Finally, a product which is inflated in price due to real market and social conditions and not just because of hype or percieved luxuriousness. This is an important episode indeed
So you completely missed the part where this trade has to occur in US dollars, thereby creating scarcity that didn't exist before driving the price up.
Beautiful story, found out years ago that all our stockfish come from Norway, but only just finding out it's because Norway aided Nigeria with stockfish during the Biafran civil war. As someone whose dad lost all his siblings during the civil war, some due to malnutrition (kwashiorkor et al), and whose dad survived due to aid nutrition, am glad the Norwegian economy is now benefiting from that goodwill as we benefited during the war. Watching this video as I eat a meal prepared with grounded stockfish.
It looked tasty on the video. Are there still bones in the dried fish. If so, are there a lot of bones, and are you constantly picking bones out of the meal?
@@chuddy09 , Consudering i like gristle on steak, pork, and chicken, as long as I don't have have to pick out the bones, I'm fine with eating them. Thanks for the reply.
This fish saved my dad during the Civil War. Him and many other children then had chronic protein deficiency. The Norway helped and brought protein for them. It saved millions of lives then and we developed appetite for it. The Norwegians did great thing for me, I will be eternally grateful. I wouldn't be born if my dad had died.
That is how it come to the so called Nigeria without meaning and among the tribes in Nigeria it is only igbo biafra tribe that eat it more than other tribes again it is identity of igbo biafra tribe BIAFRA
@@NazriB yes it is theirs but Africa eat it more than them the owner more especially Nigeria eat it more than them for instance igbo biafra tribe can't do without it no matter how rich or poor igbos will eat it
As a Norwegian, i am shocked and soooo suprised we actually Export almost 100% of our Stock fish. That finally answers my question of where All the fish they producer goes - cuz i have literally never seen it for sale here!
It was probably originally given up because your consumers saw it as an inferior cheap product and hardly ate it. It was given as AID. Countries aren't like oh let's give this filet mignon, caviar, and parmigiano reggiano as AID 😂 they send foods they have an abundance of and can't sell at a decent price. Norway truly capitalized on this situation and created such a dependence that now a country far away defines it as "local" & essential to its cultural cuisine - that's what's truly sad.
As a Nigerian that grew up in Nigeria, eating Nigerian food, I can tell you that we use stock fish in almost all our soups, especially the soups with palm oil. The umami flavour that stock fish gives is unmatched🔥🔥 Very surprised to learn that it comes from Norway. Thank you Insider for this intelligent video👏🏼👏🏼
@@shortvideos4719Dried cod fish is used an an ingredient in western Africa. It's not a dish in and of itself. In most of the dishes the stock fish can easily be substituted by local sorts fish.
Dried cod is to Nigeria basically what Spam is to Hawaii, which also began its climb to prominence, first as an emergency protein food source (in this case WW2 Army rations) and soon became an integral part of the local cuisine - *spam sushi* being an underrated delicacy.
Only in the sense that it is a food from another part of the world, which has become a major part of a local cuisine coincidentally. The trade and logistics are a lot deeper than that!
Fascinating story. I never knew Nigeria and Norway were so connected!! I wish we got to know deeper how stockfish was introduced into Nigerian cuisine in the beginning until eventually being an integral part of the cuisine. Either way, cool!!
That's the cool thing about global trade. I bet there's all sorts of fascinating stories about resources impacting various communities around the world.
@@abdulrahmanaabidopakunle2721 I say people are happy to buy this fish. If they could buy it in dollar they would be even more happy. Shocking to hear that dollar currency is rare, but I guess people only use it for import/export trade, so local traders dont accept or can give change in dollar? I'd be happy to buy a Nigerian product. Greetings from Germany
i never would have thought Norway and Nigeria were so intimately linked by cod.... actually this is pretty adorable. "whenever we thought we found a new market, its actually the Nigerians living abroad"
I’m a American born to Nigerian parents. Stock fish was a part of my childhood. If you asked me I would have sworn it came from Nigeria. Interesting video
Same. I personally, though, can take it or leave it when it comes to stock fish. The odor of it is strong. It only adds a slight flavor to the soup. Now palm oil...is the one thing I can't do without in my soup.
@@zainabmaciver5964 Reading what I wrote I can see why you think that. I’m Nigerian-American, technically. Born/raised in the US, my parents are born/raised in Nigeria. But I do tell people in the US that I’m Nigerian; very proud of that 🇳🇬
@@RBsRealm Where did you get that from? Couldn´t be further from the truth. Norway not as much as the other two, but that is only because Norway has big Oil and Salmon buisness. Sweden and Denmark alike got their riches from destroying the baltic sea and abusing the poor.
For those who didn't know, the unique conditions in Norway being cold & dry air, makes it different to dried fish in the Sun that is produced elsewhere. The Cod (stockfish) basically undergo a slow fermentation while it has moisture for a month or so before it begins to dry out. This is why the taste is so intense and the aroma is pungent. Whereas dried fish from direct Sun in hot climates, you just get dried fish.. none of the funky strong flavors or extra umami via fermentation.
Its basically just a dried age fish but made in cold countries. Norway had a difficulty to sold this region speciality food even to locals. So, it was given for food _AID_ for starvation in nigeria. A region that has access to sea and COULD made dried fish by itself though its made under hot sun and salt. Its both a lovely and ironic story. Even for now norway still struggles to sold it anywhere else but nigerians. Its the second time I heard about a sweet story about relationship between europe and african If only this vid is not under "why is it so expensive theme" -_-
The markup between raw ingredients and finished product actually makes sense here. The dried stock fish is much more expensive than what they gave the fisherman for the cod, but the dried is a fraction of the weight and then you have the processing and transportation costs added in.
It's literally the same as everything else. (Shipping + Processing + Labor) x Demand/Supply. It's just that they actually explained why it's expensive here instead of just how it's produced
It is still too cheap. The government is trying to stop the waste of foreign exchange. The importer and exporters resist. Eventually it would be too expensive for more and more people to buy. Interest would eventually wane. Give it a few more years. By then, the price would have doubled, tripled. Consumers with common sense would buy other fish.
@@simonkoeman3310What these comments are referencing are the loads of videos in this series where a product is expensive because one company or family controls production
As a Nigerian living in Canada, I often receive negative attention when I cook stockfish. Moreover, I have to be cautious not to bring food with the stockfish aroma to work if I don't want people to dislike it. I used to believe that stockfish was exclusively a Nigerian delicacy, although I didn't know the source. Interestingly, the smell of stockfish is reminiscent of another beloved ingredient, locust beans. I used to associate stockfish with Nigeria and vice versa, so I was quite surprised to learn that it originated from the white people. Additionally, I appreciate the story of how the Norwegian people supported Nigeria by providing stockfish.
@@kev4the537 I'm sure the other way around would seem offensive as well. If I said, "I was surprised roti originated from the black people". See how stupid that sounds?
Norway : Please, take this to alleviate your famine Nigeria : I will take your whole supply Norway : Wait, really? Nigeria : EVERY FISH. EVERY LAST GOD DAMN ONE. Make more if you can. WE. WANT. THEM. ALL In all seriousness, there was something quite profoundly beautiful about watching a chef at a fine dining establishment making a simple stew, and how deeply he seems to care for it.
What a story: Norway provides stockfish to fight hunger in Nigeria in their time of need, and that create a whole culinary culture around stockfish, which cannot even be created in Nigeria, so they keep importing it from Norway. History has many twists and turns.
You need to get rid of the notion that Africans are hungry. Trust me they one of the most well fed people around the globe... they usually cook 4 different types of meat in one pot. I've never seen a skinny Nigerian in my life
@@lehutjomaja1173 Nigeria faught a civil war that lead to famine in some areas due to food blockade and that's where Norway's generosity came in with the stock fish. Years after that war Nigeria still consumes stock fish but not for hunger but as a part of their cuisine. I believe this is the point he was making.
@@arulachichukwueke3219 hence I said if you think Norway came to rescue Nigerians you absolutely wrong!!!! Even Europeans don't eat pork, poultry, beef, and lamb in the same pot
As a Nigerian, stock fish is very vital in our cuisines, cos it gives a special kind of texture and aroma. When used in a soup we call "Ogbono", the taste becomes yummy😅😂
@@onanisland157 have you compared it to ajinomoto? they have nigerian branch. they ferment sugarcane droppings to produce umami powder. you can use it to add umami to food that normally doesnt have umami.
The Norwegians were generous to send their salted Cod fish to feed millions starving during the Civil War, it has become a part of the culinary tradition in the East and Southern parts of the country. A seed sown in kindness by Norway has grown into a business that unites both countries. May the conditions that brought about that Biafran Conflict never visit our people again.
