If you turn off E6 (European route 6 road) north of Snåsavannet and drive east you will drive towards Lierne and Sandvika. Here you will find LiVERTEN service station and shop. This is a treasure trove of local food and culinary traditions for you to try.
The road winds along the river Sanddøla, over Lifjellet, past a national park and a nature reserve, with epic views along the way. Here reindeer graze, moose wander and grouse fly high in the sky. And there are brown bears here too.
In the middle of all this wild nature is the small village of Sandvika. Liverten is an eatery and service station dedicated to local food. It even has its own local food production.
We had a little chat with Roy Inge Bergli, daily manager of LiVERTEN.
We took over LiVERTEN in 2004 when the focus on local food was only just beginning. Lierne had a wealth of local food traditions, produce and ingredients. The traditions in Lierne are based on three cutlures; the Swedish, the Norwegian and the Sami. Back in the day there was a winter road between Sweden and Norway in Lierne, and many our food traditions come from Jämtland.
We cooperate with several local producers and they are very important to us. For example, in 2020 we used 2,5 tonnes (just over 5500 pounds/lbs) of meat from LiVilt in our restaurant and food truck, mainly reindeer and moose. We also cooperate with Li-snadder on meat and fish processing. And we buy char from Blåfjell. In our shop we also sell cheese, jams, jellies and chocolate from artisan producers in the area. Here you can buy everything you need to make a tasty meal.
Namdalen is known for the very traditional “sauna smoking” way of curing meats and fish. This is just one of the ways we refine the resources we have here. Here at LiVERTEN we are especially known for our award-winning rækfisk, a form of fermented and preserved fish.
LiVERTEN, Li-snadder and other producers from Lierne travel together to food festivals and markets. The selection they bring is of excellent quality. Here you see some Li-Snadder products, namely smoked moose and juniper-smoked char.
In addition to running their own eatery the crew at LiVERTEN also bake a range of different breads in their own bakery, produce their own “Li-gull” (a form of chips), spice mixes and refined meat products for sale. And not only that.
There is real pride behind local food from Lierne. People who live here and the cabin owners are good ambassadors for us in the area, but ever since 2015 we have had this crazy idea to bring our food out to other people: A local food foodtruck.
We wanted to get our food out to other places so in 2019 we built a unique food truck. Now we bring our Li-bab, moose burger, reindeer hot dogs and other dishes to festivals, events and markets from Røros in the south to Namsos in the north. We go to Trøndersk Matfestival (food festival) in Trondheim every year. – Roy Inge Bergli
One of our most popular dishes is the Li-bab. This is our version of a kebab, made with reindeer meat from Li-Vilt, mushrooms, onions and cranberry-stirred-sour cream, served in “mjukbrød” (thin bread) from our own bakery.
Roy Inge rounds off our chat by pointing out the importance of having good partners and the importance of working together to promote local food traditions.
– We make each other better, and promote each other. That is the recipe for success. And that we promote and use each others products and produce. Nothing tastes as good a a moose or reindeer tenderloin if you know the origin of the food.
LiVERTEN is a certified Producer an Host as part of Trondheim – Trøndelag European Region of Gastronomy 2022.
You can buy food from LiVERTEN in their own shop/eatery, at markets in Trøndelag and in the Bonden & Bohemen shop in Namsos Storsenter. .
Read more about LIVERTEN, and their food at liverten.no.
