Day care serves up king crab and veal

OSLO — Growing up in Scandinavia’s richest nation has its perks.

A private day care center in Oslo’s Nydalen neighborhood is taking it a step further, serving gourmet food with a menu that includes king crab, veal with foie gras sauce as well as exclusive Japanese Kobe beef to kids aged 1 to 6.

Eventyrstua, or fairy-tale cabin, has a chef that cooks three meals a day for its 100 children. Parents pay an extra 750 kroner ($116) a month on top of the 2,405 kroner fee.

“My goal was to serve good and healthy food,” Tommy Haabestad, who helped start the center and is now an assistant regional director, said by phone. “They love it. It’s amazing — they serve themselves and pick what they want.”

Norway’s oil boom, which started 40 years ago, has transformed the country into one of the richest on earth. The nation has funneled most of its oil revenue into a wealth fund that has grown to $890 billion, or $170,000 per person.

It still has plenty of money left over to pay for free health care, education and subsidies on day care, as part of a gamut of other social services.

According to Haabestad, the fancy food is made possible thanks to the generous state subsidies that even private Norwegian day care centers receive. Public day care costs between 970 kroner to 2,500 kroner per month, depending on income. The luxury food costs per child average out to about 35 kroner a day, he said.

The menu has been met with enthusiasm after some initial skepticism, he said.

The cooking is also having reverberations at home.