It is the season of the Lutheran fish boil. They say it takes 8 minutes — no more, no less. And the planners figure on somewhere between 1 and 1.5 pounds per person. That means between 400 and 600 pounds of fillets, depending on how many folks show up. And let me tell you–folks show up! Not all of them Lutherans, either. There are fools of all stripes, it is true.

I go to the Lutefisk Supper for the meatballs, lefse, krumkake and the folks–not so much the fish. You will only find true Scandinavians, lovers of those true Scandinavians, the curious and the courageous at this particular event. It makes for a fun party, a lot of community chatter and you see some of the finest-made sweaters around. As a Norwegian, I tried lutefisk when I was a kid and some lessons don’t need to be learned twice. That colorless, tasteless, gelatinous mass is not food in my book, but I support adventure. Why wouldn’t you want to try a taste of food so foul-smelling, it must be cooked out-of-doors?

Go ahead, have a lump; give it a try. Support my people by tasting the food that sustained them through the long winter season. Me, I’d rather wear a finely-made sweater and nibble on a rosette.