New Scandinavian Cooking

New Scandinavian Cooking is a Scandinavian cooking show which, over the course of sixteen seasons, has been hosted by Andreas Viestad, Tina Nordström, Claus Meyer, Niklas Ekstedt, and Christer Rødseth. It is produced by the Norwegian production company Tellus Works Television AS in collaboration with American Public Television. A sequel series titled Perfect Day continued with the original hosts in rotation, with the cast addition of Sara La Fountain. In the United States it is primarily aired on PBS television stations.
The success of the series is in part due to its original format, its hosts and the series production teams. The food is not prepared in a studio but executed on location outdoors, at a mobile kitchen often situated in faraway places, such as remote beaches or mountain precipices. The hosts showcase different regions and dishes of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland.
Beginning in 2003, the show debuted on PBS in the United States. It has also been broadcast in more than 130 other countries, including the United Kingdom, China, Germany, Italy, and France, to a viewership of 100 million per episode, according to show producers. The first, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons were hosted by Norwegian food writer Andreas Viestad, the third season by Swedish chef and television personality Tina Nordström, and the fifth season was hosted by Danish chef and cookbook author Claus Meyer. The sixth season, a sequel series titled Perfect Day rotated the original hosts Viestad, Nordström, and Meyer, with the addition of Finnish TV chef Sara La Fountain. The seventh season was once again named New Scandinavian Cooking, and still rotated between the Nordic hosts. During the eighth and ninth seasons, Andreas continued the series on his own, with his storytelling, fusing history, nature, and cooking – seeking out the origins of the food with his mobile kitchen. In season 10 which was broadcast in 2013, the last of the Nordic countries was introduced to the series namely Iceland, the land of fire and ice. Season 11 reintroduces Swedish chef Tina Nordström in rotation with Norwegian chef Andreas Viestad.
On September 15, 2020, New Scandinavian Cooking officially announced Christer Rødseth as the new host of the program beginning with the show's 16th season. Due to delays in the production of Season 16, episodes with Christer did not air until 2024.
The show has its own streaming service on Vimeo. Seasons 7 through 16 are available via PBS Passport. In addition, select episodes can also be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.

Episodes

As of 2024 there have been a total of 173 episodes produced over 16 seasons. Starting with Season 7, the show has been produced in conjunction with American Public Television who produces and distributes shows for public television stations in the United States. In the United States, the seasons that are shown on public television stations have a different numbering system than the overall numbering system. The episodes shown in the United States typically start with Season 7, but are referred to as Season 1. Hence the discrepancy between the two numbering systems being six seasons apart.

Season 1 (2003)

The first season of New Scandinavian Cooking featured 13 episodes, all of which were hosted by Andreas Viestad. The focus of this season was Norway.

Episode Number	Episode Title	Hosts	Countries Visited	Description
S01E01	Royal White Halibut	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas travels to Norway's northernmost county Finnmark, where he goes fishing for halibut with some local fishermen. He cooks the halibut in an old fashion way, on top of hot stones in the sand, stuffed with herbs and wrapped in seaweed.
S01E02	Honey-Coated Lamb	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas takes us to the beautiful west coast and to the city of Bergen, one of Norway's most important cities. He prepares a deeply flavored fish soup, a lamb cabbage stew and honey glazed leg of lamb with root vegetable.
S01E03	Merry Christmas	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas travels to Røros in the middle of inland Norway. Christmas is around the corner and to keep up with traditions he prepares a delicious rice pudding, salmon with sweet mustard sauce and pork ribs with cloves.
S01E04	The Lofoten Cod	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas visits Lofoten in northern Norway, where he goes cod fishing and prepares a delicious cod roe and cucumber salad. Inside an old fishing storage house, he adds exclusive truffles to the cod and serves it with a potato-garlic puree.
S01E05	Arctic Cuisine	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas takes the trip to Spitsbergen, where he prepares Russian Svalbard borscht. After speeding on the ice on a snow mobile to Longyearbyen, he cooks a vodka marinated sirloin steak and bakes pears with ginger and juniper berries.
S01E06	Salmon	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas goes fishing for wild salmon on the Namsen River in Mid-Norway, and with the catch he makes different versions of slow baked salmon with soy sauce and ginger, chervil mayonnaise and aquavit sour cream.
S01E07	A Midsummer Night's Meal	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas presents some of his favorite spots in Oslo, where he makes food for summer with plenty of herbs to marinate a steak, a classic shrimp sandwich and homemade almond brittle ice cream.
S01E08	In the Heart of Fjordland	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas travels to Hardanger in western Norway, where the fruit trees are in full bloom. Inspired by the lush region he makes an apple and goat cheese pie, and wild game from the valley, venison seasoned with juniper berries.
S01E09	Food for Summer	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas visits the southern coast of Norway, a real summer paradise for the Norwegians. He goes fishing for mackerel and smokes the fish before making a seasonal salad, and he also serves fresh shellfish from the grill.
S01E10	The Provence of the North	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas travels to Lom in the heart of inland Norway, where he picks his absolute favorite herb, dill. You can never use to much of dill in your cooking, so he makes dill snaps and dill scented chicken stuffed with dill.
S01E11	Crayfish and Salmon	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas goes foraging outside Oslo, and picks a selection of mushrooms for a soup. He catches crayfish in a small lake and with the forest's pantry he makes some fantastic food: dill boiled crayfish and baked salmon with local mushrooms.
S01E12	The Best Cheeseburger in the World	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas hikes to the top of Norway in the majestic Jotunheimen, the mountain range offers wild berries and game, so he makes blueberry pancakes, and an exclusive cheeseburger made with grouse, venison, pork and goose liver.
S01E13	A Balancing Act	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas visits the Pulpit Rock in south western Norway. On top of the flat summit he makes a classic salad with Norwegian sardines, and on an island outside Stavanger he serves a quiche with sardines and a very tasty salmon mousse.

