Foods of Iceland

An Icelandic Hot Dog Roast on the Explorer — Hot Dogs are a local favorite.

During our trip to Iceland this year, as well as our trip in July of 2021, the ship’s excellent kitchen served foods from many different cuisines all over the world. At least a few of the meals were Icelandic or Scandinavian-themed, though, and as the chef is Swedish, I assume his interpretation of Iceland specialties is good. They tasted good! We also had a couple of meals off the ship while transferring to and from the airport.

Dessert buffet at a hotel in Reykjavik.

Iceland was settled by Vikings, beginning in the 10th century, and the people of Iceland have always been Nordic people, connected to Norway and Denmark. Locally-available foods are of course important as well, and there are a number of specialties that combine Nordic traditions with local ingredients from the sea and native plants, as well as from Icelandic farms and geothermally-heated greenhouses. Some of the favorites are quite familiar — like hot dogs or a special version of fried donuts (which we tried on last year's trip). Other Icelandic foods are extremely exotic, such as the sheep’s head shown on the cover of the cookbook below, or the fermented shark meat, Hákarl, that’s said to smell horrendous but taste great to those who love it. 

An Icelandic Cookbook

I bought the kindle edition of this little book which was in the ship’s library.

Traditional Icelandic Food by Gudrun Helga Sigurdardottir describes many Icelandic special foods, basically none of which I would actually cook, though several of them are appealing to eat, and we also tried some last year, when we spent a week in Iceland, also on the Explorer. 

Here's what it says about skyr, the yogurt-like Icelandic cheese that has recently been popular here in the US:

"The fresh cheese product skyr [scihr:] is authentic Icelandic cuisine, and has been traditionally made in Iceland since the time of the settlement. Through the history of Iceland it was made inside the homes, but nowadays it is produced in dairy factories. The skyr tradition has survived all sorts of changes in society, and has probably never been as popular as today." 

And about a few other exotic foods: 

"Selkjöt, sealmeat, has always been caught and eaten in Iceland." 

"The dried fish harðfiskur has been equivalent to bread in Iceland. It has often been eaten with butter instead of bread, for example with stew at dinner time." 

"Hangikjöt – smoked lamb – is one of the national dishes in Iceland, a tradition that was brought to Iceland from Norway at the time of the settlement. The meat used to hang from the ceiling in the kitchen of the turf houses in the old days, drying in the smoke rising from the kitchen hearth."

Tasting Icelandic Food 

My very first time in Iceland was a stop on the way to France many years ago, when Icelandic Airlines was the cheapest way to fly to Europe. I had almost no experience eating anything but my mother's cooking and a few very conventional American restaurant meals. The meal served to the stop-over passengers (who were bused from the airport into the city because the terminal was still being built) was baked cod, and I couldn't really eat much of it: too unfamiliar. Now I really appreciate Icelandic fish!  

A particularly nice plate of fish & chips that we had on
our final day in Iceland before flying home.
The starter was a wonderful bowl of lobster soup.

Icelandic halibut on the Explorer.

Happy Marriage Cake.

Happy Marriage Cake (Hjónabandssaela) is a very special Icelandic recipe that a new bride was supposed to make for her husband. If he liked it, the marriage was foretold to be a success! We were served this at the visitor center on Vigur Island (in photo), and at the Arctic Fox Center. I would describe this as an oatmeal bar made with brown sugar, flavored with cardamom, and filled with jam. Our samples were probably made with jam from local berries; rhubarb jam is traditional.

Pea soup: a Scandinavian favorite!

Important: a shot of Aquavit!

Iceland is of course a major supplier of fish for the entire world, and has been a fishing nation for a long time, so as I say, I am very fond of Icelandic fish dishes, but I'm glad to learn about so many others. My future posts will describe the foods of Greenland and the foods we ate on the ship. This post is copyright © 2022 by mae sander.