Finally, a product which is inflated in price due to real market and social conditions and not just because of hype or percieved luxuriousness. This is an important episode indeed

Beautiful story, found out years ago that all our stockfish come from Norway, but only just finding out it's because Norway aided Nigeria with stockfish during the Biafran civil war. As someone whose dad lost all his siblings during the civil war, some due to malnutrition (kwashiorkor et al), and whose dad survived due to aid nutrition, am glad the Norwegian economy is now benefiting from that goodwill as we benefited during the war. Watching this video as I eat a meal prepared with grounded stockfish.

This fish saved my dad during the Civil War. Him and many other children then had chronic protein deficiency. The Norway helped and brought protein for them. It saved millions of lives then and we developed appetite for it. The Norwegians did great thing for me, I will be eternally grateful. I wouldn't be born if my dad had died.

As a Norwegian, i am shocked and soooo suprised we actually Export almost 100% of our Stock fish. That finally answers my question of where All the fish they producer goes - cuz i have literally never seen it for sale here!

As a Nigerian that grew up in Nigeria, eating Nigerian food, I can tell you that we use stock fish in almost all our soups, especially the soups with palm oil. The umami flavour that stock fish gives is unmatched🔥🔥 Very surprised to learn that it comes from Norway. Thank you Insider for this intelligent video👏🏼👏🏼

There is something magical about a country falling in love with another's product, and then completely integrating it into their culture. I don't know what it is, maybe the unlikely match, or the sheer distance between them but it's beautiful *TRY NOT TO START ARGUMENTS UNDER A COMMENT CHALLENGE* 😱 *IMPOSSIBLE* 😱

It's crazy to think that something that's so local to one place, can come from another corner of the world with an entirely different ecosystem.

As a Nigerian living in Canada, I often receive negative attention when I cook stockfish. Moreover, I have to be cautious not to bring food with the stockfish aroma to work if I don't want people to dislike it. I used to believe that stockfish was exclusively a Nigerian delicacy, although I didn't know the source. Interestingly, the smell of stockfish is reminiscent of another beloved ingredient, locust beans. I used to associate stockfish with Nigeria and vice versa, so I was quite surprised to learn that it originated from the white people. Additionally, I appreciate the story of how the Norwegian people supported Nigeria by providing stockfish.

Dried cod is to Nigeria basically what Spam is to Hawaii, which also began its climb to prominence, first as an emergency protein food source (in this case WW2 Army rations) and soon became an integral part of the local cuisine - *spam sushi* being an underrated delicacy.

Time for not very inventive joke: Stockfish is so expensive because almost every chess player needs it

As a Nigerian, stock fish is very vital in our cuisines, cos it gives a special kind of texture and aroma. When used in a soup we call "Ogbono", the taste becomes yummy😅😂

Fascinating story. I never knew Nigeria and Norway were so connected!! I wish we got to know deeper how stockfish was introduced into Nigerian cuisine in the beginning until eventually being an integral part of the cuisine. Either way, cool!!

Norway : Please, take this to alleviate your famine Nigeria : I will take your whole supply Norway : Wait, really? Nigeria : EVERY FISH. EVERY LAST GOD DAMN ONE. Make more if you can. WE. WANT. THEM. ALL In all seriousness, there was something quite profoundly beautiful about watching a chef at a fine dining establishment making a simple stew, and how deeply he seems to care for it.

I’m a American born to Nigerian parents. Stock fish was a part of my childhood. If you asked me I would have sworn it came from Nigeria. Interesting video

i never would have thought Norway and Nigeria were so intimately linked by cod.... actually this is pretty adorable. "whenever we thought we found a new market, its actually the Nigerians living abroad"

For those who didn't know, the unique conditions in Norway being cold & dry air, makes it different to dried fish in the Sun that is produced elsewhere. The Cod (stockfish) basically undergo a slow fermentation while it has moisture for a month or so before it begins to dry out. This is why the taste is so intense and the aroma is pungent. Whereas dried fish from direct Sun in hot climates, you just get dried fish.. none of the funky strong flavors or extra umami via fermentation.

It's very nice that Norway's good deed back in the day has created a whole market and helped to boost their economy in the long run.

The markup between raw ingredients and finished product actually makes sense here. The dried stock fish is much more expensive than what they gave the fisherman for the cod, but the dried is a fraction of the weight and then you have the processing and transportation costs added in.

