Does bread in Norway generally contain animal fats?

Question

As vegetarians, we wish to know if we should be making extra efforts to check ingredients of breads in Norway (we'll be there in about a month) as to whether they contain animal fats.

Answer 1

The bread situation in Norway is fantastic... the cheapest are actually vegan (and delicious!), just water and grains, sometimes salt, and the ones with milk, egg, yoghurt, or other animal fats are more expensive and harder to find. Check the ingredients, it should be some combination of these:

vann, vand = water
salt = salt
____mel = flour or meal, ex: "hvetemel, rismel"
hvete = wheat
fullkorn = whole grain
mais = corn
ris = rice
potater = potatoes
Other grains: spelt, rug, havre, bygg

If there are any ingredients not covered by that list, ask the store workers what they mean, since most Norwegians speak English perfectly fine, especially near big cities. Things to watch out for are non-veg*n E numbers (link in source), egg or ägg = eggs, and melk = milk (not sure whether you were including dairy in animal fats, but there you go), but I have rarely seen those in the average loaves in the grocery stores. Feel free to mail me if you have more questions about being vegetarian in Norway, and good luck!

Answer 2

Just a few years ago I would have said yes. Europeans, because of the popularity of vegetarianism have change a lot. Most commercially produced bread that you will find in their markets will be made with vegetable shortening same as USA. Longer shelf life for one thing. But if you buy from local bakeries better ask. I bake bread often ( my wife tells people she's had an automatic bread maker since we got married ) and some breads just don't come out right with just veg. shortening, hence the local bakers will still be using some animal fat.

Answer 3

I don't know about Norway but from my experience generally all store bought bread contains some animal fat. Exception is some that is labeled vegetarian but if that isn't a guarantee
some is wrongly labeled vegetarian and says may or may not contain omega 3 fish oils or may or may not contain tallow!
Tallow is lard in case you don't know! I prefer to make my own bread! I know what's in it that way!

Answer 4

I'm not sure BUT I will say that the quality of bread in Norway is higher than in the US. It's fresher and you don't have all the additives/preservatives. Most breads are freshly baked in the supermarket, and come with a paper bag that has the ing. list on it plus the nutritional info on it.

Answer 5

i heard the bread is good,,so i would not think so..look on the package for ingredients