The Sámi NorthYear round
Sápmi Kitchen
What the evening actually is
It happens outside, and it happens slowly. A fire is already going when you arrive, and the cooking is done over it — not on it, over it, at whatever height the food and the heat agree on, which is a judgement nobody makes from a recipe.
Your host is Sámi, and this is her own family's food rather than a version of it assembled for visitors. That distinction is the whole evening. There is a version of this sold across the north by people with no connection to any of it: a themed meal, a costume, a few sentences of culture between the courses. This is not that, and we would rather say so here than let you work it out at the table.
Nothing is performed. It is not a talk with food, or a demonstration you watch from a bench. You help if you want to help, you are handed things, and then everybody — hosts included — sits down and eats the same food at the same time. Guests tend to notice that last part first, and it is usually the part they describe afterwards.