Season 2 (2004)

There were 13 episodes produced in this season, all of which were hosted by Andreas Viestad. The focus of this season was Norway.

Episode Number	Episode Title	Hosts	Countries Visited	Description
S02E01	Faithful Friend	Andreas Viestad	Norway, Brazil	Andreas visits Ålesund, the Bacalao capital of Norway. Dried and salted cod has made Norway famous in the Portuguese and Spanish speaking regions of the world, so Andreas travels further to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to see for himself.
S02E02	Ugly But Delicious	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas visits Svolvær in Northern Norway, and the spectacular archipelago of Lofoten. He goes fishing during the World Championship in Cod Fishing, and he cooks both cod and some of the ugliest fishes from the sea.
S02E03	Fierce Creatures	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas travels to the southern tip of Norway, and to the idyllic coastal town of Loshamn, where he goes lobster fishing. Andreas prepares to classic dishes with his catch: Lobster Bisque and Tarragon Lobster.
S02E04	My Summer Paradise	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas takes us to Lista in South Western Norway, and to his family farm, where he prepares foods from the land, sea and the forest surrounding Viestad farm. Perfect summer dishes in his summer paradise.
S02E05	Potatoes in All Forms and Flavors	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas visits the valley of Gudbrandsdalen in central Norway where everything tastes of potato, the most important crop in the country: Potato Pancakes, Potato Soup and Flambéed Pork Chops served with a luxurious Potato Gratin.
S02E06	Where Everything Smells of Apples	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas travels to Hardanger in Western Norway. This is the Norwegian fruit garden, with a special micro-climate perfect for growing apples, and where all the food he makes has a smell of apple.
S02E07	Bread and Butter Issues	Andreas Viestad	Norway	In the forests surrounding Oslo, Andreas prepares bread on a stick over an open fire, and he visits Bogstad Farm where he bakes three types of Norwegian bread: plain, with herbs and a version with nuts, fruit and different seeds.
S02E08	Town of Two Spirits	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas travels to Trøndelag in Norway, where he combines cooking and storytelling to show how alcohol and religion share much of the same history in Trondheim. He prepares mulled wine, aquavit sorbet and meatballs with sage and prunes.
S02E09	The Sun Is Back	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas visits Geilo and the highlands of Norway in winter. He prepares hot chocolate with orange marmalade cream, and serves both fish and chicken stuffed with oranges and for dessert Orange à la Norvegienne.
S02E10	King of the Ocean	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas goes fishing in Finnmark, where he makes a colorful king crab sandwich served on a slice of dark rye bread, and as main course pan-seared king crab in soy butter with pomegranate and red berries from the North.
S02E11	Polar Berries	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas picks berries in the far north of Norway. In the Lyng Alps he serves a traditional birthday cake, a layered with cream and northern berries. For main course, Andreas prepares venison filet with local berries from the North.
S02E12	Learning How to Smoke	Andreas Viestad	Norway	Andreas boards the Hurtigruten in Bergen to end up on Sommarøy in Northern Norway. He investigates the culinary traditions of smoking food and serves smoked salmon in an egg, and for main dish, a pork roast smoked on a grill.
S02E13	Highlights from the First and Second Seasons	Andreas Viestad	Norway	All memorable moments from the first and second seasons of New Scandinavian Cooking, where we revisit some of the spectacular places and recipes.