It is only the igbo biafra tribe and they land that eat most other tribes may start now but as far as this fish is concerned it is igbo biafra tribe identity and culture and traditions both rich and poor people have it again anything doing in igbo biafra tribe land you will see it poor people or rich people again other tribes in Nigeria I don't know their level when it comes to this fish but we igbo biafra tribe it is our identity and culture and traditions
And as a Norwegian it's great to see how it's appreciated in Nigeria ❤️ I grew up with climbing the racks when I was a kid 😊 My favourite is a freshly dried fish, give it a few hit with a hammer and then eat it dry with a good beer ❤ The best stockfish is made from migratory ocean cod, not costal cod, that makes it a lot more expensive! The season for ocean cod only last for a little while before it moves on. And the rules against overfishing also drive up the prices! But the price of stockfish here in Norway, are extremely high! Most people make it themselves or doesn't care about it at all 😮
@@praize111 It was my neighbours rack, so only for private consumption 😄 One of the benefits of living right next to the north sea 😍 You don't starve if you eat fish! But you have to catch it yourself, because the prices for animal and fish meat is up by 40% since last year 😳🙄🐟 And when you live in a "wealthy" country, 40% increase is a lot! It was expensive before also...
There is something magical about a country falling in love with another's product, and then completely integrating it into their culture. I don't know what it is, maybe the unlikely match, or the sheer distance between them but it's beautiful *TRY NOT TO START ARGUMENTS UNDER A COMMENT CHALLENGE* 😱 *IMPOSSIBLE* 😱
I guess this is a benefit of globalization. In a walled up world, no one would have known or cared they were starving. unless ofc the US/west tried to destabilize them and thats what led to the civil war as is the case like 75% of the time lmao, but still
Ah, yes, the beauty of total dependence on another, reflected in the black market holding near monopoly on the product's already overinflated prices! Let alone that this is a cultural phenomenon that stemmed from the trauma and despair of starvation in the first place. Gorgeous indeed!
Stockfish saved the lives of many Igbo children during a genocidal war in the late 60s. The connection with stockfish among the Igbos of Nigeria is a deep soul tie.
My grandfather was a through and through Fisherman from the north of Norway, this was during a time before they had large scale industrial fishers. And instead travelled solo in a type of boat called a Sjark (Pronounced: Shark). I have fond memmories of spending the long summer days going with him out fishing, and he had always a jolly atittude especially around children. Despite the language being otherwise (Northerners are known for vocabulary filled with profanity, often humorous and creative ones) Now he would make stockfish himself, and had a shack where he hung them up and prepared it. For a lot of people might not know this but the creation of stockfish can be very intensive when it comes to routine. You'd think it was just to clean the fish, strap it onto ropes and hang them up for dry. But it isn't nescessarily so. One process is to routinely salt them with sea salt. And to save some money, he would take a short stroll to the coast and pick up seawater to boil down into salt. Then he would use this salt to regularly throw them over the hanging fish repeatedly, and routinely, every early morning before heading out for fishing, and mid-day and before going to sleep. He would never rub the salt against the fish as that could damage it, and would change the flavor. He lived mostly alone, on a somewhat remote island, in a house that was mostly off grid, had electricity but no plumbing or anything else, quite the solitude life. His life was of hardship, and fishing during winter in the cold north was no pleasantry, ice-biting winds and rain below freezing, turning instantly to ice upon contact with cold surfaces (He lost a finger because of frostbite due to this type of condition) Weather is often stormy during this season as well, with waves up to double digits. And because if his skills in sailing these seas especially in reading the weather, he often worked for the Coastal-resque teams when other fishermen were at distress or missing. And his case was not a unique case etiher. He was just one of many fisherman of his generation during that time. But the stockfish he made was out of top quality. Many don't know, but Stock-fish as it is, makes a wonderfull tasty snack. Better and healthier than potatoe-chips, and goes excellent with any kind of dipping sauce, be it soy or dressings, even salsa and on salads when torn into fine pieces similar to pulled-pork.
It actually doesn't look bad and seafood generally disgusts me sadly. Wish it didn't but I wasn't really raised with it although I've always lived in places where it was around. Think nasty ass fish sticks turned me off. Stil can't get over the fishy smell either. Anyway screw industrial fisherman. Love how authorities in the US crack down on some small row boat. Yet you have industrial boats dragging in all types of sealife killing them and THEN tossing unwanted fish into the sea! IMO you should have to use what you caught
Bro, you should definitely write a book on this. Will definitely turn into a good book and this should be in one of the chapters.. thanks for sharing this, it's wonderful
This is beautiful. Takk! The idea of preserving a lot of foods without refrigeration...it's not that big a deal to me. But meat and fish? That's almost magical to me, because it's something that you have to be so careful about. And the idea of a old Norwegian, catching his cod, hanging it up, boiling down seawater for salt, and tossing against the fish in just the right way to salt it down without destroying it, so it lasts...that's magic. Almost. Do you make it yourself? Also, did your grandfather smoke a pipe?
Thankyou @kameeho. I literally pictured your narrative. More shout outs to your dad, one of the Heros of stockfish. Extend my greetings to him. Tell him Chidinma, a lover of stockfish from Nigeria sends my regard.
Norwegians: Finally someone else to buy our stockfish Nigerians: HA! You thought you were selling your product to another market but it was me, NIGERIA!
As a Norwegian who was born in Lofoten (one of the most beautiful places on earth) I have never considered eating stockfish until now. The dish the chef made looked amazing. The love, devotion, and care was beautiful, and it really looked good. In Norway, we’ve never considered using it this way. People just used to chew it lol, which is a horrible experience and the stench would kill you, and everyone around you 😂. It’s sad that they call it “local” when it’s coming from so far away. I guess that’s what happens after having been in their cuisine for the last 50 years. Great video nonetheless!
There are also a lot of things that are considered local cusine in Europe, but are imports. For example Swiss chocolate, Italian coffee, English tea or black pepper.
@@pocpic absolutely. But even sadder knowing it all began from hunger and lack of food. If food was abundant, then surely no one wouldn’t need to import. I know, us Europeans have stolen everything from everyone, except us Norwegians. We always ate that grew here where we live. Either way, it looked amazing :)
Stockfish is the most important flavour ingredient in most Nigerian soups but chefs even use it for Rice dishes as well. Would love to visit these fishing villages one day
The first episode in this series i actually cared about! Nice to see you highlight a product that is actually confusingly expensive rather than something super rare.
It is not confusing at all. About $5 per kilo for fresh fish and you need about 63000 kilos of fresh fish to make 10000 kilos of stock fish. That means about $32 of fresh fish is needed to make a kilo of stock fish and then you add labor costs, certification costs, packing costs, storage costs, taxes, insurance, shipping, middle men and some slight losses due to this being produced out in the open air. When you factor all this in it is quite amazing that anyone can sell this for as little as $65 per kilo on the other side of the planet and still make a profit. Imagine what your burger would cost if it took almost 1.6lbs of beef to make a simple quarterpounder and it all had to be made 10000km away from the store you bought it at.
@@rustknuckleirongut8107 there’s also the economic situation in Nigeria affecting forex and import restrictions, that add to the complexity of the cost of stock fish.
As a Nigerian, even seeing the uncooked stockfish makes my mouth water cause I know just how delicious it'll be once cooked. Now I know how it's made and that it seems we're the only ones in the world that eat it. If that type of cod goes extinct, I'll know exactly who did it lol
Atlantic cod which is the type stockfish is made of is very common and has been for thousands of years. It is one of the cheapest/most common fish but served differently than drying in america/Europe.
I like that I can eat the dried stock fish uncooked. Okporoko (stock fish) as it is fondly called by the Igbos in Nigeria is one delicate ingredient You want add to your soup and stew. Many Nigerians thinks the stock fish is locally produced because of how widely accepted it is by the locals.
@@ghostfacekiller001irk Nerheim, is quite a Norwegian name. Nerheim roughly translated to english (close to home) "also he is subscribed to (norske grønnsaker) so he is a quiet cultured Norwegian.
A Nigerian friend took me to one of the local African markets here in Baltimore, MD. Saw racks of stockfish and had the shopkeeper cut about 5 lbs of it; ran almost $70!! But my friend took it to make soup, and boy was it worth the price. Super umami flavor bomb.
I were working in factory in Iceland for 9.5yr where we were drying those Cod heads, and it were going 100%to Nigeria, we were producing 2.5 shipping containers a week, crazy amounts when there is more factories who producing same
I have tasted this Stockfish when my Nigerian coworker brought it on our table. So yummy and unique food. Love it! Thanks for this video, now I know how they produce it.❤
I’m from the south-East part of Nigeria. The southeast was where the war was fought and it is the part of Nigeria that eats more than 90% of the stock fish in Nigeria. A $20 pot of soup made with the stock fish should feed up to 4people. A plate of soup with stock fish in an averagely priced rest out at would be about $3-$5. Depending on the size of the fish. In an upscale restaurant, it might be about $10-$20. You have to understand nigerian cuisine to know that the soup goes with a “swallow” which is the main dish. A swallow is a carbohydrate staple made from cassava or plantain or yam or semolina. Let me know if you have more questions
@@Collins_Unfiltered How do they afford this if that's the average daily wage? It seems like the equivalent of someone only eating dry aged wagyu steak as their protein in the west. Why don't people just eat cheaper fish?
@@person849 not everyone can afford it. But you have to understand that there are 200m Nigerians. Even if only 10% can afford it, that’s 20m people and that still a very large customer base.
@@person849it’s more like an addiction now really. There’re cheaper alternatives, but they insist on it just because “that how my parents cooked it” “that’s how it’s cooked”.
