The stockfish creates strong bonds between Røst and Italy in so many ways. There are strong stockfish traditions in Sandrigo, in the Veneto region where the annual Festa del Bacalà stockfish festival is held, stockfish being called bacalà here. Residents of Røst visit Italy at this time to present themselves and their product in the twinned town.

The annual stockfish festival 

The stockfish fraternity 'La Venerabile Confraternità del Bacalà alla Vicentina' was established in Sandrigo in Italy in 1987, the year in which the annual stockfish festival in praise of stockfish started in the small village. The purpose of the fraternity is to protect, preserve and promote typical dishes from the Vicenza region and to encourage cultural exchange, local gastronomy and tourism.

One of Italy's five national dishes

Bacalà alla Vicentina has been crowned one of Italy's five national dishes and is the only dish to be depicted on a stamp. The other four dishes are Pizza Margarita (Napoli), Brasato al Barolo, Castagnaccio Toscano and Cannoli Siciliani.

https://baccalaallavicentina.it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baccalà_alla_vicentina

Via Querinissima

Via Querinissima is a cooperative project between Nordland County Municipality and the region of Veneto in Italy. The goal is to develop a European cultural heritage route based on Querini’s journey to and from Røst. At the heart of this is the stockfish and Querini’s description of the stockfish dependent society far to the north and the large trading network Røst and Venice at that time were a part of.

Stockfish – a unique product

Food is culture. There are not many countries where this is more so than Italy. The history of food, where it comes from and its special qualities is therefore important. Stockfish from Lofoten is a unique product and was in 2014 awarded Protected Geographical Indication by the EU. The IGP marking, Indicazione Geografica Protetta, is to be used as a guarantee to importers and consumers that the stockfish really is from Lofoten and has the quality expected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_indications_and_traditional_specialities_in_the_European_Union

Original text: Elisabeth Johansen, Anne Cecilie Pedersen, Einar Stamnes (red.)
TØRRFISK – kystkultur, kokekunst, Querini, Orkana 2018

Translation to English: Alasdair Graham-Brown

Illustrations:
From the traditional stockfish festival in Sandrigo. Photo: Tove Andreassen
Representatives of the stockfish fraternity 'La Venerabile Confraternità del Bacalà alla Vicentina' visiting Røst in the summer of 2017. They travelled north along Via Querinissima. To the far right of the picture is Røst's mayor, Tor Arne Andreassen and his wife Tove Andreassen. Photo: Einar Stamnes
Product development and brand building is important. John Greger AS and AS Glea have developed a number of new ready-to-cook products including stockfish filet and filet of the stockfish variants 'boknafisk' and 'hjellosing'. The picture shows Olaf Pedersen from the company AS Glea. Photo: Einar Stamnes
Stockfish packaging recently developed by John Greger AS. Photo: Kjell Ove Storvik
Stamp showing Bacalà alla Vicentina. www.poste.it
Bertilla Fabris prepares her version of Bacalà alla Vicentina. Photo: Trond Antonsen / Kyst og fjord