Submitted Photo Norwegian waffles by Stine Aaslund, founder of Nordic Waffles, are now on sale at Minot groceries. Aaslund’s waffles have been popular at the Norsk Høstfest in past years.

Area residents who have been missing a taste of the Norsk Høstfest can now find it in a local grocery store aisle.

Stine Aaslund, founder of Nordic Waffles, said her Norwegian waffles are available at Marketplace Foods and Cash Wise Groceries in Minot.

The waffles are part of the fabric of life in her native Norway, said Aaslund, who now lives in the Twin Cities. In Norway, the waffles can be found in convenience stores, in Norwegian homes, in restaurants -all the time, everywhere. For Aaslund and her countrymen, the waffles are part of “hygge,” an all-encompassing word that is translated as comfort but also conveys love, friendship, family, and enjoying one’s home.

Aaslund thinks Americans might enjoy a little hygge, especially right now during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her Nordic waffles come in packs, each with two waffle sandwiches, in the grocery’s breakfast freezer. There are two varieties sold, one an egg and cheddar bacon waffle sandwich and one an egg and cheddar sausage waffle sandwich. She said her waffles are softer and more flavorful than the typical waffles Americans might be used to having for breakfast.

Aaslund, who is from the Telemark region in Norway, was known as the “Waffle Queen” in her home country. She launched what became one of the largest waffle companies in Norway. She came to the United States and launched another company, Nordic Waffles, in Minneapolis in 2016. Over the past few years, her fresh made waffles have been sold in coffee shops, convenience stores, and amusement parks and at numerous events including the Norsk Høstfest in Minot and the Minnesota State Fair and at other events throughout the Midwestern U.S., according to her website.

In the midst of the pandemic, frozen Norwegian waffles have turned out to be a good move, as they are selling well at stores in North Dakota, Minnesota, and other upper Midwestern states, she said.

Aaslund said bringing her waffles to Marketplace Foods in Minot feels like coming full circle for her, since Marketplace Foods helped her when she first sold her waffles at the Norsk Høstfest in 2015.

The waffles were much more popular than she had expected and she was in danger of running out of ingredients to make the waffles. She ended up buying a lot of ingredients at Marketplace Foods that year to meet the high demand.

She was sorry that she was not able to be at the Norsk Høstfest last fall but said she would like to sell the waffles again at the Høstfest when it resumes.