Jamaica has a similar taste for Newfoundland salt cod. During prohibition, Jamaica used to export barrels of rum (and sea salt) to Newfoundland, and the salt and barrels were used to return salted cod in exchange, giving rise to the national dish ackee (a fruit from Ghana) and saltfish.
As a Norwegian, I always thought the main customers of "stokkfisk" were the Portuguese and Brazilians who like to cook bacalao. But maybe that's not the dried cod, but dried haddock? Norway to Nigeria is a very peculiar trade, what an interesting video!
In the Carribean Netherlands (and Surinam, formerly Dutch Guyana), "bakkeljauw" is salted cod ("kabeljauw" in Dutch), although nowadays cheaper fish such as coalfish are also used. The process is the same, except with added salt.
I am from Brazil. We only buy salt-dried cod here. It is used in many dishes, but the most common is called "Bacalhau com natas" (something like cod in cream sauce)
Recently I was thinking about the volume of stockfish consumed in Nigeria and wondered where it all came from. I was particularly curious about its sustainability going forward. In my head, I thought "Aren't we overfishing this breed?" "Will it still be available in the near future?" Some of my questions still remain unanswered, however, it was an interesting and insightful video...
Norwegian here! The cod fishing season off the coast of Lofoten is legendary and has been a staple in surviving the harsh winters this far north since as far back as the last ice age 10 000 years ago, when the Lofoten peninsula was ice free. Nothing beats fresh cod seared in a pan with a bit of butter! The cod migrates between Lofoten, where it spawns, and further north into the Barents sea into Russian territory. Norway spent a considerable amount of time and diplomatic resources trying to make a sustainability deal with the Soviet Union, before finally succeeding with Russia in the late 90's. This agreement puts quotas on both countries, as well as other countries wanting to fish in these zones to protect the stock. The deal is even more important now because of climate change pushing the cod further and further north into Russian territory. It's also interesting to note that Norway has, like a lot of countries, put sanctions on Russia and its abhorrent illegal war, but has withheld sanctioning the Russian fishing industry in fear of this deal being broken as retaliation and overfishing the cod when it is in their territory. Big debates are still ongoing in Norway about this, but the state has deemed the long term sustainability of the cod more important as the cod is vital for food safety in the arctic now and in the future. To answer your question: It is currently a very sustainable practice and we hope it will be for generations to come. Much love from the Arctic!
@@Hoim9000as a Brazilian, I love Norwegian salted cod fish. I guess Portugal is also a big importer of salted cod. But despite knowing this produce for so long, I never heard of stockfish. It's good to know that it's a sustainable practice.
Stockfish has been a backbone of Norway‘s coastal economy for more than 1000 years. Nigeria is a big market but the fish is also sold in large quantities to southern Europe, especially Italy. Mainly because of old, catholic fasting rules. It is not cheap, but still not that expensive, considering the very high protein content (almost no water or fat), a lot of manual work involved and the long production time. Also, a lot of clipfish (saltfish) is produced from similar oceanic cod further south. Because of the warmer weather along the western coast, this is not just dried (and actually a bit fermented), but heavily salted. During drying, this will cause some curing. Traditionally the fish was dried on naked sea cliffs, hence the name. Major export markets are Portugal and Brazil, but this is also a very popular dish along the western coastline. Including in our home. Stockfish is more popular up north, and served everywhere as «lutefisk» around Christmas. BTW, to some comments: These enormous cod stocks are well managed, overfishing is not an issue.
Nice addition to the info 👍 I just read that the Danish-Swedish cod population are extremely threatened by overfishing. Luckily this does not affect the Norwegian population, but it's sad this is happening now! You should think we had learned from the herring and wild salmon...
@@dalitrh True, North Sea cod, coastal cod in southern Norway, and the Baltic cod are all stocks under pressure. Fishing is (or should be) very restricted, but many nations share both the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and it is very hard to eliminate illegal fishing as well as solve the problem of cod cought as bycatch. Then add many other environmental and fishing practice issues. Up north, the Northeast Arctic cod stock is still strong, bot global warming is causing stocks to spawn further north. This can one day not to far away end the thousand year old Lofoten fisheries tradition.
@@janhanchenmichelsen2627 If the Lofoten spawning ends, it's going to be a tragedy for the entire coats! I worked indirectly with the fisheries when I was younger, and it's a very fragile industry. The smaller boats can't take much setbacks, then we're left with the production ships.. I spent a decade building those boats, they are like vaccums! And the new sonar technology let you see the eye color of the fish 😳🙄 not really, but you get the point. Their efficiency is scary!
1:23 I'm very intrigued by his use of the word "local" in describing how dominant stockfish is in Nigerian quisine that it defines the base aroma of classical Nigerian dishes. This interests me because while India is known for spicy food, chillies are actually from the americas developed by the native Peruvians and Chileans if I'm not mistaken. Yet for the reason that it is a resilient plant and a flavorful spice, it's overwhelmed Indian cooking in the north.
It looks and smells bad, but as a Norwegian I absolutely love the taste. Its extremely healthy also. Pure protein. I hope all tourists has a chance to taste it if you visit :)
3:05 wait, if Nora buys the fresh cod for 52 NOK per kg, but drying reduces the mass to 23% of original - isn't she losing money by selling the dried cod at 150 NOK per kg? 1 kg of fresh cod becomes let's say 250g dried cod for simplicity. Then she needs ~4 kg of fresh cod to make 1 kg of dried cod, meaning she needs to spend 52*4 = 208 NOK on the fresh cod to make 150 kr on the 1 kg of dried cod? That's gotta be a mistake right?
Stockfish is not popular only in Nigeria but also in Portugal and Italy as well as Brazil. Stockfish is not only made in Norway also Iceland, stockfish has been the most stable export of both countries since the Viking times so this is a tradition well over a 1000 years old. Stockfish was very important to Iceland, this is evident that the design of a royal seal issued by the Danish King featured it.
The fish that is exported to Portugal is actually Salted, called Klippfisk (Cliff Fish) as opposed to Tørrfisk (Stock Fish), which is dried for longer and unsalted. There is a bit difference in taste beyond the salt.
Swede here, eating this dish every christmas as a tradition. Not everyone in my family likes this fish. Its becoming less popular each year in the country as a whole also. It's sad really, because its delicious with the right accompaniments. Peace!
Nigerians love spicy & pungent foods thats why the stock fish appeals to their taste buds. If you wish to understand why we love this fish, ask a Nigerian to prepare Obono fish soup. My cousins are Norweigians, we always enjoy having stockfish as gifts when they visit. In return, we package local gifts to take back to Norway. It's good to see that one good gesture from Norway has brought good benefits.
I remember i used to eat stock fish that my grandpa made every saturday. We used to eat them uncooked where my family was from, just had to break/soften them up a bit with a hammer first so we didn't break a tooth over it. This was in Sunnmøre, the north western part of Norway. Good times.
Very nice stuff, thanks so much. I live in South Spain, here people dry flying fish (Parexocoetus brachypterus) that come over from Italy every spring on racks after keeping it in salt for like 1-2 months, so we have the "volaor", which is used a lot in the kitchen. 5€ for one, 3 if you know the dood. I eat that fish like a bar of snickers and if you got enough water you got energy for the whole day.
I come from a town called Kristiansund, and we are very famous for rockfish and bacalao. In the past there were many boats from Portugal to Kristiansund, and they brought the recipe for bacalao with them.
It's amazing how many nations have distinctive local cuisine based around foodstuffs that came from elsewhere. Poles, Russians, and Irish eating potatoes. Italians eating pasta and tomato. Nigerians eating stockfish. It's very cool.
Potatoes are strange to more or less everybody:) it was found in a small mountain area in South America only a couple of hundred years ago. It almost never got to Europe because the sailors that took it along the journey almost threw it overboard cause they couldn't imagine eating it. Until one guy came up with the idea of cooking them with salt instead of sugar and the rest is history:) It was more or less thanks to a couple of deckhands who took the plant with them, it was not what the cargo of the ship contained.
Stockfish was one of the important products traded by the Hanseatic League in the middle ages. In the city of Bergen in Norway there is a group of storehouses called Tyskebryggen (Deutsche Brücken) in the old town where Hanseatic merchants from northern Germany used to stay and store their cargo including stockfish.
Well, when you say "we", are you keeping in mind that most Taiwanese are not indigenous? Most Taiwanese are descendants of colonizers from the mainland, yes?
I highly recommend Stockfish, and if anyone ever gets the chance to try it they should! As a Swedish-American anytime I would fly to visit my grandparents we'd always have some sort of Stockfish meal during the Winter, it has such a powerful flavor. I remember fishing off of the Swedish coast with my family, leaving to go back to school in America, coming BACK to Sweden for Winter or Summer break and hearing 'we saved fished we caught X months ago or X year ago.' Alot of people in 'remote' villages produce Stockfish themselves, it's really not all that hard. You literally just prepare the fish, and then hang it outside in the winter. A toddler could do it. However, not all Stockfish is created equal. In my humble opinion, the ones that hang the highest are the best. No idea why, but to me they taste way better.
Portugal's national ingredient is not air dried cod, but salt dried cod, also imported from Norway and Iceland. So interesting to see how two random countries alone love dried cod so deeply. Now I really wanna try all those nigerian stews, they look amazing! Cheers from Portugal
What a great story. After watching this video I would love to try the Nigerian stockfish stew! I wonder if anyone knows any restaurants in London or the south UK in general that could do a proper one? Thank you!
