Kick Bars; Why Scandinavians do licorice right.

As with any trip I've made in the past, there's always at least one kind of food that I discover that ends up being my new bread and butter. As grocery store trips here in Sola have a talent for being painfully awkward, as I keep trying to apologize for just breathing in the center of the store, I usually grab what I want and run. This has led to a few purchases that I have both regretted and enjoyed.

Reindeer sausage? Yes.

Norwegian brown cheese? Also yes. (More on this later, as it would be remiss of me to not explain this phenomena at least once while in the country.)

Lamb liver? No, but thanks for all the fish.


In these explorations, it has been easy to note that anise features prominently in the flavorings of choice around here. Tea, candy, cake, meat rubs, these people are super into licorice. What this typically brings to mind for the average American is Twizzlers, or the dreaded black jellybean out of a Goetz Jelly Belly package.

Yuck.

However, Scandinavia, in addition to being far advanced in their standard of living, have somehow managed the impossible and made me enjoy black licorice in the form of the Kick Bar, which is a type of licorice toffee/caramel, which is as black as Sauron's domain, but is fortunately equally as delicious.

See? It even has Mordor colors. We were meant to be together. The actual candy is every bit as black as the wax wrapper.

Flavor wise, I would describe this God-candy as almost a good cup of cream and coffee, with star anise appearing as the headliner. I have eaten about thirty of these things in two weeks, and the only thing keeping me from not ingesting that many a day is that like most things in Scandinavia, they are kind of expensive in comparison to their size.

Nonetheless, I suspect I will return to the States with a suitcase laden with these until our side of the Atlantic learns that anise isn't for old people.