Pizza Grandiosa: Norwegian unlikely national cuisine

Introducing one of Norway’s most iconic brands. Whether you like it or hate it, you can’t ignore the frozen pizza brand Grandiosa. This is the complete story.

Local cuisine, marketing success stories, culinary disgust. Pizza Grandiosa can be described in different ways. But undeniable is that it is loved by many Norwegians, and even their vulnerable people tend to buy it from time to time.

If you are totally familiar with modern Norway, you will definitely have heard of Pizza Grandiosa. What makes this frozen pizza brand so special? What does it taste like? How was it born and why is it so popular?

This article describes everything you need to know about Grandiosa. From its humble beginning to its ascent to the summit.

Norwegian pizza: exotic food

Pizza is so ubiquitous in Norway today that it’s easy to forget how “exotic” the 1980 food that Grandiosa brought to market.

According to Grandiosa’s Origin Story, Ivar Moss, the director of a famous pizza-producing factory, accepted a request from his boss to start production without even knowing exactly what the pizza was.

Indeed, in 1980, many Norwegians had not yet tried pizza. Peppes Pizza, one of the country’s leading pizza restaurant chains, just opened its first place in 1970.

It was the first Norwegian pizza restaurant at the time, but it took a while to find the dish at the Norwegian table.

Pizza Grandiosa: Original Recipe

Today, there are many varieties of Grandiosa, but the “original” is still very popular. The exact recipe of the original is, of course, a secret, but some facts are well known. The crust is wheat-based and was initially imported off-the-shelf from Canada.

Above the crust is a simple tomato sauce topped with “pizza meat”. The term refers to a special blend containing 40% Norwegian beef, water, soy protein, spices and preservatives.delicious

Above “Pizza Meat” is Jarlsberg. Norwegian cheese Exported around the world, it is reminiscent of mild Swiss cheese and diced red peppers.

The combination of Jarlsberg and peppers is said to nod to a slice of bread with mild cheese and red peppers, a traditional variant of the Norwegian “brødskive”.

How is the taste of Grandiosa?

It’s relatively easy to explain Grandiosa to someone who has never tasted it. Let’s start with the crust. If you’re familiar with the rising crust frozen pizzas that appeared in North America in the mid-1990s and rival restaurant pizzas in terms of texture and taste, make every spiritual reference to that type of crust. You need to go out. Mind.

The Grandiosa Pizza Crust definitely won’t rise. It’s chewy and not as stimulating as the old-fashioned frozen pizza dough.Maybe between Justin Bieber and Justin Bieber, the Grandiosa crust should be added to the list of shameful Canadian exports Crocs..

Disclaimer: There is one variety of Grandiosa (Grandiosa Nybakt) that features a rising crust, but this description is focused on the original variety. It was the only one that existed between 1980 and 2001 and is the best-selling of all Grandiosa varieties to date.

The tomato sauce used with Grandiosa is very mild. I don’t know exactly what it’s made of, but it tastes like drained tomato paste.

As mentioned above, meat is made up of only 40% meat. Red peppers serve as the only vegetable in the dish and taste as you would expect.

Cheese is actually very delicious. It’s rare to top pizza with Swiss cheese, and it doesn’t have the stretchy, melting effect of mozzarella cheese, but it’s quite rich in flavor.

That said, the taste of Jarlsberg alone is not enough to save an essentially incredibly bland dish.

This simplicity is confirmed by the widespread practice of Norwegians sprinkling ketchup on slices of Grandiosa and sprinkling them. piffi-krydder – A salt-based off-the-shelf spice blend that enhances flavor – or both.

Why is Grandiosa so popular?

So Grandiosa is bland, and some fans agree, but why have you sold 600 million units since its launch in 1980? It is difficult to reach a definitive conclusion, but there are several possible answers.

Elephant in the Room First: Anyone who has tasted Norwegian food knows that dullness is not necessarily a bad thing from a local taste point of view.

country’s Actual local cuisine, fårikålIs a dish of mutton and cabbage seasoned with salt and pepper.

Christmas dinner hit Most traditional incarnations, such as ribs (cracking and roasted pork belly) and pinekyoto (dried mutton ribs and steamed for several hours), are also lacking in spices. In that case, the lack of flavor of the best-selling frozen pizzas is not a big surprise.

At least initially, another possible explanation for Grandiosa’s popularity is the cool element that Grandiosa had as the Norwegian version of exotic foreign food. Sushi has experienced a similar rise in the country over the last 15 years.

Eating Grandiosa in 1980 is exotic and new, just as eating sushi in Norway in 2008 was a way to let others know that you are a cool and secular person. It was a convenient and easy way to put it in the dinner table.

The last factor that should not be ignored is the good marketing strategy used by Grandiosa manufacturers. Now let’s take a closer look.

Grandiosa: Marketing Success Story

From the beginning, advertising has been the key to Grandiosa’s success. Already in 1984, the brand launched a television ad featuring a women’s cross-country ski team.

In December 1996, a Christmas ad featuring a popular band was launched. It is televised every Christmas season and has become a tradition for many.

2006 song 10 years later Grandiosa response It broke through the chart for 8 weeks. It was the first time that a song purely for advertising purposes had charted in Japan.

Another way for Grandiosa to secure its advantage is due to the constant downward pressure on prices. You can usually buy cheap Grandiosas once every few weeks.

However, store brands are often cheaper (and not objectively bad) than Grandiosa.

An alternative to the Norwegian Grandiosa

If you haven’t had a chance to come to Norway and try Grandiosa yet, give it a try. If you have low expectations and are hungry, you will have more fun.

If you spend a lot of time in Norway and need a simple meal, frozen pizza is a viable solution, but keep in mind that there are better products on the market than Grandiosa. Here is a short list.

Big one

Big One is another brand owned by Orkla, the company behind Grandiosa. Together, the two brands dominate the market. Big One makes itself an “American style” pizza style and thickens the crust.

If the crust is slightly better and the flavor is good, the pizza is also generally quite bland, but the new “Smoking Hot BBQ Chicken” variety seems promising.

Dr. Otokar

There are many types of doctor et car. In particular, it is from Casa di Mamma, the first frozen pizza with a rise in crust that has become widely available in Norway. The flavor and quality of the product seems to have helped Dr. Etcar dominate Grandiosa.

Perhaps in response to Dr. Oetker’s progress, Grandiosa has launched his own Rising Crust Pizza, and more recently a thin crust pizza similar to the Dr. Oetker Ristorante series.

Peppes pizza

Norway’s first pizza restaurant recently entered the frozen pizza market. The advantage of Grandiosa / Big One is still true, but Peppes managed to carve the cake.

The chain has also signed a contract with the national Circle K Fuel Station to provide products to drivers on a takeaway basis.

Store brand

Coop, Rema 1000 and others are also trying to gain market share in the frozen pizza market. For example, Coop currently offers seven varieties under its own brand.

Are you a fan of frozen pizza? Have you tried Grandiosa? If not, please follow our instructions. Tell us your thoughts in the comments …