The first lefse in Norway didn’t contain potatoes; it was made from flour. Women would travel from house to house, village to village to make lefse to last the winter months. The flour lefse would cook up like a cracker and be able to last through the season. Many households stored their lefse is wooden boxes covered in cloth or just stacked on shelves. When you were ready to enjoy some lefse it was dipped in water and soaked between damp cloth til softened. Like today it was enjoyed with butter and maybe some sugar. Then, with the rise of popularity of the potato, it was incorporated into many Norwegian foods, even lefse! Like Ireland, Norway suffered from the effects of the potato famine in the mid-1800′s, which is about the time that many Norwegians came to the U.S. They brought their knowledge and rolling pins. The result is a Norwegian potato bread delicacy that’s part of a special tradition replicated in many Norwegian-American homes for more than 150 years. A tradition that you can be part of once again.