011, you might disagree.
As the Christmas season of 2011 approached in Norway, supermarket shelves were getting bare in the butter aisle. Holiday bakers were panicked, people were selling the butter they had online at inflated prices, and some were even trying to smuggle butter across the border.
So, what caused the shortage that led to the smørkrise (“butter crisis”)? At the time, it depended on who you asked. There was blame thrown around at multiple parties. Tine, Norway’s largest dairy producer, was blamed for not indicating the steep rise in demand for butter. It had increased 30% in November of 2011. On the other hand, Tine placed blame on the poor summer weather that hurt pastures and was not beneficial for milk production. The media also created a “stock up fast” mentality that is argued to have contributed to the butter frenzy. And some argue that the Norwegian people were at fault with the changing diets of high-fat/low-carb, making butter a popular food item.
Regardless of what caused the butter crisis, it needed to be resolved. Eventually, the Norwegian government decided to lower the tariff for the month of December, to allow for butter to be more economically imported to the country. This slowly created butter flow to the point where it became readily available again in early 2012.
Although it is known as the “butter crisis,” it fortunately wasn’t a major problem for most people in Norway. Many Norwegians could cross into Sweden where butter was available. Let’s be thankful our thoughts this holiday season can be what food to make, rather than what we cannot make.