Brunost: The Brown Cheese That Confuses Every American Kid

By Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel · Updated September 2026

Brunost is not actually cheese in the way Americans think of cheese. It’s made by boiling down whey, cream, and milk until the natural sugars caramelize, which is why it comes out the color of caramel and tastes almost as sweet. Norwegians put it on everything.

The first time my kids tried it, the reaction was somewhere between confusion and betrayal. It looks like a block of fudge, it’s sliced paper thin with a special cheese slicer called an ostehovel that Norwegians take pretty seriously, and then it goes on a piece of bread or a waffle like it’s the most normal thing in the world. To an American palate expecting sharp cheddar or mild mozzarella, the sweet caramel flavor throws you off completely at first.

Give it a real chance though, because it grows on almost everyone. Try it the way Norwegians actually eat it, thin sliced on a warm waffle, maybe with a little jam. That combination, waffle and brunost, is basically a national comfort food, and you’ll find waffle stands doing exactly that all over Oslo and along the fjords.

You’ll find brunost in every grocery store in Norway, usually in a labeled brick near the regular cheeses, and it makes a good souvenir since it’s shelf stable for a while and takes up almost no room in a suitcase. Skip the tourist shops for it and just grab a block at a regular Norwegian grocery store, called a Rema 1000 or Kiwi. You’ll pay a fraction of what a specialty shop charges for the exact same thing.

If your kids are picky, don’t force the full slice on the first try. Let them taste a tiny sliver off a fork first. It’s such a specific flavor that a big first bite can turn a kid off before they’ve actually processed what they’re tasting.

It’s a small thing, but trying brunost the way locals actually eat it is one of those details that makes a Norway trip feel like you were actually there instead of just passing through.

More real food and planning details are in our Norway family travel guide.