Norse Mythology & Life 3 Old Norse Mytholog
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| Whales were also an important food resource during the Viking Age. The sagas frequently mention complex conflicts that arose because of disputes over the legal rights of a landowner to the meat, blubber, and bone from beached whales. It was probably extremely rare that ships went out and harpooned whales, and probably only Iceland and the Faroe Islands used this method of whaling. Whales were also trapped in inlets and bays with narrow openings, where they were frightened and driven aground from boats, or shot with poisoned arrows. The Old English Orosius tells how the chieftain Óttar (Ohthere, in Old English) of northern Norway hunted whales:
Ac on his agnum lande is se betsta hwælhuntað: þa beoð eahta and feowertiges elna lange, & þa mæstan fiftiges elna lange. Þara he sæde þæt he syxa sum ofsloge syxtig on twam dagum. (The Old English Orosius, 39-41) (And in his own land is the best whale-hunting: they are 48 ells long (180 feet), and the largest are 50 ells long. There he said that he and five others slew sixty in two days.) If the number of whales killed here is correct, then Óttar and his five men must have driven a pod of small whales such as pilot whales onto shore, and there killed them using knives and spears. Porpoises and seals were also hunted. The most important seal product was blubber, which was eaten in place of butter or used for frying. Apparently seal meat was not a particularly prized food, but was eaten by peasants because other meat was scarce. In addition, various sea birds and their eggs would have been consumed. Fruits Sloes, plums, apples and blackberries were consumed throughout Scandinavia and the Viking settlements. Bilberries were another common fruit, and unfortunately since the Icelandic word for bilberry is bláber (literally, "blue berry") many sources list these as "blueberries." Other fruits eaten included raspberries, elderberries, hawthorn berries, cherries, sour cherries, bullaces, cloudberries, strawberries, crabapple, rose hips, and rowan berries. Fruits were preserved by drying during the Viking Age, and by the Middle Ages in Scandinavia fruit was also preserved in honey or in sugar. Some fruit was imported in the medieval period, and there are archaeological finds in medieval contexts of fig seeds and grape pips. Vegetables The Viking peoples consumed a variety of vegetables, both grown in gardens and gathered in the wild. Vegetables known from Jorvík or Dublin include carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery, spinach, wild celery, cabbage, radishes, fava beans, and peas. Endive has been found at Svenborg on the Isle of Funden. Other vegetables would have included beets, angelica, mushrooms, leeks, onions, and edible seaweeds. Sandwort and acorns were used sometimes as starvation foods, but were only eaten in extremity as they were fairly unpalatable. Vegetables were generally preserved by drying. A variety of seeds were used to produce oils used in cooking as well in both Jorvík and Dublin. These included linseed oil, hempseed oil, and rapeseed oil. Dairy Dairy farming was very important in northern Sweden, Finland, and Norway, with cows being the primary dairy animal, although goat's milk was also used. 
In Iceland, the diet included very little in the way of cereals but instead relied primarily on protein sources, including milk and butter: "In Iceland, dairy food nevertheless enjoyed higher prestige than meat..." (Jochens, p. 128). Milk was not usually consumed, but rather used to create other dairy foods which could be stored for winter consumption, such as butter, buttermilk, whey, skyr, curds, and cheese (which was usually heavily salted to help preserve it). Salted butter could actually be kept for years: ... large stores were accumulated, like gold, by wealthy landowners. By the time of the reformation the bishropic in Hólar possessed a mountain of butter [from tithes] calculated to weigh twenty-five tons (Jochens, p. 128). Whey was retained and used either as a beverage or as a preservative to pickle meats and fish. The lactic acid in whey acted to slow or halt bacterial growth, allowing foods to be stored longer just as pickling in vinegar (acetic acid) does. Bread and Cereals  Occasionally archaeologists find the remains of cereal grains or bread survive from Viking Age sites, such as the bread from Birka shown here. Mostly cereals which have been burnt and carbonized survive in the archaeological record, to be discovered a millennium later.
Barley was the most commonly grown grain in Sweden in Denmark. Rye began being grown in Finland, eastern Sweden and parts of Denmark around 1000-1200, although rye production did not become widely established until the late Middle Ages. In Norway oats and barley were extensively cultivated. Iceland had some cultivation or barley and oats until around 1150, made possible by the favorable climate during the first part of the Middle Ages. Wheat has also been found at Jorvík, Birka, Oseberg, and Dublin. Some rice was imported from Italy in the Middle Ages, and millet and buckwheat were eaten occasionally as well. Most of the barley grown would have been used to make ale. The remainder was used for bread and other dishes. Porridge or gruel made from whole or cracked grains was the most important everyday food for the Viking farm family and it is believed that it was the staple food of the Viking Age. During the week the grain for the porridge would be simply cooked in water and then eaten. At celebrations porridge would be cooked with milk and eaten with butter. In Iceland particularly it was very difficult to grow grain, becoming more difficult due to climactic changes with the beginning of the Middle Ages: Scarcity of grain meant that in Iceland, unlike in continental Europe, bread never became a staple. It was in fact so rare that people dreamt about it, and one man received his nickname "Butter-Ring" (smjör-hringr) from his favorite food of bread and butter. Scarcity of grain and ovens made flat bread the preferred form in most of the north, but even in this form it never became important in the Icelandic diet. Grain was instead diluted in gruel and in porridge, probably the most important food on ocean travel and a preferred dish for elderly (toothless) people (Jochens, p. 127). Finds at Birka suggest that the most common types of bread were made with a mixture of barley and some type of wheat, although bread might also contain other grains, such as spelt, oats, linseed, or even sprouted peas. Rye was used mostly for baking bread as well. Written sources would indicate that oats were considered animal fodder, but a find from Hamar, Norway, shows that oats were also used on occasion for oatmeal bread, and oats were probably used in porridge as well. 
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