Andreas Viestad, Norway’s top food writer, bit into a crackling crusted pork chicharrane, closed his eyes to concentrate and said it reminded him of Christmas.

He was seated at a table outside the Palacio de los Jugos at Flagler Street and 57th Avenue on a recent first-time visit to Miami. The affable host of the public television series New Scandinavian Cooking and author of the companion cookbook, Kitchen of Light, was in town to give a talk at a conference for the Norwegian Travel Industry.

After wiping a trace of pork grease from his mouth, the boyish, 32-year-old Oslo native explained that ribbe — rib roast of pork with a layer of cross-hatched crackling — is the most popular Christmas dish in his country.