Top Chefs Feed National Squad

Chefs Erik Tufte, Christian Karlsson and Aron Espeland
Photo Credit:
Aaron Espeland Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chef_aronespeland/

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is well underway in North America, with several daily matches from coast to coast in host countries US, Canada and Mexico since the first whistle on June 11.

With much fanfare, the Norwegian National Men’s Soccer Team (Norges herrelandslag i fotball) is back in the fray, having qualified for their first World Cup after a 28-year drought. With wins against Iraq and Senegal behind them, Team Norway will face #2 ranked France in Boston on June 26.

With so much at stake, the team hired an elite culinary squadron in Chefs Aron Espeland, Erik Tufte, and Christian Karlsson, who are well-equipped to feed Erling Haaland and his Landslaget teammates. The chefs’ goal is to provide nutritious meals that help the team survive the anticipated 95ºF /35ºC heat. With that in mind, they won’t be serving heavy foods like lasagna. This will not be the kind of micro-food that is prepared in a fine dining restaurant; nutritional quality will be the main focus.

Preparations have been underway for over six months, and the chefs told Norwegian newspaper VG that they shipped in Norwegian raw goods such as 1100 pounds of salmon (laks) and trout (ørret), 255 pounds of Norwegian brown cheese (brunost), 110 pounds of fresh Norwegian butter (smør) and 6000 oranges (appelsiner) for fresh-pressed orange juice. For vegetables, they’ll import broccolini (brokkolini), white asparagus (hvit asparges) and new potatoes (poteter), among other produce, to feed more than 60 people (players, coaches, team staff and supporters) four times a day during the World Cup. A few special requests will be honored: one player loves to eat beets (røde beter) at every meal, and other players like to drink beet juice.

Why would they bring their own produce, some of which is also readily available in the U.S.? The fewer variables that change in their diet, the better. Norway has stricter requirements regarding pesticides, so the chefs decided to play it safe.

No Norwegian diet would be complete without classic heart-shaped waffles (vafler) and Norwegian-style tacos. So, the waffle irons have crossed the ocean to meet the team. Because the players will be on the road for over a month, there is not only high-performance food on the menu, but also some comfort food, such as kebab (a popular Middle Eastern street food in Norway similar to a Greek gyro) and pizza.