As a Norwegian who was born in Lofoten (one of the most beautiful places on earth) I have never considered eating stockfish until now. The dish the chef made looked amazing. The love, devotion, and care was beautiful, and it really looked good. In Norway, we’ve never considered using it this way. People just used to chew it lol, which is a horrible experience and the stench would kill you, and everyone around you 😂. It’s sad that they call it “local” when it’s coming from so far away. I guess that’s what happens after having been in their cuisine for the last 50 years. Great video nonetheless!

Norwegians: Finally someone else to buy our stockfish Nigerians: HA! You thought you were selling your product to another market but it was me, NIGERIA!

It’s good to finally see how stock fish is dried! As a Nigerian, I grew up eating stock fish in every soup my Mother made❤

What a story: Norway provides stockfish to fight hunger in Nigeria in their time of need, and that create a whole culinary culture around stockfish, which cannot even be created in Nigeria, so they keep importing it from Norway. History has many twists and turns.

pretty weird that stockfish got established in nigeria, but it's an excellent food aid item for famine relief. the typical way people starve to death is not due to a complete lack of calories, rather it's because they can only get very basic grain products, which are extremely deficient in protein (and vitamins, some of which are present in fish).

The Norwegians were generous to send their salted Cod fish to feed millions starving during the Civil War, it has become a part of the culinary tradition in the East and Southern parts of the country. A seed sown in kindness by Norway has grown into a business that unites both countries. May the conditions that brought about that Biafran Conflict never visit our people again.

My grandfather was a through and through Fisherman from the north of Norway, this was during a time before they had large scale industrial fishers. And instead travelled solo in a type of boat called a Sjark (Pronounced: Shark). I have fond memmories of spending the long summer days going with him out fishing, and he had always a jolly atittude especially around children. Despite the language being otherwise (Northerners are known for vocabulary filled with profanity, often humorous and creative ones) Now he would make stockfish himself, and had a shack where he hung them up and prepared it. For a lot of people might not know this but the creation of stockfish can be very intensive when it comes to routine. You'd think it was just to clean the fish, strap it onto ropes and hang them up for dry. But it isn't nescessarily so. One process is to routinely salt them with sea salt. And to save some money, he would take a short stroll to the coast and pick up seawater to boil down into salt. Then he would use this salt to regularly throw them over the hanging fish repeatedly, and routinely, every early morning before heading out for fishing, and mid-day and before going to sleep. He would never rub the salt against the fish as that could damage it, and would change the flavor. He lived mostly alone, on a somewhat remote island, in a house that was mostly off grid, had electricity but no plumbing or anything else, quite the solitude life. His life was of hardship, and fishing during winter in the cold north was no pleasantry, ice-biting winds and rain below freezing, turning instantly to ice upon contact with cold surfaces (He lost a finger because of frostbite due to this type of condition) Weather is often stormy during this season as well, with waves up to double digits. And because if his skills in sailing these seas especially in reading the weather, he often worked for the Coastal-resque teams when other fishermen were at distress or missing. And his case was not a unique case etiher. He was just one of many fisherman of his generation during that time. But the stockfish he made was out of top quality. Many don't know, but Stock-fish as it is, makes a wonderfull tasty snack. Better and healthier than potatoe-chips, and goes excellent with any kind of dipping sauce, be it soy or dressings, even salsa and on salads when torn into fine pieces similar to pulled-pork.

As a Nigerian, even seeing the uncooked stockfish makes my mouth water cause I know just how delicious it'll be once cooked. Now I know how it's made and that it seems we're the only ones in the world that eat it. If that type of cod goes extinct, I'll know exactly who did it lol

Stockfish is the most important flavour ingredient in most Nigerian soups but chefs even use it for Rice dishes as well. Would love to visit these fishing villages one day

That chef is something else. Dude's calm demeanor is therapeutical, ha-ha!

you really cant beat it as a protein that is shelf stable without the use of salt

As a Norwegian who have been up north multiple times and seen (and tasted) these fish, I had no clue so much of it is sent to Nigeria!

A Nigerian friend took me to one of the local African markets here in Baltimore, MD. Saw racks of stockfish and had the shopkeeper cut about 5 lbs of it; ran almost $70!! But my friend took it to make soup, and boy was it worth the price. Super umami flavor bomb.

In Nigeria the only time you know you are eat a rich soup is when it is full of Stock fish! In igbo language we call it okporoko.

@GothamChess delicious, but expensive and unbeatable. this should be your next sponsor

The first episode in this series i actually cared about! Nice to see you highlight a product that is actually confusingly expensive rather than something super rare.

