Erling Haaland is encouraging more people to become “Norsketarians”, adopting a diet centred on Norwegian fish, meat and locally produced food in an attempt to imitate the footballer’s performance and appearance. The trend is the latest example of the striker’s influence extending far beyond football.
The term norsketarianer, or Norsketarian, appeared in Norway around two years ago. It describes someone who tries to eat primarily food produced in Norway, often favouring local ingredients, traditional production methods and organic products.
According to Danish broadcaster TV 2, Haaland has become an informal ambassador for this way of eating by frequently sharing meals based on Norwegian salmon, beef, seafood and dairy products with his millions of social media followers.
The Haaland diet becomes a global reference
Annechen Bahr Bugge, a sociologist who studies food habits at the Consumer Research Institute (Forbruksforskningsinstituttet SIFO) at Oslo Metropolitan University, said that younger consumers increasingly associate Haaland’s diet with his athletic performance and physical appearance.
“He is a hero in Norway and outside the country, and young people want to perform and look like Haaland,” she told TV 2.
The Manchester City striker regularly posts pictures of food on Instagram. Shortly before the World Cup, he shared a photograph of himself eating Norwegian salmon with the caption “getting ready with Norwegian salmon”, alongside a promotional link to a seafood company.
His food posts tend to feature beef, fish and shellfish, often presented as part of the lifestyle that supports his training. Bugge said this has encouraged some followers to imitate his eating habits and pay greater attention to the geographical origin of what they consume.
The phenomenon also fits a broader Norwegian interest in locally produced food. Consumers who describe themselves as Norsketarians often look for products made with traditional techniques, fewer pesticides and limited antibiotic use.
From footballer to symbol of Norwegian food
Haaland’s influence has expanded considerably during the 2026 World Cup. His Instagram following reportedly rose from around 40 million before the tournament to more than 72 million, placing him among the competition’s most-followed players.
Jesper Zølck, TV 2’s Nordic correspondent, described him as one of the tournament’s largest popular culture phenomena. Haaland’s relatively unpolished public image, combined with his references to Vikings, Norwegian nature and food, has helped make him a recognisable symbol of the country.
This visibility gives Norwegian food producers a form of soft power that would normally require costly international marketing campaigns. A picture of Haaland eating salmon can introduce a Norwegian product to tens of millions of people within hours.
“If you are a Norwegian company that wants to sell products, it is difficult to find a better ambassador than him and his blond hair,” Zølck said.
His influence is not limited to conventional Norwegian products. Haaland has also spoken about drinking colostrum and unpasteurised milk. A video in which he discussed buying raw milk from an English farm reportedly contributed to increased demand for the product.
Norway’s Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet) nevertheless recommends heating raw milk before consumption, warning that unpasteurised milk can contain bacteria capable of causing illness.
Peru already showed the scale of Haaland’s popularity
The Norsketarian trend is not the first unusual sign of Haaland’s international reach. As NordiskPost previously reported, his name has become unexpectedly common in Peru despite the country not qualifying for the World Cup.
Figures from Peru’s National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil, RENIEC) show that 468 people have Haaland as one of their registered names, 91 are called Erling Haaland and four have been given his complete name, Erling Braut Haaland. The figures were also reported by Euronews.
The Peruvian registrations and the growing interest in Norwegian food illustrate the same development. Haaland is no longer followed only as an elite footballer. He has become an international cultural reference whose habits, appearance and public persona influence choices ranging from children’s names to everyday meals.
For Norway, this means that one of its most famous athletes is also promoting the country’s products and cultural identity without relying on a formal tourism or food campaign. The idea of becoming a Norsketarian may remain a niche trend, but Haaland has already ensured that the term reaches an audience far beyond Norway.