Had the chance to make potato and fish stew from stockfish several years ago... fish was pricy but when slow cooked in a 3 gallon pot of water, it made enough stock to make 24 x 1 liter jars of stew.
"4:25 nigeria imported 8.94 million dollars of stockfish from norway" I thought this was like a BIG thing. Thats a wildly small market in the large scale.
irritating thread - the number 8M makes no sense as soon as you hear it, in any context, if you have watched and listened to both sides (Norway + Nigeria) of this documentary 😳 Common sense tells you that if an annual supply of stock fish is $1 per person (supposed to be *expensive* right, coming from Europe not a random Chinese village), if just 10% of the population (21M) consume it that’s $21M right there 😳 As soon as he said 8M I chuckled - it’s *obviously* wrong 🤷♂️ Anyway, in 2022 Norway exported 730M Norwegian Kronas of Stockfish which works out as US$68M today. If Nigeria took just half of that we would have US$34M 👍 Fishing is generally “big business” everywhere it is done on an industrial scale 👍
Good or Bad its surprising how a simple act / gesture can reverberate for decades if not lifetime. The simple gift from Norway has turned 2 cultures so interwoven that its hard to imagine one without the other. What will Nigeria do without stockfish? And what will Norway do without Nigerian consumption of its stockfish? Today, Millions of lives and existence is riding on that "simple" exchange back then. Who knew? Growing up, this is a MUST staple in my household especially with Egusi soup or Vegetable (Efo-Riro) similar to what the chef made. Thanks Mom. And this can be stored and available in remote villages with no electricity makes more readily available. I'm 52 and have always ate this since i was born. Now its good to know the history more.
What interests me the most is the affirmations in the comment section that stockfish fishing is monitored. If gives me a "rest easy" feeling that as a Nigerian, we are assured of an endless supply. Thanks Norway 🇳🇴
Wow, what fascinating story! Once you helped people in need, later it's become important part of your business! I never had stockfish, but I really want to try to understand, why Nigerians are so in love with it! 65$ for kilogram is pretty expensive, but if you think that is a dry fish price becomes more reasonable, since you replenish this fish before use. I'm very intrigued!
They can stop buying stockfish, they can start eating other fish. They made the choice. If you think Africa is paying too much for the fish then sell them the same fish for cheaper, or convince them to eat other things. It's not like it's a drug.
I can't gauge how expensive stockfish is. For one since most of the water is dried out, 1kg of stockfish must be more fish than what I think it is. Anyone can put into scale what an average meal made out of stockfish in Nigeria costs?
I’m from the south-East part of Nigeria. The southeast was where the war was fought and it is the part of Nigeria that eats more than 90% of the stock fish in Nigeria. A $20 pot of soup made with the stock fish should feed up to 4people. A plate of soup with stock fish in an averagely priced rest out at would be about $3-$5. Depending on the size of the fish. In an upscale restaurant, it might be about $10-$20. You have to understand nigerian cuisine to know that the soup goes with a “swallow” which is the main dish. A swallow is a carbohydrate staple made from cassava or plantain or yam or semolina. Let me know if you have other questions.
This is the kind of trade deficit you never expect. Norway the richest non-micro state on the world selling millions of dollars worth of lightly processed goods to a developing country.
If Nigeria was in Europe, they would buy up all the trawlers, stockfish stocks, take control of the market, centralise the processing amongst 2 or 3 manufacturers, and patent the process. One this is done, they'll control the the stockfish powder market end to end, and the Norwegians will get paid a minimal amount. The day Norwegians try and produce their own stockfish strips, then Nigeria blocks the sale for not meeting "quality" standards, and blocks them from selling it in Norway for intellectual property reasons.
Finally, a product which is inflated in price due to real market and social conditions and not just because of hype or percieved luxuriousness. This is an important episode indeed
Yeah man it seems like the help the Norwegians have them payed off some good ass karma😂
My kinda comment right here.
Or handmade the old-fashioned way
So you completely missed the part where this trade has to occur in US dollars, thereby creating scarcity that didn't exist before driving the price up.
1000 opercent agree, thats a master class comment
Beautiful story, found out years ago that all our stockfish come from Norway, but only just finding out it's because Norway aided Nigeria with stockfish during the Biafran civil war. As someone whose dad lost all his siblings during the civil war, some due to malnutrition (kwashiorkor et al), and whose dad survived due to aid nutrition, am glad the Norwegian economy is now benefiting from that goodwill as we benefited during the war.
Watching this video as I eat a meal prepared with grounded stockfish.
It looked tasty on the video. Are there still bones in the dried fish.
If so, are there a lot of bones, and are you constantly picking bones out of the meal?
@@davidgraham2673yes, the bones are there, but soft and tasty too.
@@chuddy09 , Consudering i like gristle on steak, pork, and chicken, as long as I don't have have to pick out the bones, I'm fine with eating them.
Thanks for the reply.
We call it salt fish where I live. We take all the bones out before cooking.
@@knowgood5903 , Is it also expensive there too? How often do you get to enjoy salt fish?
Thank you Norway 🇳🇴 we igbos of Nigeria 🇳🇬 will always be grateful 💯 ur forever our friends 🧡
This fish saved my dad during the Civil War. Him and many other children then had chronic protein deficiency.
The Norway helped and brought protein for them.
It saved millions of lives then and we developed appetite for it.
The Norwegians did great thing for me, I will be eternally grateful.
I wouldn't be born if my dad had died.
I'm in the same exact boat.
That is how it come to the so called Nigeria without meaning and among the tribes in Nigeria it is only igbo biafra tribe that eat it more than other tribes again it is identity of igbo biafra tribe BIAFRA
Lies again? Net Flix Norway Fish
@@NazriB yes it is theirs but Africa eat it more than them the owner more especially Nigeria eat it more than them for instance igbo biafra tribe can't do without it no matter how rich or poor igbos will eat it
Norwegian guy here, also grew up eating stockfish we caught and dried ourselves. I had no idea that it is exported to nigeria ^^
As a Norwegian, i am shocked and soooo suprised we actually Export almost 100% of our Stock fish. That finally answers my question of where All the fish they producer goes - cuz i have literally never seen it for sale here!
that is truly sad.
Nigeria took them all
@@slewone4905yeah kind of messed up. Not like Norway has a giant population.
It was probably originally given up because your consumers saw it as an inferior cheap product and hardly ate it. It was given as AID. Countries aren't like oh let's give this filet mignon, caviar, and parmigiano reggiano as AID 😂 they send foods they have an abundance of and can't sell at a decent price. Norway truly capitalized on this situation and created such a dependence that now a country far away defines it as "local" & essential to its cultural cuisine - that's what's truly sad.
@@namehere4954 i kinda thought the same why only mostly fish heads where is the rest of the fish xd
As a Nigerian that grew up in Nigeria, eating Nigerian food, I can tell you that we use stock fish in almost all our soups, especially the soups with palm oil. The umami flavour that stock fish gives is unmatched🔥🔥
Very surprised to learn that it comes from Norway. Thank you Insider for this intelligent video👏🏼👏🏼
Then what is your original/indigenous food?
@@shortvideos4719 Garri
Unsalted Dried Fish
@@shortvideos4719Dried cod fish is used an an ingredient in western Africa. It's not a dish in and of itself. In most of the dishes the stock fish can easily be substituted by local sorts fish.
U don dey speak umami😂
Dried cod is to Nigeria basically what Spam is to Hawaii, which also began its climb to prominence, first as an emergency protein food source (in this case WW2 Army rations) and soon became an integral part of the local cuisine - *spam sushi* being an underrated delicacy.
Only in the sense that it is a food from another part of the world, which has become a major part of a local cuisine coincidentally. The trade and logistics are a lot deeper than that!
@@whatshappenedhere1784 well yeah, just saying they're similar.
Why not using MSG for seasoning? its cheaper and doing the same job
@@potmadu4153 what does msg have to do with this?
@@youtubeSuckssNow it's the king of flavor, and they use the stock fish to add the umami flavor
Fascinating story. I never knew Nigeria and Norway were so connected!! I wish we got to know deeper how stockfish was introduced into Nigerian cuisine in the beginning until eventually being an integral part of the cuisine. Either way, cool!!
That's the cool thing about global trade. I bet there's all sorts of fascinating stories about resources impacting various communities around the world.
It’s total garbage that we can’t live without buying this products. How can all this fish be exported to Nigeria. That means they are living off us
@@abdulrahmanaabidopakunle2721 u r funny u say us. Its for SE mostly my friend
I always wondered about stockfish in Africa, and thought they make it by themselves.
@@abdulrahmanaabidopakunle2721 I say people are happy to buy this fish. If they could buy it in dollar they would be even more happy. Shocking to hear that dollar currency is rare, but I guess people only use it for import/export trade, so local traders dont accept or can give change in dollar? I'd be happy to buy a Nigerian product. Greetings from Germany
i never would have thought Norway and Nigeria were so intimately linked by cod....
actually this is pretty adorable.
"whenever we thought we found a new market, its actually the Nigerians living abroad"
Gosh danggit, it's the bloody Nigerians again!
