    
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Administrative
Information
Scope and Content Note
Biographical Information
Lineage
Selected Search Terms
Partial Interview Transcript
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Information
Resources
Robert A. L. Mortvedt Library
Pacific
Lutheran University
Tacoma, WASHINGTON 98447
Phone: (253) 535-7586 E-mail: archives@plu.edu
New Land
New Lives Oral History Collection
Inger Gregersen
A Guide to Her Oral History Interview |
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Administrative
Information
Creator:
Gregersen, Inger
Collection Nr: t031
File Content:
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2 file folders
0 photographs
1 sound cassette
1 compact disc
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Processing Information:
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The
interview was conducted using a cassette recorder. A research
copy was also prepared from the original. To further preserve
the content of the interview, it is now being transferred
to compact disc. We deliberately did not transcribe the
entire interview because we want the researchers to listen
to the interviewee's own voice. The transcription index
highlights important aspects of the interview and the
tape counter numbers noted on the Partial Interview
Transcription are meant as approximate finding guides
and refer to the location of a subject on the cassette/CD.
Interviewed
by Helen Tengesdal
Transcribed by Mary Sue Gee, Julie Peterson and Becky
Husby
Encoded by Kerstin Ringdahl & Amity Smetzler
Recording Quality: Good
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Restrictions:
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The
collection is available for research.
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Preferred Citation:
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[Collection
Number, Collection Title]
New Land New Lives Oral History Collection
Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Collection
Robert A.L. Mortvedt Library
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
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This
interview was conducted with Inger Gregersen on March 9, 1979
in Tacoma, Washington. It contains information about emigration
and the organizations that she participates in, but mostly focuses
upon cooking. The interview was conducted in English.
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Inger
Gregersen was born in Norway and immigrated to Parkland, Washington
with her husband and eleven-month old daughter in 1951. The
family stayed there for six years and then spent five years
in France and four in Germany. Parkland was their favorite area,
however, and they returned there permanently in 1966. In Parkland,
Inger belonged to Nordlandslaget, a group of males and females
that come from northern Norway. She taught Scandinavian cooking
at Fort Steilacoom (Pierce College) and participated in food
demonstrations during Mayfest at Pacific Lutheran University.
At home, Inger cooks both Scandinavian and American foods. She
enjoys the wider variety of recipes available in American cooking.
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Full Name: |
Inger Gregersen
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Spouse: |
Guttorm Gregersen
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Children: |
Gerd-Inger Gregersen MacDougall
Paul Gregersen.
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This collection is indexed under the following headings
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Personal Names |
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Gregersen, Inger
Gregersen, Guttorm
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Family Names |
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Gregersen family
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Geographical Names |
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Norway
France
Germany
Parkland (Wash.)
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Subjects |
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Norway -- Emigration and immigration
Nordlandslaget (Tacoma, Wash.)
Cookery, Scandinavian
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Genre/Form |
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Oral history
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Institution |
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Pacific Lutheran University. Scandinavian Immigrant Experience
Collection
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The
partial interview transcription highlights important aspects
of the interview. Numbers on the left may be used as guides
to important subjects. Two numbers separated by a slash indicate
that the first number is for cassette and the second for CD.
010/03 BACKGROUND: Inger was married two years before she emigrated,
and came from Norway in 1951 with her husband and 11 month old
daughter. They stayed in the Parkland area for six years and
then returned to Europe, spending five years in France and four
in Germany. In 1966, they returned to Parkland because they
liked this area the best of all.
038 ORGANIZATIONS: Inger belongs to the Nordlandslaget, but
not the Daughters of Norway. Nordlandslaget is a group of males
and females that come from the northern part of Norway. She
was asked to teach a class at the Daughters from 10 to 12 on
Thursdays in Normanna Hall, but had a conflict. The Daughters
teach cooking/baking, e.g. lefse, flatbread, stew, cookies.
She was asked to demonstrate the cookie, Mor Monsen.
110/04 COOKING: Inger taught Scandinavian cooking at Fort Steilacoom
[Pierce College], mini-courses prior to Christmas, which included
the preparation of berlinerkranser, sandbakkels, krumkake, goro,
and kringle. The first class overwhelmed her; 84 people showed
up. The next class had 53 students, and the third 47.
155 She prepared all the dough at home and brought the irons.
With krumkake, for instance, she brought a double batch of dough,
showed how to heat the iron properly for good results, and demonstrated
the technique of baking and rolling. The students took turns
baking a few krumkake to get the feel. It was a lot of work
to prepare all the doughs and run the mini-classes, which ran
three hours on a given night.
194 Several churches in the area still serve Scandinavian food,
and Peninsula and Central have smørgåsbords. Many groups prepare
the traditional meatballs and lapskaus [a Norwegian stew] for
potlucks. The Mayfest at PLU [in which she participates] features
lapskaus, lefse, rømmegrøt, etc. plus demonstrations of other
foods.
226/05 In Inger's household, breakfasts are American to suit
the family tastes. She hasn't adjusted to pancakes, waffles
or French toast for breakfast. "Somehow it just isn't breakfast."
Norwegian pancakes are served as a crepe with afternoon coffee
in her house. Norwegian foods that she still buys or prepares
are geitost and other Norwegian and Danish cheeses, lapskaus
and fårikål. She mixes some lean beef into the fårikål, but
it needs some good lamb for the essential flavor. They eat potatoes
a lot; she believes potatoes are a better food than meat. Norwegians
can't get all the fresh vegetables available in America, so
the potato is very important in the diet.
308/06 Inger uses a Norwegian cookbook, which is based on the
metric system. Most of her schoolmates in Norway attended a
cooking school to learn basic homemaking and she did too. She
has saved all her favorite recipes. She also uses American cookbooks
and enjoys the style of cooking. American cooking has a wider
variety of foods and recipes because of the exposure to other
ethnic foods--Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc.--which she likes.
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© 2002-2003 Pacific Lutheran University
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