At home in Oslo and at Polhøgda, the Norwegian day revolved around three meals: morning *frokost* (whole-grain bread, cheese, fish, milk), *middag* (the main hot meal in the mid-afternoon, fish or porridge), and a light evening *kveldsmat*. Alongside these domestic meals existed a completely separate parallel universe: the expedition ration, where food ceased to be a social pleasure and became an engineering calculation — every gram weighed, every calorie counted for survival on the ice. Nansen thus lived in two food systems: one frugal and convivial at home, the other military and scientific on the sled.

The Arctic cloudberry (*Rubus chamaemorus*, *multer* in Norwegian) is the emblematic berry of the Scandinavian Far North: it grows only in cold bogs, ripens under the midnight sun, and concentrates a sharp acidity and honeyed sweetness. Rich in vitamin C, it was the living, fruity counterpoint to fatty rations; for a Norwegian, it embodies the wild luxury of the North.