Iceland Part 7 - Food

When you arrive in Keflavik Airport, the first thing you will see is a shop that will welcome you and invite you to taste the Iceland. Should you accept the invitation, you will be greeted with Cadburys, Mars, Toblerone, M&M's, Nestle... you get the picture. Carry on walking. Apart from dairy, bakery and fishy everything else is imported to this country. Biggest imports are from UK, Germany and Denmark. So if you are someone that dreads trying out new food, you're in luck in Iceland.

Firstly, they are huge on Liquorice. They put it into nearly every sweet thing (yummy), they have salty variety (yucky) but my favourite was ice lolly that is like vanilla magnum, but its covered in the black stuff and it has a Liquorice gooey filling inside the vanilla ice cream *licks lips*

National drink -Brennivin - also goes by name Black Death

If you are into drink, their national drink is Brennivin, which is made from potatoes and has around 37.5% alcohol content. It also goes by the name of “Black death.” A little bit odd name to give to national drink, considering Black Death (the pandemic) has nearly wiped out the nation in 15^th century. Under normal circumstances, I do not drink alcohol, but I do make exception for research purposes. A shot glass was part of my sample platter, so I had a go. It is vile. My throat has closed and wouldn’t let me swallow. But at least I can say I tried it. Their “Viking” beer is much more palatable. At first I couldn’t decide, so order another two glasses that have confirmed my initial findings and I made a final conclussion that Icelandic beer tastes great.

The next thing is Fish (obviously). Now I couldn’t wait to try Hákarl, which also goes by the name of Putrefied shark, which is rotten shark meat. As shark has a very rubbery texture and hard to chew, they help to soften it and burry it for few months until it softens. It is also full of urine, and the decomposition of the meat, helps to break the urine down. I have seen on TV people gagging and not wanting to swallow it, so I was very excited to try it. Well I ate it and didn’t even know. Only when I enquired, where is my Hákarl and the waitress pointed to the dish where it was, I realised what I though was moist and ammonia smelling chicken pieces, was in fact rotting shark. So there you have it. Brennivin makes me gag and others down it, and rotting shark is down the shaft and I don’t even know it.

My sample "plate"- stodgy break with fish and meat.

However the original plan was to try Viking feast, in Viking village, which consists of Hakarl – rotting shark meat (mmmmm delicious), sheep’s’ head (mmmmoreish) and pickled rams’ testicles (off the scale!) As Iceland has had always tricky weather conditions and spring, summer and autumn here lasts 3 months combine, nothing got wasted here. Apart from the Vikings, that got wasted on Brennivin J Unfortunately, the Vikings’ village was not serving the Vikings’ feast, during my stay, and I could not try it elsewhere. You can get sheep’s’ head, and you can get Hakarl, but not having it with pickled rams’ testicles I felt, it might spoil the whole experience. They do have some Viking festival in February, when it is part of standard menu.

Icelandic beer "Viking" and dessert "Skyr"joghurty-custardy, nicey :-)

You can also buy dry fish. This is nice, but do not go spreading it all over your vehicle floor, as it does smell rather fishy. It will dry your mouth and make you thirsty.  It takes 5 kilo of fish to get 100grams of the dry stuff. So every other day I ate 5kilos of fish. I’ve certainly topped up on my Omega3.

For foodies that do not care about the cuteness of the animal, there is another national delicatesy: Puffin on a Brennivin and blueberry sauce. Sounds as appetising, as Fluffy kitten stuffed with chestnuts, and slowly roasted on garlic butter. Everyone knows chestnuts and garlic don’t mix ;-)

Another, this time controversial food is Whale. I didn’t try it as I’m strongly against it. Seems kind of sick, charging tourist €100 upwards to go whale watching, and at the end of the day serve it up roasted on a plate. I suppose at least the kids can’t complain they don’t like it, as they loved it when it was swimming in the water. Also there are some animal welfare charities, which collect money from people around the world to save Mink whales. In Iceland Mink whale is a part of staple diet, and is more common and cheaper than chicken. The jury is out on this one.

One of my favourites was: Ástarpungar. These are doughy balls that contain raisins. Very dry and dense, so you end up drinking lots of water again, but it's Icelandic and very tasty. I was told they mean something like Love balls, but balls as in testicles. Not sure if that’s right, or if it’s one of those: this is a tourist, they'll believe anything, thing. However, it worked, and I believed the friendly girl in a shop in Budaldalur :-)

When you are in Reykjavik, you MUST go and buy hot dogs from Beajarins Bestu. The best restaurant in Iceland is, wait for it.... hot dog stand! The hot dogs are like no other. Absolutely moreish. They put something in the sauce that makes them addictive. The “restaurant” is near the harbour, and there are always people queuing. So it’s easy to find. Even Bill Clinton came here during some peace meating and had a hot dog. And if it's good enough for the president of United States, it is good enough for me.

And the best food in Iceland is... drumroll.... Hot Dog!

So whether you’re adventurous foodie, or set in your eating habits, you are sure to find something to fill your energy with.