Taste of Sapmi

Nose to tail

Sustainable, free-range, nose to tail, minimal wastage of raw materials, these are clear and strong food trends in the world. It is a good trend as it creates an awareness of the value of food and respect for the planet we live on. But this is old news for Sweden’s indigenous people, the Sami. The Sami have a long tradition of living in sync with nature.

South Sapmi

Sapmi is the area of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia that we call the Sami region. In our mountain regions of Jämtland and Härjedalen, reindeer husbandry has been the most important industry. The reindeer is a fantastic animal and the food we get from reindeer is both sustainable and healthy. The reindeer roam freely in our mountains, they give birth to their calves in the spring and they’re finally gathered in Sami villages for slaughter. There are no wild reindeer in Sweden today, all have owners.

Making use of everything has been a guiding principle and a necessity through all time. The traditional food is rustic and no-frills, and getting to taste the food is an experience. Like any food culture it reflects the people and says much about the Sami way of living over many hundreds of years.

Hävvi Elaine Restaurant

Elaine Asp who runs the restaurant Hävvi Elaine has succeeded in putting the Sami cuisine well and truly on the Swedish gastronomy map. Her restaurant is tucked into a renovated old barn in Lockåsböle with lots of details from the barn still visible. The rustic old timber adds to the atmosphere and creates a cosy feel to the restaurant. Elaine keeps Åsen-sheep, an old Swedish breed and also Fjällko (Mountain cows) which are known to be smaller than other cow breeds, but with an intellect of their own and producing milk with a specific taste. The quality of their milk goes together well with the other breed Elaine keeps for the best kind of cheese. Elaine also keeps a dog for hunting and she enjoys fishing and foraging when she is not preparing dishes for the restaurant.

You can enjoy Sami cooking with a twist at Hävvi Elaine, such as slow cooked meat with “klimp” (a type of local dumpling), reindeer tongue (Gurpi) and crispy pancakes made from reindeer blood served with lingonberries from the local forest. There’s not only reindeer on the menu, there’s all kinds of the finest foods from the lakes, mountains, forests and wetlands in the area.

Elaine grew up with her grandmother in a remote village without electricity. A perfect school for learning how to preserve and cook food without a fridge and an electric stove. When it came to choosing a career she made the choice to further develop her skills and become a chef. She later started a family together with a man of Saepmie and her own Sami origin made her combine her knowledge of preserving and cooking together with the influences from the Sami village of Glen where she was living. The two managed the popular restaurant Häävi in Glen. Today she runs her new restaurant together with her daughter Kristina in Lockåsböle and her former partner runs the restaurant Häävi in Glen.

Hävvi in Glen Restaurant

Glen is part of Tossåsens Sami village in the Oviken mountains. You could say that this Sami restaurant is located completely in the middle of nowhere, at the end of the road. In other words, where the road begins!

Besides Sami delicacies on the menu, you can also book fun activities for a whole group of people, go hiking, fishing or skiing in the mountains while staying in the cabins around the restaurant. Thomas who runs the restaurant Hävvi in Glen with his girlfriend Malin, is a reindeer herder and hunter and what´s on the Menu is all coming from the area around Glen and the region Jämtland Härjedalen.