Food

Visit Iceland’s food pages tie the cooking to fishing, free-range lamb, dairy, and vegetables grown in geothermally heated greenhouses. This page stays with those descriptions. It does not award stars, and it does not turn a tourism article’s restaurant names into a “best of” list.

Fish, lamb, and skyr

A staple, Visit Iceland says, is freshly caught fish, because fishing has been central for centuries and fish is a main export. It names Arctic char, cod, haddock, and wolffish, and it describes salt cod (saltfiskur) and dried fish (harðfiskur), usually cod, haddock, or wolffish, with salt as the other ingredient. Dried fish is described as a backpacking snack, traditionally with butter. Langoustine is called the Icelandic “lobster,” served as soup or roasted in garlic butter, and it is named as a specialty of the south.

Lamb, the same material says, has been part of the food tradition since sheep arrived with the settlement. The animals graze free on highland pasture in summer and are rounded up on horseback in the fall. The taste is described as game-like, and the meat as relatively high in omega-3 because the sheep are grass-fed. The dishes it names as traditional are lamb soup (kjötsúpa) with root vegetables, lamb chops, and a roasted leg. Smoked lamb, hangikjöt, is described as a Christmas Eve dish, sometimes smoked with sheep dung, then boiled and eaten cold with a sauce, peas, and potatoes. Cured lamb on flatbread (flatkaka) is also named. The tourism page’s pride in the meat is the page’s voice. This guide is not repeating “best in the world” as a finding of its own.

Skyr is described as a yogurt-like dairy food made from skimmed milk by an old recipe, high in protein and low in fat and lactose. The whey was used for pickling. A traditional dish is skyr with wild bilberries and cream, especially in August, when the berries are in season. It is sold in grocery stores. The food pages also mention skyr used in desserts, and even in some beers.

Heat, greenhouses, and a hot dog

Visit Iceland says vegetables and some fruit are grown year-round in greenhouses heated geothermally, with tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers as the main crops and experiments that include strawberries. The south is described as the region with the largest share of greenhouse area, and local vegetables are part of why that region’s cooking is discussed alongside langoustine and seafood. Rye bread baked in geothermal ground is described at Laugarvatn Fontana, served with smoked Arctic char. That is a method, not a restaurant reservation.

The same food writing names a hot dog stand, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, in business since 1937, and the phrase “eina með öllu,” one with everything: onions and remoulade among the extras. Another harbor stall, Vikinga Pylsur, is also named. A hot dog is ordinary food in the capital, not a joke the guides are making.

Restaurants in Reykjavík and elsewhere are numerous, and Visit Iceland discusses places the Michelin Guide has starred or recommended, including Dill, ÓX, and Moss at the Blue Lagoon. Menus also include beef, poultry, pork, and vegetarian dishes, plus kitchens from many other countries. Naming those three is repeating the tourism page, not ranking them. Hours, prices, and whether a table exists tonight are the restaurant’s problem.

Water is part of the food story. Visit Iceland’s geography and food notes talk about clean spring water, and a practical-information card says to drink water from the tap. Beer, once restricted, is now brewed commercially and in small breweries, some of them using that water, some using skyr, some using geothermal energy. Alcohol import rules, including the age of 20, are customs rules on the arriving page, not a drinks menu.

Sources

• Visit Iceland, Food
• Visit Iceland, South Iceland
• Visit Iceland, Greenhouse growing
• Visit Iceland, Practical information