I’m from the south-East part of Nigeria. The southeast was where the war was fought and it is the part of Nigeria that eats more than 90% of the stock fish in Nigeria. A $20 pot of soup made with the stock fish should feed up to 4people. A plate of soup with stock fish in an averagely priced rest out at would be about $3-$5. Depending on the size of the fish. In an upscale restaurant, it might be about $10-$20. You have to understand nigerian cuisine to know that the soup goes with a “swallow” which is the main dish. A swallow is a carbohydrate staple made from cassava or plantain or yam or semolina. Let me know if you have more questions

I were working in factory in Iceland for 9.5yr where we were drying those Cod heads, and it were going 100%to Nigeria, we were producing 2.5 shipping containers a week, crazy amounts when there is more factories who producing same

As a Norwegian, I always thought the main customers of "stokkfisk" were the Portuguese and Brazilians who like to cook bacalao. But maybe that's not the dried cod, but dried haddock? Norway to Nigeria is a very peculiar trade, what an interesting video!

It looks and smells bad, but as a Norwegian I absolutely love the taste. Its extremely healthy also. Pure protein. I hope all tourists has a chance to taste it if you visit :)

Recently I was thinking about the volume of stockfish consumed in Nigeria and wondered where it all came from. I was particularly curious about its sustainability going forward. In my head, I thought "Aren't we overfishing this breed?" "Will it still be available in the near future?" Some of my questions still remain unanswered, however, it was an interesting and insightful video...

I like that I can eat the dried stock fish uncooked. Okporoko (stock fish) as it is fondly called by the Igbos in Nigeria is one delicate ingredient You want add to your soup and stew. Many Nigerians thinks the stock fish is locally produced because of how widely accepted it is by the locals.

Jamaica has a similar taste for Newfoundland salt cod. During prohibition, Jamaica used to export barrels of rum (and sea salt) to Newfoundland, and the salt and barrels were used to return salted cod in exchange, giving rise to the national dish ackee (a fruit from Ghana) and saltfish.

There’s a local in Iceland that has the nickname ’Haus’ (Head) because he has made quite a bit of money exporting fish heads to Africa

Your business will make you rich but investment makes and you keep you wealthy, we all deserve to be successful and have financial freedom, I pray everyone here becomes successful

Beautiful documentary. The Nigerian chef is a poet… I want to eat there !!!

Stockfish has been a backbone of Norway‘s coastal economy for more than 1000 years. Nigeria is a big market but the fish is also sold in large quantities to southern Europe, especially Italy. Mainly because of old, catholic fasting rules. It is not cheap, but still not that expensive, considering the very high protein content (almost no water or fat), a lot of manual work involved and the long production time. Also, a lot of clipfish (saltfish) is produced from similar oceanic cod further south. Because of the warmer weather along the western coast, this is not just dried (and actually a bit fermented), but heavily salted. During drying, this will cause some curing. Traditionally the fish was dried on naked sea cliffs, hence the name. Major export markets are Portugal and Brazil, but this is also a very popular dish along the western coastline. Including in our home. Stockfish is more popular up north, and served everywhere as «lutefisk» around Christmas. BTW, to some comments: These enormous cod stocks are well managed, overfishing is not an issue.

Stockfish dealers always give you your first bump for free. Then they've got you.

Love how food seems to always connect different cultures from around the world. Great story.

This was fascinating. Dried fish has an important place in Portuguese cuisine, as well as many Caribbean countries' cuisines.

As a Norwegian, this makes me proud.

Here in Liguria,italy, as well as in other regions, we also historically have consume stockfish for centurie, we call it stocafisso

I've never heard of stock fish before. but that nigerian dish with stockfish looks great!!! I really wanna try it!

I really loved learning about this!! Thank you for this story!

I would like to try this. I like salted cod. Definitely got to soak it over night, i even change the water half way. Fresh cod with a little butter is my favorite though.

Those harvests seem so huge, its amazing there are any COD left in the sea.

Lol as a chess fan I didn't even know Stockfish was a real thing and not just a chess engine.

The most random story. Very good to tell during cocktail parties

Stock fish is class, mainly the KOD no parts is wasted on a stockfish. The fish head gills is amazingly refreshing

Very nice stuff, thanks so much. I live in South Spain, here people dry flying fish (Parexocoetus brachypterus) that come over from Italy every spring on racks after keeping it in salt for like 1-2 months, so we have the "volaor", which is used a lot in the kitchen. 5€ for one, 3 if you know the dood. I eat that fish like a bar of snickers and if you got enough water you got energy for the whole day.

I love these short docs by Insider Business.

Finally learnt about the origin of stock fish😎, a truly incredible story😍😍

As a Chessplayer, I am proud of my Norwegian players and stockfish allows me to learn and be a better chess player!