I’m a American born to Nigerian parents. Stock fish was a part of my childhood. If you asked me I would have sworn it came from Nigeria. Interesting video
Same. I personally, though, can take it or leave it when it comes to stock fish. The odor of it is strong. It only adds a slight flavor to the soup. Now palm oil...is the one thing I can't do without in my soup.
Did that help improve your chess?
The happiness and joy it brings is great in igbo land
You mean you are Nigerian born American because your introduction seems like you don't identify as Nigerian?
@@zainabmaciver5964 Reading what I wrote I can see why you think that. I’m Nigerian-American, technically. Born/raised in the US, my parents are born/raised in Nigeria. But I do tell people in the US that I’m Nigerian; very proud of that 🇳🇬
It's very nice that Norway's good deed back in the day has created a whole market and helped to boost their economy in the long run.
Most Scandinavian countries tend to have that sort of philosophy
@@RBsRealm Where did you get that from?
Couldn´t be further from the truth.
Norway not as much as the other two, but that is only because Norway has big Oil and Salmon buisness.
Sweden and Denmark alike got their riches from destroying the baltic sea and abusing the poor.
@@naga3070 ok hanky
@@Merido ok subby
@@naga3070 dang almost like all now bottom feeder first world countries haha
For those who didn't know, the unique conditions in Norway being cold & dry air, makes it different to dried fish in the Sun that is produced elsewhere. The Cod (stockfish) basically undergo a slow fermentation while it has moisture for a month or so before it begins to dry out. This is why the taste is so intense and the aroma is pungent. Whereas dried fish from direct Sun in hot climates, you just get dried fish.. none of the funky strong flavors or extra umami via fermentation.
😊😊
Yup its basically dry aged fish
World is a wonderful place.. on the name of Umami.. cheers!
Its basically just a dried age fish but made in cold countries. Norway had a difficulty to sold this region speciality food even to locals. So, it was given for food _AID_ for starvation in nigeria. A region that has access to sea and COULD made dried fish by itself though its made under hot sun and salt.
Its both a lovely and ironic story. Even for now norway still struggles to sold it anywhere else but nigerians. Its the second time I heard about a sweet story about relationship between europe and african
If only this vid is not under "why is it so expensive theme" -_-
@@3takoyakis Nigerias population is 210 million and will be 280 million in 2030 that is all the market Norway would ever need
The markup between raw ingredients and finished product actually makes sense here. The dried stock fish is much more expensive than what they gave the fisherman for the cod, but the dried is a fraction of the weight and then you have the processing and transportation costs added in.
Yes, for once this does not look to be expensive for no other reason than “we can raise the price and people really want to buy this pointless thing”
It's literally the same as everything else. (Shipping + Processing + Labor) x Demand/Supply. It's just that they actually explained why it's expensive here instead of just how it's produced
Dont forget the cost of government regulations.
It is still too cheap. The government is trying to stop the waste of foreign exchange. The importer and exporters resist. Eventually it would be too expensive for more and more people to buy. Interest would eventually wane. Give it a few more years. By then, the price would have doubled, tripled. Consumers with common sense would buy other fish.
@@simonkoeman3310What these comments are referencing are the loads of videos in this series where a product is expensive because one company or family controls production
As a Nigerian living in Canada, I often receive negative attention when I cook stockfish. Moreover, I have to be cautious not to bring food with the stockfish aroma to work if I don't want people to dislike it. I used to believe that stockfish was exclusively a Nigerian delicacy, although I didn't know the source. Interestingly, the smell of stockfish is reminiscent of another beloved ingredient, locust beans. I used to associate stockfish with Nigeria and vice versa, so I was quite surprised to learn that it originated from the white people. Additionally, I appreciate the story of how the Norwegian people supported Nigeria by providing stockfish.
Western society will never understand that these stinky dried fish are *chef's kiss*
filipinos love dried fish... would love to taste nigerian cooking with stockfish
You had to throw in the white people comment. 😒
@@conanobrian8580what is wrong with that
@@kev4the537 I'm sure the other way around would seem offensive as well. If I said, "I was surprised roti originated from the black people". See how stupid that sounds?
Norway : Please, take this to alleviate your famine
Nigeria : I will take your whole supply
Norway : Wait, really?
Nigeria : EVERY FISH. EVERY LAST GOD DAMN ONE. Make more if you can. WE. WANT. THEM. ALL
In all seriousness, there was something quite profoundly beautiful about watching a chef at a fine dining establishment making a simple stew, and how deeply he seems to care for it.
this aint reddit
😂
Nigeria doesn't have famine
@@minimadey famine is a widespread scarcity of food ... So yes, Nigeria has had famines
@@minimadey it was a back in the day joke man
It's crazy to think that something that's so local to one place, can come from another corner of the world with an entirely different ecosystem.
Human cooperation at it's best 👍
What a story: Norway provides stockfish to fight hunger in Nigeria in their time of need, and that create a whole culinary culture around stockfish, which cannot even be created in Nigeria, so they keep importing it from Norway.
History has many twists and turns.
You need to get rid of the notion that Africans are hungry. Trust me they one of the most well fed people around the globe... they usually cook 4 different types of meat in one pot. I've never seen a skinny Nigerian in my life
Norway SELLS stockfish to nigeria. No charity involved, no starvation either, less u aint hear how much it cost
It did not create new cuisines for us but was only added to further enrich existing recipes.
@@lehutjomaja1173 Nigeria faught a civil war that lead to famine in some areas due to food blockade and that's where Norway's generosity came in with the stock fish. Years after that war Nigeria still consumes stock fish but not for hunger but as a part of their cuisine. I believe this is the point he was making.
@@arulachichukwueke3219 hence I said if you think Norway came to rescue Nigerians you absolutely wrong!!!! Even Europeans don't eat pork, poultry, beef, and lamb in the same pot
As a Nigerian, stock fish is very vital in our cuisines, cos it gives a special kind of texture and aroma. When used in a soup we call "Ogbono", the taste becomes yummy😅😂
I wonder if that's the same as 'umami' which is often found in fishy dishes or sauces. It is very popular worldwide
Dude go vegan, this is brutal mass animal murder
@@MrPojopojo yup, definitely Umami
So what did they use before the stockfish/codfish? There must have been a local fish they used 60+ years ago.
@@onanisland157 have you compared it to ajinomoto? they have nigerian branch. they ferment sugarcane droppings to produce umami powder. you can use it to add umami to food that normally doesnt have umami.
The Norwegians were generous to send their salted Cod fish to feed millions starving during the Civil War, it has become a part of the culinary tradition in the East and Southern parts of the country. A seed sown in kindness by Norway has grown into a business that unites both countries. May the conditions that brought about that Biafran Conflict never visit our people again.
What is happening now
It is only the igbo biafra tribe and they land that eat most other tribes may start now but as far as this fish is concerned it is igbo biafra tribe identity and culture and traditions both rich and poor people have it again anything doing in igbo biafra tribe land you will see it poor people or rich people again other tribes in Nigeria I don't know their level when it comes to this fish but we igbo biafra tribe it is our identity and culture and traditions
It’s good to finally see how stock fish is dried! As a Nigerian, I grew up eating stock fish in every soup my Mother made❤
Do you know I had thought that stockfish was from south-south Nigeria o. Little did I know that it's from Norway, oh me.
And as a Norwegian it's great to see how it's appreciated in Nigeria ❤️
I grew up with climbing the racks when I was a kid 😊 My favourite is a freshly dried fish, give it a few hit with a hammer and then eat it dry with a good beer ❤
The best stockfish is made from migratory ocean cod, not costal cod, that makes it a lot more expensive! The season for ocean cod only last for a little while before it moves on. And the rules against overfishing also drive up the prices! But the price of stockfish here in Norway, are extremely high! Most people make it themselves or doesn't care about it at all 😮
@@dalitrh wow that's interesting to know. I just hope you didn't step on any of the racks where the stockfish I ate was later placed on😁
thunderstrike them
@@praize111
It was my neighbours rack, so only for private consumption 😄 One of the benefits of living right next to the north sea 😍 You don't starve if you eat fish! But you have to catch it yourself, because the prices for animal and fish meat is up by 40% since last year 😳🙄🐟 And when you live in a "wealthy" country, 40% increase is a lot! It was expensive before also...
There is something magical about a country falling in love with another's product, and then completely integrating it into their culture.
I don't know what it is, maybe the unlikely match, or the sheer distance between them but it's beautiful
*TRY NOT TO START ARGUMENTS UNDER A COMMENT CHALLENGE* 😱 *IMPOSSIBLE* 😱
I guess this is a benefit of globalization. In a walled up world, no one would have known or cared they were starving.
unless ofc the US/west tried to destabilize them and thats what led to the civil war as is the case like 75% of the time lmao, but still
Both bro maybe something in Nigerian food just mixes perfect with it and the network built to bring it together is amazing.
Ah, yes, the beauty of total dependence on another, reflected in the black market holding near monopoly on the product's already overinflated prices! Let alone that this is a cultural phenomenon that stemmed from the trauma and despair of starvation in the first place. Gorgeous indeed!
@@TerraDoctor I’m sure your a real joy to be around lol you’re so whiny and negative it’s kinda funny
Stockfish saved the lives of many Igbo children during a genocidal war in the late 60s. The connection with stockfish among the Igbos of Nigeria is a deep soul tie.
