Norway’s answer to Jamie Oliver? Possibly… Andreas Viestad has been hailed by many as Norway’s new culinary ambassador. A popular TV chef and food columnist in his homeland and abroad (he used to write a monthly column for the Washington Post), Andreas Viestad achieved international fame in 2003 as the host of the New Scandinavian Cooking programme, broadcast in over 50 countries, as well as on BBC Food. A success he’s expected to repeat soon with the new series (the fifth), to be aired in the autumn.

If you don’t want to wait until then, his best-selling Kitchen of Light (published by Artisan), a mix of recipes, food essays and great photos inspired by the TV series, is available in English, and received rave reviews when it came out. The book includes over 100 recipes where Norwegian ingredients take centre stage (a whole chapter is dedicated to cod and potatoes), and features staples of traditional Scandinavian cuisine (from gravlax to yes, pancakes!) as well as more innovative concoctions (such as flambeed pork chops with sage and aquavit or vodka-marinated sirloin for example). The TV series are also available on DVD.

If you speak Norwegian, check out Mine Beste Sider (published by Versal) a best of taken from the weekly column he wrote for Dagbladet’s Magasinet, part recipes, part anecdotes, focusing on the ingredients, their origin and their story, as much as the how-to bit. A fun read, again covering a mix of Norwegian classics (cloudberry cream and Bergen fish soup, to name but two) with more exotic dishes (including Indian, sushi and the best boeuf Stroganoff recipe I’ve come across so far).

For more info and recipes, check out www.scandcook.com and www.andreasviestad.com