The Viking Diet: The Ingredients

 

So, I was pretty irritated that after a good week of doing research on this diet and setting my notes aside...I lost those notes. I looked everywhere for them, both at work and at home in every possible place they could be - but to no avail. Therefore, last minute, on the day that I had to go grocery shopping for everything, I had to re-research everything and scramble just to find out what I was allowed to eat. Having said all that, I don't have reasons or history lessons behind the items that I've allotted for the diet. You'll just have to accept the fact that these are what the vikings ate, and be satisfied.

Why The Viking Diet? Why not? They ate well, and seem pretty tough and strong...I suppose I'd like to be as well. But truthfully though, the vikings, in the research I can actually remember, ate well. They were fairly healthy by all accounts, and ate some pretty tasty stuff. Stuff I'm on board with. The hardest part of this diet will be the lack of starches. I got pretty used to eating all that rice on The China Diet, not having any potatoes, bread, or rice will be difficult. Truthfully, I could eat bread if I wanted but my options would be to make it out of rye or barley and I hate both - so that's not happening.

What I learned, and what I think most people do know about the vikings, is that they smoked a lot of their meats and fish. Therefore, I am excited to report that I will be eating some smoked salmon on this diet. Yes, I'm excited. However, I will not be eating any cooked cabbage, because frankly, I'd rather stick a nail in my toe.

So here is the list of ingredients that I will be eating on The Viking Diet!



1. Barley

2. Rye

3. Cabbage

4. Onions (my research was vague on this, so since I don't know what kind, I'm guessing it was yellow)

5. Garlic

6. Leeks

7. Turnips

8. Peas

9. Dill

10. Parsley

11. Mustard

12. Horseradish

13. Thyme

14. Beef

15. Horse 

16. Ox

17. Goat 

18. Pork

19. Lamb

20. Chickens 

21. Eggs (because chickens)

22. Ducks

23. Mutton

24. Hazlenuts

25. Walnuts

26. Walnut oil (because this is literally what the vikings used for a cooking oil)

27. Strawberries

28. Beer - because of the barley

29. Whey

30. Buttermilk

31. Cheese (but only hard cheese)

32. Curds

33. Butter

34. Honey

35. Endive

36. Apples

37. White Carrots

38. Parsnips

39. Celery

40. Spinach

41. Radishes

42. Fava beans

43. Wine

44. Salmon

45. Trout

46. Eel (oh yeah, that'll happen)

47. Herring

48. Cod

49. Shellfish

50. Oats

51. Mushrooms

52. Corriander

53. Juniper 

54. Majoram

55. Mint

So as you can see, I have a pretty wide range of foods to choose from, but the lack of potatoes and/or rice to go with some of this stuff will be a bit of a challenge for me. I think I'll do fine though. I can be strong like a viking...or can I?

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong" - 1 Corinthians 16:13