My grandfather was a through and through Fisherman from the north of Norway, this was during a time before they had large scale industrial fishers. And instead travelled solo in a type of boat called a Sjark (Pronounced: Shark).
I have fond memmories of spending the long summer days going with him out fishing, and he had always a jolly atittude especially around children. Despite the language being otherwise (Northerners are known for vocabulary filled with profanity, often humorous and creative ones)
Now he would make stockfish himself, and had a shack where he hung them up and prepared it.
For a lot of people might not know this but the creation of stockfish can be very intensive when it comes to routine. You'd think it was just to clean the fish, strap it onto ropes and hang them up for dry. But it isn't nescessarily so. One process is to routinely salt them with sea salt. And to save some money, he would take a short stroll to the coast and pick up seawater to boil down into salt.
Then he would use this salt to regularly throw them over the hanging fish repeatedly, and routinely, every early morning before heading out for fishing, and mid-day and before going to sleep.
He would never rub the salt against the fish as that could damage it, and would change the flavor.
He lived mostly alone, on a somewhat remote island, in a house that was mostly off grid, had electricity but no plumbing or anything else, quite the solitude life.
His life was of hardship, and fishing during winter in the cold north was no pleasantry, ice-biting winds and rain below freezing, turning instantly to ice upon contact with cold surfaces (He lost a finger because of frostbite due to this type of condition)
Weather is often stormy during this season as well, with waves up to double digits. And because if his skills in sailing these seas especially in reading the weather, he often worked for the Coastal-resque teams when other fishermen were at distress or missing.
And his case was not a unique case etiher. He was just one of many fisherman of his generation during that time. But the stockfish he made was out of top quality.
Many don't know, but Stock-fish as it is, makes a wonderfull tasty snack. Better and healthier than potatoe-chips, and goes excellent with any kind of dipping sauce, be it soy or dressings, even salsa and on salads when torn into fine pieces similar to pulled-pork.
It actually doesn't look bad and seafood generally disgusts me sadly. Wish it didn't but I wasn't really raised with it although I've always lived in places where it was around.
Think nasty ass fish sticks turned me off. Stil can't get over the fishy smell either.
Anyway screw industrial fisherman. Love how authorities in the US crack down on some small row boat. Yet you have industrial boats dragging in all types of sealife killing them and THEN tossing unwanted fish into the sea!
IMO you should have to use what you caught
Bro, you should definitely write a book on this. Will definitely turn into a good book and this should be in one of the chapters.. thanks for sharing this, it's wonderful
Thank you for sharing and may God Almighty YHWH guide and protect you and your family as to all of you too ❤️
This is beautiful. Takk!
The idea of preserving a lot of foods without refrigeration...it's not that big a deal to me. But meat and fish? That's almost magical to me, because it's something that you have to be so careful about.
And the idea of a old Norwegian, catching his cod, hanging it up, boiling down seawater for salt, and tossing against the fish in just the right way to salt it down without destroying it, so it lasts...that's magic. Almost.
Do you make it yourself? Also, did your grandfather smoke a pipe?
Thankyou @kameeho. I literally pictured your narrative. More shout outs to your dad, one of the Heros of stockfish. Extend my greetings to him. Tell him Chidinma, a lover of stockfish from Nigeria sends my regard.
Norwegians: Finally someone else to buy our stockfish
Nigerians: HA! You thought you were selling your product to another market but it was me, NIGERIA!
As a Norwegian who was born in Lofoten (one of the most beautiful places on earth) I have never considered eating stockfish until now. The dish the chef made looked amazing. The love, devotion, and care was beautiful, and it really looked good. In Norway, we’ve never considered using it this way. People just used to chew it lol, which is a horrible experience and the stench would kill you, and everyone around you 😂. It’s sad that they call it “local” when it’s coming from so far away. I guess that’s what happens after having been in their cuisine for the last 50 years. Great video nonetheless!
the difference is that their young women still cook, our european women on the other hand mostly smoke and buy ready to eat food 😂cancer is high😂
There are also a lot of things that are considered local cusine in Europe, but are imports.
For example Swiss chocolate, Italian coffee, English tea or black pepper.
@@pocpic absolutely. But even sadder knowing it all began from hunger and lack of food. If food was abundant, then surely no one wouldn’t need to import. I know, us Europeans have stolen everything from everyone, except us Norwegians. We always ate that grew here where we live. Either way, it looked amazing :)
@@AlOfNorway you never ate stockfush and still are bragging. Lol gtfo
Stockfish is the most important flavour ingredient in most Nigerian soups but chefs even use it for Rice dishes as well. Would love to visit these fishing villages one day
The first episode in this series i actually cared about! Nice to see you highlight a product that is actually confusingly expensive rather than something super rare.
It is not confusing at all. About $5 per kilo for fresh fish and you need about 63000 kilos of fresh fish to make 10000 kilos of stock fish. That means about $32 of fresh fish is needed to make a kilo of stock fish and then you add labor costs, certification costs, packing costs, storage costs, taxes, insurance, shipping, middle men and some slight losses due to this being produced out in the open air. When you factor all this in it is quite amazing that anyone can sell this for as little as $65 per kilo on the other side of the planet and still make a profit. Imagine what your burger would cost if it took almost 1.6lbs of beef to make a simple quarterpounder and it all had to be made 10000km away from the store you bought it at.
@@rustknuckleirongut8107 there’s also the economic situation in Nigeria affecting forex and import restrictions, that add to the complexity of the cost of stock fish.
As a Nigerian, even seeing the uncooked stockfish makes my mouth water cause I know just how delicious it'll be once cooked. Now I know how it's made and that it seems we're the only ones in the world that eat it. If that type of cod goes extinct, I'll know exactly who did it lol
The Chinese?
Only ones that really eat this specific way of preserving cod, fresh and salted cod is still very popular and salted cod is heavily exported as well.
Atlantic cod which is the type stockfish is made of is very common and has been for thousands of years. It is one of the cheapest/most common fish but served differently than drying in america/Europe.
I like that I can eat the dried stock fish uncooked. Okporoko (stock fish) as it is fondly called by the Igbos in Nigeria is one delicate ingredient You want add to your soup and stew. Many Nigerians thinks the stock fish is locally produced because of how widely accepted it is by the locals.
As a Norwegian who have been up north multiple times and seen (and tasted) these fish, I had no clue so much of it is sent to Nigeria!
Your not Norwegian 😂
@@ecognitio9605why not? Are your racist?
What made you Norwegian lmao
@@ghostfacekiller001irk Nerheim, is quite a Norwegian name. Nerheim roughly translated to english (close to home) "also he is subscribed to (norske grønnsaker) so he is a quiet cultured Norwegian.
@@ecognitio9605hæ
A Nigerian friend took me to one of the local African markets here in Baltimore, MD. Saw racks of stockfish and had the shopkeeper cut about 5 lbs of it; ran almost $70!! But my friend took it to make soup, and boy was it worth the price. Super umami flavor bomb.
I were working in factory in Iceland for 9.5yr where we were drying those Cod heads, and it were going 100%to Nigeria, we were producing 2.5 shipping containers a week, crazy amounts when there is more factories who producing same
That chef is something else. Dude's calm demeanor is therapeutical, ha-ha!
I have tasted this Stockfish when my Nigerian coworker brought it on our table. So yummy and unique food. Love it! Thanks for this video, now I know how they produce it.❤
I’m from the south-East part of Nigeria. The southeast was where the war was fought and it is the part of Nigeria that eats more than 90% of the stock fish in Nigeria.
A $20 pot of soup made with the stock fish should feed up to 4people.
A plate of soup with stock fish in an averagely priced rest out at would be about $3-$5. Depending on the size of the fish. In an upscale restaurant, it might be about $10-$20.
You have to understand nigerian cuisine to know that the soup goes with a “swallow” which is the main dish.
A swallow is a carbohydrate staple made from cassava or plantain or yam or semolina.
Let me know if you have more questions
Are the prices you are talking about U.S. currency?
@@jimminyjemimah yes
@@Collins_Unfiltered How do they afford this if that's the average daily wage? It seems like the equivalent of someone only eating dry aged wagyu steak as their protein in the west. Why don't people just eat cheaper fish?
@@person849 not everyone can afford it. But you have to understand that there are 200m Nigerians. Even if only 10% can afford it, that’s 20m people and that still a very large customer base.
@@person849it’s more like an addiction now really. There’re cheaper alternatives, but they insist on it just because “that how my parents cooked it” “that’s how it’s cooked”.
Jamaica has a similar taste for Newfoundland salt cod. During prohibition, Jamaica used to export barrels of rum (and sea salt) to Newfoundland, and the salt and barrels were used to return salted cod in exchange, giving rise to the national dish ackee (a fruit from Ghana) and saltfish.
you really cant beat it as a protein that is shelf stable without the use of salt
As a Norwegian, I always thought the main customers of "stokkfisk" were the Portuguese and Brazilians who like to cook bacalao. But maybe that's not the dried cod, but dried haddock? Norway to Nigeria is a very peculiar trade, what an interesting video!
