I’m in Iceland and the food here is sublime. The country has totally rallied around their earthy, fishy roots and is producing phenomenal stuff, even in tiny little hotel restaurants in towns with populations of 200. The slow food movement here is very active. And there’s a heavy focus on organic, farm-to-table, clean food. I’m in a very specific heaven.
I met with the mover and shaker in the Icelandic Slow Food movement – Dominique Plédel Jónsson – and she gave me the full rundown on what and where to eat around the entire country. You can get more information on their facebook page, or look at their facebook group.
One of the classic products here is skyr, a cultured curd cheese made out of cow, sheep or goat milk. It’s like a slightly thicker and creamier yoghurt – very much like my homemade cream cheese – and brimful of great cultures. I’ve been eating it like crazy. One cafe – Cafe Loki – makes an “ice cream” from it, mixing a fermented rye with skyr into a creamy mush. Oddly, they eat it on the side of a plate of herring. I’ve eaten skyr mixed with foraged berries as a dessert. And as a spread on toast. Much like my cream cheese.
The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity’s Ark of Taste cites two Icelandic products: the local goat and the traditional skyr. The original recipe – and culture – is in the hands of few (like, three producers). Special stuff.
Anyway. The other day I ate it at Aldin, a great Slow Food cafe in Reykjavic. It was mixed with coconut milk and
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