It travels 6,000 kilometers

– Two wonderful places and two wonderful countries, I am fortunate to be able to create joy and pleasure in the far north of Norway and the far south of Portugal, says Paramjeet Singh Bedi (59), better known as “he Bedi a Vadsø”.

Stroll 35 degrees to Ferragudo, a former sleepy fishing village that has become a bustling tourist town at the mouth of the Arade River, approx. 50 kilometers west of Faro in the Algarve. Here Bedi stumbled upon a restaurant that was for sale, and soon after it was his.

Too often it is coincidence that guides the path of life. Bedi grew up in the large city of New Delhi in India. His father was an army officer. The parents moved to the United States when the father retired, and the intention was for 17-year-old Bedi to follow. But he stayed with a sister in Kristiansand and had so much fun in Norway that he stayed.

In southern Norway, he met a girl from Finnmark who took him with her to Vadsø.

– It was a shock to land in Vadsø. So bare and arid, the boundless expanses, the mighty sea, the fresh air, the silence. And this is where I should have lived! It was just a matter of tempering, says Bedi.

The shock quickly subsided and was replaced by charm and well-being. In Kristiansand, Bedi had trained as a mechanic and had worked at the fundamental Falconbridge company. Even in Vadsø in the early days there were keys and screwdrivers. But he realized more and more that he was born to cook, not to turn latches.

Golf on the Arctic Ocean

Bedi started small with a fast food restaurant, after working for a while in a hotel. He got engaged on a campsite, but he had bigger plans. In 1995 he bought a building in the city center and restored it into a restaurant and apartments. It became the Indigo restaurant.

With diligent hands, long days of work and an intense love of clean and good food, Bedi has established a new gastronomic culture in the capital of Finnmark. The secret was the local and fresh ingredients combined with the Indian smell and taste, as well as the creative enthusiasm and joy.

– I have served prime ministers, shark fishermen and reindeer herders and treat everyone with the same respect. People should feel welcome. When customers are happy, so am I, says Bedi.

While it was a girl who brought him to finnmarking, it was golf that brought him to the Algarve.

Behind the childhood home in New Delhi, there was a golf course. Baby Bedi would stop often and hit some balls.

In Vadsø he was bitten again by the golf bug and joined the Varanger golf club.

He was often out on what was then a six-hole course in Kariel da Vestre Jakobselv. Of course, no championship track between short-stature birch groves and cranberry heather – and the season will necessarily be short at Varangerfjord – but at least he’s got to cultivate his hobby and test his skills in the harsh air. of Finnmark.

Eventually they became a group that traveled to the Algarve every winter to play golf. Bedi quickly settled in Portugal, both the climate, the people, the culture, the history and the golf courses were attractive.

Although there are thousands of kilometers between Ferragudo and Vadsø, there are also many similarities.

Similarities between the margins

Vadsø and Ferragudo are two peripheries of Europe, as Norway and Portugal form the outer border of Europe. Both countries have traditions of fishing and sea, they have favored explorers and adventurers who have crossed the poles and seas, they are small states that face large oceans and turn their backs on mighty nations of the east.

And the Portuguese love the Norwegians, because the Norwegians brought the rock fish, bacalao, which is the Portuguese national dish. A Portuguese woman about to get married should ideally master as many bacalaos as there are days of the year to be accepted by her in-laws. The book “1001 receitas de bacalao” (1001 bacalao dishes) is on the shelves of many Portuguese houses.

Bedi will bring raw materials from Finnmark to his new Indigo in Ferragudo. Many Norwegians living in the Algarve will be able to choose between smoked halibut and cod, reindeer fillet and king crab, and before Christmas there will likely be lutefisk, pork chops and spare ribs.

When moving between two workplaces, it often happens that when you are in Vadsø, you feel that you should have been in Ferragudo and vice versa.

Even though Bedi will be spending a lot of time in Portugal, Vadsø is still at home. And after a few weeks under a warm chair in the Algarve, he has to go home.

– Now it’s just a good feeling to land in Vadsø and breathe arctic air, smell the heather and algae. Finnmark is unique. It was the openness and hospitality that captured me, where else can you walk into an open door and find a bite to eat in the fridge, without being invited?

– So I will always go home to Vadsø, even if I have to spend a lot of time in the Algarve now, says Bedi.

In the nearby town of Carvoeiro he bought a building and a 5,000-acre property. There will also be a restaurant and other activities. Creativity has never been lacking for this bundle of Indian energy, which has been able to enrich cities and countryside on the two borders of Europe with the smells and flavors of the Arctic and India.