The Hot Chocolate That Upset So Many People

You might have seen my recent post sharing an historic hot chocolate recipe from a Norwegian cookery book from 1875, but you might not have seen all the comments that went with it.

Recipes that I think might be interesting to different groups of people I usually like to share to various FB groups and this was no exception. It was a recipe I had been saving for the colder months and I was excited to share it.

But goodness me, if I had known how divisive it would be I probably would not have bothered!

I had comments ranging from "well, I've never heard of this so you made it up" to "you people need to get out more" (and some very choice language that I will spare you from!).

But the comment that struck me the most was "drinking hot chocolate doesn't make you Nordic".

Well, no of course it doesn't but nobody ever said it did.

It got me thinking about the purpose of my blog, my books, courses and the Facebook community that many of us are part of. No, hot chocolate does not make you Nordic, but that is not the point of my "mission" and the journey that has brought us all together.

I want to help everyone who chooses to live a Nordic style life wherever they are in the world. That might be total immersion in Nordic culture way beyond what I talk about, or it might be the simple pleasure of a weekly hot chocolate made from an old Norwegian recipe. It's all very personal and that is the point completely. We are all allowed to adopt the parts of Nordic living, culture and the healthy Nordic habits that we like the most and that speak to us in the strongest way without having to justify that to anyone, least of all complete strangers.

To some people it might look like I am picking things to talk about that are not as Nordic as they would like, or are habits and traditions that they have never heard of, but I am using my own experiences and life in Norway to help everyone.

My own family is both English and Norwegian. I am English and my partner, Andre is Norwegian. Our three children are both English and Norwegian and between us we speak a variety of languages from Norwegian to Swedish to French and several others.

As you know we live in Norway, but we have also lived in England and different countries in Europe. Although we are now settled in southern Norway, we still pick the parts of both cultures that we enjoy the most and mean the most to us a family. And in doing that we are very similar to many other families.

There will always be people who think that what we are doing is wrong (and I am also talking about your own Nordic living journey), or think they know more about it than we do, and they are entitled to their opinions. But what I won't allow them to do is come into our precious online community and belittle the efforts of everyone in there. A healthy discussion is always welcomed, but plain unpleasantness is not.

So I am here to tell you that big or small, totally Nordic or just a little Nordic, Scandinavian blood or not, all efforts are wonderful and I will be at the front of the queue to cheer you on!

So keep doing what you are doing, because it's all good!

If you want to take your Nordic journey a little further you can:

• Join the Living a Nordic Life Facebook group

• Check out my books

• Subscribe to my newsletters

And if you realise all this really isn't for you and you are receiving my newsletters, then you can easily unsubscribe by following the link at the bottom of them.