In the Carribean Netherlands (and Surinam, formerly Dutch Guyana), "bakkeljauw" is salted cod ("kabeljauw" in Dutch), although nowadays cheaper fish such as coalfish are also used. The process is the same, except with added salt.
We eat salt dried cod in Portugal, not stock.
I am from Brazil. We only buy salt-dried cod here. It is used in many dishes, but the most common is called "Bacalhau com natas" (something like cod in cream sauce)
Its hardcock
It’s definitely cod, and it stinks in all of the supermarkets in Portugal !
This was fascinating. Dried fish has an important place in Portuguese cuisine, as well as many Caribbean countries' cuisines.
Bacalao
Bacalao con ñame.
Bacalao is fresh cod packed in salt. Stockfish is cod that gets air dried.
Recently I was thinking about the volume of stockfish consumed in Nigeria and wondered where it all came from. I was particularly curious about its sustainability going forward. In my head, I thought "Aren't we overfishing this breed?" "Will it still be available in the near future?" Some of my questions still remain unanswered, however, it was an interesting and insightful video...
That's why ecology studies are necessary to not destroy a species so many rely upon for sustenance
Norwegian here! The cod fishing season off the coast of Lofoten is legendary and has been a staple in surviving the harsh winters this far north since as far back as the last ice age 10 000 years ago, when the Lofoten peninsula was ice free. Nothing beats fresh cod seared in a pan with a bit of butter!
The cod migrates between Lofoten, where it spawns, and further north into the Barents sea into Russian territory. Norway spent a considerable amount of time and diplomatic resources trying to make a sustainability deal with the Soviet Union, before finally succeeding with Russia in the late 90's. This agreement puts quotas on both countries, as well as other countries wanting to fish in these zones to protect the stock.
The deal is even more important now because of climate change pushing the cod further and further north into Russian territory. It's also interesting to note that Norway has, like a lot of countries, put sanctions on Russia and its abhorrent illegal war, but has withheld sanctioning the Russian fishing industry in fear of this deal being broken as retaliation and overfishing the cod when it is in their territory. Big debates are still ongoing in Norway about this, but the state has deemed the long term sustainability of the cod more important as the cod is vital for food safety in the arctic now and in the future.
To answer your question: It is currently a very sustainable practice and we hope it will be for generations to come.
Much love from the Arctic!
@@Hoim9000as a Brazilian, I love Norwegian salted cod fish. I guess Portugal is also a big importer of salted cod.
But despite knowing this produce for so long, I never heard of stockfish. It's good to know that it's a sustainable practice.
- yeah I was wondering the same.
@@Hoim9000 Thanks for this beautiful and elaborate response.
Stockfish has been a backbone of Norway‘s coastal economy for more than 1000 years. Nigeria is a big market but the fish is also sold in large quantities to southern Europe, especially Italy. Mainly because of old, catholic fasting rules. It is not cheap, but still not that expensive, considering the very high protein content (almost no water or fat), a lot of manual work involved and the long production time. Also, a lot of clipfish (saltfish) is produced from similar oceanic cod further south. Because of the warmer weather along the western coast, this is not just dried (and actually a bit fermented), but heavily salted. During drying, this will cause some curing. Traditionally the fish was dried on naked sea cliffs, hence the name. Major export markets are Portugal and Brazil, but this is also a very popular dish along the western coastline. Including in our home. Stockfish is more popular up north, and served everywhere as «lutefisk» around Christmas. BTW, to some comments: These enormous cod stocks are well managed, overfishing is not an issue.
Nice addition to the info 👍
I just read that the Danish-Swedish cod population are extremely threatened by overfishing. Luckily this does not affect the Norwegian population, but it's sad this is happening now! You should think we had learned from the herring and wild salmon...
Lutefisk ahhh noo noooo Noooooo why ?? Why would you make that then eat it?!?!?!?
@@dalitrh True, North Sea cod, coastal cod in southern Norway, and the Baltic cod are all stocks under pressure. Fishing is (or should be) very restricted, but many nations share both the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and it is very hard to eliminate illegal fishing as well as solve the problem of cod cought as bycatch. Then add many other environmental and fishing practice issues. Up north, the Northeast Arctic cod stock is still strong, bot global warming is causing stocks to spawn further north. This can one day not to far away end the thousand year old Lofoten fisheries tradition.
@@janhanchenmichelsen2627
If the Lofoten spawning ends, it's going to be a tragedy for the entire coats! I worked indirectly with the fisheries when I was younger, and it's a very fragile industry. The smaller boats can't take much setbacks, then we're left with the production ships.. I spent a decade building those boats, they are like vaccums! And the new sonar technology let you see the eye color of the fish 😳🙄 not really, but you get the point. Their efficiency is scary!
@@dalitrh Vi får utrydde villfisken og så flytte til Sveits alle mann ...
In Nigeria the only time you know you are eat a rich soup is when it is full of Stock fish! In igbo language we call it okporoko.
1:23 I'm very intrigued by his use of the word "local" in describing how dominant stockfish is in Nigerian quisine that it defines the base aroma of classical Nigerian dishes. This interests me because while India is known for spicy food, chillies are actually from the americas developed by the native Peruvians and Chileans if I'm not mistaken. Yet for the reason that it is a resilient plant and a flavorful spice, it's overwhelmed Indian cooking in the north.
"Every time we think we have a new market, we find out it's just Nigerians living in another country." This was perfect way to end this episode 😂
Stockfish is expensive mainly due to the massive computing power required to run it optimally.
but dont use it to cheat
And you’re putting it on your bum as plug they said.
Checkmate
Runs on my 89$ Walmart phone
Came here to read that
It looks and smells bad, but as a Norwegian I absolutely love the taste. Its extremely healthy also. Pure protein. I hope all tourists has a chance to taste it if you visit :)
Yes tried to taste it, but impossible for someone who is not used to fish, i prefer salmon😂
@GothamChess delicious, but expensive and unbeatable. this should be your next sponsor
Love how food seems to always connect different cultures from around the world. Great story.
3:05 wait, if Nora buys the fresh cod for 52 NOK per kg, but drying reduces the mass to 23% of original - isn't she losing money by selling the dried cod at 150 NOK per kg? 1 kg of fresh cod becomes let's say 250g dried cod for simplicity. Then she needs ~4 kg of fresh cod to make 1 kg of dried cod, meaning she needs to spend 52*4 = 208 NOK on the fresh cod to make 150 kr on the 1 kg of dried cod? That's gotta be a mistake right?
As a Norwegian, this makes me proud.
Yes that is some good trading brought about from charity kudos to you Norway.
@@dkexpat2755 don't be a wanker
Is it sustainable though? Like doesn't it affect the fish population
@@MarvoBro It’s crazy, its now illigal to fish cod in the Oslo-fjord. I’m no scientist, but something is not right.
@@Fredrikstbyecan i get contact numbers or email address of direct dealer of stockfish in Norway for business purposes ?
Here in Liguria,italy, as well as in other regions, we also historically have consume stockfish for centurie, we call it stocafisso
Stockfish is not popular only in Nigeria but also in Portugal and Italy as well as Brazil. Stockfish is not only made in Norway also Iceland, stockfish has been the most stable export of both countries since the Viking times so this is a tradition well over a 1000 years old. Stockfish was very important to Iceland, this is evident that the design of a royal seal issued by the Danish King featured it.
The fish that is exported to Portugal is actually Salted, called Klippfisk (Cliff Fish) as opposed to Tørrfisk (Stock Fish), which is dried for longer and unsalted. There is a bit difference in taste beyond the salt.
Swede here, eating this dish every christmas as a tradition. Not everyone in my family likes this fish. Its becoming less popular each year in the country as a whole also. It's sad really, because its delicious with the right accompaniments.
Peace!
I've never heard of stock fish before. but that nigerian dish with stockfish looks great!!! I really wanna try it!
Stock fish is class, mainly the KOD no parts is wasted on a stockfish. The fish head gills is amazingly refreshing
Cod…
There’s a local in Iceland that has the nickname ’Haus’ (Head) because he has made quite a bit of money exporting fish heads to Africa
Lol that’s a funny one
Nigerians love spicy & pungent foods thats why the stock fish appeals to their taste buds. If you wish to understand why we love this fish, ask a Nigerian to prepare Obono fish soup.
My cousins are Norweigians, we always enjoy having stockfish as gifts when they visit. In return, we package local gifts to take back to Norway. It's good to see that one good gesture from Norway has brought good benefits.
Stock fish was a staple food source for the pre industrial world as a sailor food
I remember i used to eat stock fish that my grandpa made every saturday. We used to eat them uncooked where my family was from, just had to break/soften them up a bit with a hammer first so we didn't break a tooth over it. This was in Sunnmøre, the north western part of Norway. Good times.
Time for not very inventive joke: Stockfish is so expensive because almost every chess player needs it
Ya even the billionaires these days want to taste those 🙃
I have no idea what that is supposed to mean
Lmaoooooo
fr tho
I clicked on this video thinking it was a chess video.
Those harvests seem so huge, its amazing there are any COD left in the sea.
Very nice stuff, thanks so much. I live in South Spain, here people dry flying fish (Parexocoetus brachypterus) that come over from Italy every spring on racks after keeping it in salt for like 1-2 months, so we have the "volaor", which is used a lot in the kitchen. 5€ for one, 3 if you know the dood. I eat that fish like a bar of snickers and if you got enough water you got energy for the whole day.