Stockfish is expensive mainly due to the massive computing power required to run it optimally.

As long as I can remember I've been seeing this hanging in shops/markets around london and never knew what it was. Glad to finally know

Wow, I never knew this history of stockfish! Thank you.

Stockfish is expensive knowing that the process behind all that is strenuous and exhausting. Great video as always.

I can't imagine Nigeria without stockfish

Awesome content. Thanks for this!

I have tasted this Stockfish when my Nigerian coworker brought it on our table. So yummy and unique food. Love it! Thanks for this video, now I know how they produce it.❤

Stockfish is not popular only in Nigeria but also in Portugal and Italy as well as Brazil. Stockfish is not only made in Norway also Iceland, stockfish has been the most stable export of both countries since the Viking times so this is a tradition well over a 1000 years old. Stockfish was very important to Iceland, this is evident that the design of a royal seal issued by the Danish King featured it.

Stockfish: 1 brilliant move

There are several important lessons about economics and the market in this video, great content, greetings from Argentina!

A interesting upload 👌,and thanks for sharing 👍. Greetings from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Simon and Beth ❤❤❤

Nice documentary -love from Republic of Taiwan. (the original and we are older than China)

The only one could beat Magnus..

The whole process is amazing❤️❤️...it’s need hard work,patience,perfect weather too

I come from a town called Kristiansund, and we are very famous for rockfish and bacalao. In the past there were many boats from Portugal to Kristiansund, and they brought the recipe for bacalao with them.

This Stockfish wins from Magnus Carlsen

to receive long lasting foods during a famine sounds absolutely invaluable

I remember i used to eat stock fish that my grandpa made every saturday. We used to eat them uncooked where my family was from, just had to break/soften them up a bit with a hammer first so we didn't break a tooth over it. This was in Sunnmøre, the north western part of Norway. Good times.

Never in my life would I have guessed that stockfish was eaten in Nigeria! It's mostly eaten dry as a snack in Norway nowadays.

It’s expensive because of its 3500 ELO

What a great story. After watching this video I would love to try the Nigerian stockfish stew! I wonder if anyone knows any restaurants in London or the south UK in general that could do a proper one? Thank you!

This is educative and scary at the same time Every Nigerian eats stock fish I never believed it was coming from one place

Very interesting. Thanks for this! :)

Was unaware that this was actually the name of a fish and came expecting Chess content like a goober.

I highly recommend Stockfish, and if anyone ever gets the chance to try it they should! As a Swedish-American anytime I would fly to visit my grandparents we'd always have some sort of Stockfish meal during the Winter, it has such a powerful flavor. I remember fishing off of the Swedish coast with my family, leaving to go back to school in America, coming BACK to Sweden for Winter or Summer break and hearing 'we saved fished we caught X months ago or X year ago.' Alot of people in 'remote' villages produce Stockfish themselves, it's really not all that hard. You literally just prepare the fish, and then hang it outside in the winter. A toddler could do it. However, not all Stockfish is created equal. In my humble opinion, the ones that hang the highest are the best. No idea why, but to me they taste way better.

Had a nigerian flat mate, when he cooked with this the whole flat would REEK so bad you couldn’t stay in the same room

What an incredible video. Watching from Nepal. 😊

I always wondered

Nigerians love spicy & pungent foods thats why the stock fish appeals to their taste buds. If you wish to understand why we love this fish, ask a Nigerian to prepare Obono fish soup. My cousins are Norweigians, we always enjoy having stockfish as gifts when they visit. In return, we package local gifts to take back to Norway. It's good to see that one good gesture from Norway has brought good benefits.

I was in Lofoten in 2018. Wow, I didn't know it was so valuable. These racks are everywhere.

I read the title and immediately thought of the chess bot rather than an actual species of fish

It's amazing how many nations have distinctive local cuisine based around foodstuffs that came from elsewhere. Poles, Russians, and Irish eating potatoes. Italians eating pasta and tomato. Nigerians eating stockfish. It's very cool.

Thank you Insider business for covering this topic wonderfully.

That is surprising. I knew about stock fish from reading about the history of the age of sail. I assumed after canning and such stick fish would have just been a local Norwegian affair. I didn’t think it would still be big business.

Which stockfish?

✨ shining ribbons should keep the birds away.. tied to the top of the racks.. ✨

I ate stockfish stew often in Lagos, i thought it’s local product. Thanks for the great video ❤

I have never had this before. Love to try it.

Hans Niemann is a regular customer