Stockfish is expensive knowing that the process behind all that is strenuous and exhausting. Great video as always.
I'm global no1 Johnson user. But please ban nana!
@@productsandfame2701ml bengbeng players sure are cringe af.
the process makes it expensive?
bro,they just hang the fish outside and wait....
@@bloodlove93Spoken like someone who doesn't realise time and space are resources as well.
norwegian wages probably make it expensive
The most random story. Very good to tell during cocktail parties
I come from a town called Kristiansund, and we are very famous for rockfish and bacalao. In the past there were many boats from Portugal to Kristiansund, and they brought the recipe for bacalao with them.
Stockfish dealers always give you your first bump for free. Then they've got you.
As a Chessplayer, I am proud of my Norwegian players and stockfish allows me to learn and be a better chess player!
fr?
@@rhemtro hahahah no it is a joke. in chess, "stockfish" is the name of a famous chess engine🤣
@@jeanie0722 The guy who developed the original Stockfish chess engine is Norwegian, and named it after the Norwegian stockfish. :-)
It's amazing how many nations have distinctive local cuisine based around foodstuffs that came from elsewhere.
Poles, Russians, and Irish eating potatoes. Italians eating pasta and tomato. Nigerians eating stockfish. It's very cool.
Potatoes are strange to more or less everybody:) it was found in a small mountain area in South America only a couple of hundred years ago.
It almost never got to Europe because the sailors that took it along the journey almost threw it overboard cause they couldn't imagine eating it.
Until one guy came up with the idea of cooking them with salt instead of sugar and the rest is history:)
It was more or less thanks to a couple of deckhands who took the plant with them, it was not what the cargo of the ship contained.
Lets ignore how and why they got there and just be stupid monkey and destroy the planet. With Vagiana beer!!! And plastic
As a Dutch person born in the Netherlands, i can say i know nothing about stockfish and it's just the youtube algorithm that brought me here.
Stockfish was one of the important products traded by the Hanseatic League in the middle ages. In the city of Bergen in Norway there is a group of storehouses called Tyskebryggen (Deutsche Brücken) in the old town where Hanseatic merchants from northern Germany used to stay and store their cargo including stockfish.
We have the same process to dry fish like that in Korea. We do with pollock 😊
Nice documentary -love from Republic of Taiwan. (the original and we are older than China)
Well, when you say "we", are you keeping in mind that most Taiwanese are not indigenous? Most Taiwanese are descendants of colonizers from the mainland, yes?
I can't imagine Nigeria without stockfish
I highly recommend Stockfish, and if anyone ever gets the chance to try it they should! As a Swedish-American anytime I would fly to visit my grandparents we'd always have some sort of Stockfish meal during the Winter, it has such a powerful flavor. I remember fishing off of the Swedish coast with my family, leaving to go back to school in America, coming BACK to Sweden for Winter or Summer break and hearing 'we saved fished we caught X months ago or X year ago.' Alot of people in 'remote' villages produce Stockfish themselves, it's really not all that hard. You literally just prepare the fish, and then hang it outside in the winter. A toddler could do it.
However, not all Stockfish is created equal. In my humble opinion, the ones that hang the highest are the best. No idea why, but to me they taste way better.
Portugal's national ingredient is not air dried cod, but salt dried cod, also imported from Norway and Iceland. So interesting to see how two random countries alone love dried cod so deeply. Now I really wanna try all those nigerian stews, they look amazing! Cheers from Portugal
I was about to say it’s expensive for its ability to analyze the most optimal move in Chess.
Stockfish: 1 brilliant move
18 Brilliant moves*
(Unless your computer has a different depth)
What a great story. After watching this video I would love to try the Nigerian stockfish stew! I wonder if anyone knows any restaurants in London or the south UK in general that could do a proper one? Thank you!
Just check out the Nigerian restaurant in your city.
Just make it yourself you lazy sod 😂
The only one could beat Magnus..
There are several important lessons about economics and the market in this video, great content, greetings from Argentina!
Had the chance to make potato and fish stew from stockfish several years ago... fish was pricy but when slow cooked in a 3 gallon pot of water, it made enough stock to make 24 x 1 liter jars of stew.
Never in my life would I have guessed that stockfish was eaten in Nigeria! It's mostly eaten dry as a snack in Norway nowadays.
"4:25 nigeria imported 8.94 million dollars of stockfish from norway"
I thought this was like a BIG thing. Thats a wildly small market in the large scale.
In today's market we go by billions now lol. Few years from now we'll go by trillions instead.....😑
Considering how worthless it is to other locations, that's a huge success for a particular type of fish.
Nigerians still buy 99% of the output of that region so relatively speaking it's a big niche for stockfish vendors
@wole4u yeah but literally 4 small businesses in the US can gross 10m a year, it's really not a huge market was my point
irritating thread - the number 8M makes no sense as soon as you hear it, in any context, if you have watched and listened to both sides (Norway + Nigeria) of this documentary 😳
Common sense tells you that if an annual supply of stock fish is $1 per person (supposed to be *expensive* right, coming from Europe not a random Chinese
village), if just 10% of the population (21M) consume it that’s $21M right there 😳
As soon as he said 8M I chuckled - it’s *obviously* wrong 🤷♂️
Anyway, in 2022 Norway exported 730M Norwegian Kronas of Stockfish which works out as US$68M today.
If Nigeria took just half of that we would have US$34M 👍
Fishing is generally “big business” everywhere it is done on an industrial scale 👍
Lol as a chess fan I didn't even know Stockfish was a real thing and not just a chess engine.
New York City man: "I'm a stock trader"
Lagos man: "I'm a stockfish trader"
person
I love these short docs by Insider Business.
Basically they were given a free sample 70 years ago now they whole country is hooked on the stuff...
Wait, this is not a chess video...
is it 4000 elo
Which stockfish?
Good or Bad its surprising how a simple act / gesture can reverberate for decades if not lifetime. The simple gift from Norway has turned 2 cultures so interwoven that its hard to imagine one without the other. What will Nigeria do without stockfish? And what will Norway do without Nigerian consumption of its stockfish?
Today, Millions of lives and existence is riding on that "simple" exchange back then. Who knew?
Growing up, this is a MUST staple in my household especially with Egusi soup or Vegetable (Efo-Riro) similar to what the chef made. Thanks Mom.
And this can be stored and available in remote villages with no electricity makes more readily available.
I'm 52 and have always ate this since i was born. Now its good to know the history more.
As long as I can remember I've been seeing this hanging in shops/markets around london and never knew what it was. Glad to finally know
It’s expensive because of its 3500 ELO
Actually, Stockfish is free :)
What interests me the most is the affirmations in the comment section that stockfish fishing is monitored.
If gives me a "rest easy" feeling that as a Nigerian, we are assured of an endless supply.
Thanks Norway 🇳🇴
Wow, what fascinating story!
Once you helped people in need, later it's become important part of your business!
I never had stockfish, but I really want to try to understand, why Nigerians are so in love with it!
65$ for kilogram is pretty expensive, but if you think that is a dry fish price becomes more reasonable, since you replenish this fish before use.
I'm very intrigued!
Sooner or later the Chinese will come up with the version of fake stock fish in the Nigerian market.
Very Sad How these various countries and people take a vantage of Africa 😢
They can stop buying stockfish, they can start eating other fish. They made the choice. If you think Africa is paying too much for the fish then sell them the same fish for cheaper, or convince them to eat other things. It's not like it's a drug.
Yes 👏🏾 start to Eat a different type of Fish this is Not some kind of Drugs where you are struggling with with drawls 🤷🏾♀️
I can't gauge how expensive stockfish is. For one since most of the water is dried out, 1kg of stockfish must be more fish than what I think it is. Anyone can put into scale what an average meal made out of stockfish in Nigeria costs?
$20 -$25 depending on household
I’m from the south-East part of Nigeria. The southeast was where the war was fought and it is the part of Nigeria that eats more than 90% of the stock fish in Nigeria.
A $20 pot of soup made with the stock fish should feed up to 4people.
A plate of soup with stock fish in an averagely priced rest out at would be about $3-$5. Depending on the size of the fish. In an upscale restaurant, it might be about $10-$20.
You have to understand nigerian cuisine to know that the soup goes with a “swallow” which is the main dish.
A swallow is a carbohydrate staple made from cassava or plantain or yam or semolina.
Let me know if you have other questions.
This is the kind of trade deficit you never expect. Norway the richest non-micro state on the world selling millions of dollars worth of lightly processed goods to a developing country.
If Nigeria was in Europe, they would buy up all the trawlers, stockfish stocks, take control of the market, centralise the processing amongst 2 or 3 manufacturers, and patent the process. One this is done, they'll control the the stockfish powder market end to end, and the Norwegians will get paid a minimal amount. The day Norwegians try and produce their own stockfish strips, then Nigeria blocks the sale for not meeting "quality" standards, and blocks them from selling it in Norway for intellectual property reasons.
You can also do a piece on why food, any food, is so expensive. We all know the answer, human greed (and weak and compromised government regulation)
Hans Niemann is a regular customer
Shut up
underrated
😂