Dining with Icelanders in Reykjavik, Iceland
No matter whether it’s geyseros, glaciers or guillemots, Iceland is a region bursting with organic miracles and one particular that you genuinely must test to visit at least the moment. With any luck , my posts from our the latest vacation have demonstrated just how substantially there is to see and do – the landscapes and waterfalls, the geothermal wonders and the prosperity of special experiences. But maybe you recognized 1 point lacking? Even though we have achieved heaps of persons on the way, considerably of what we did was extremely significantly geared towards visitors and, apart from the occasional manual, most of our interactions were also with other travelers.
Would not it be nice if you could working experience the actual Iceland for a working day, or even just a couple of several hours? A additional authentic practical experience where you get to satisfy community Icelandic people today and discover a little about their culture and working day-to-day lives, perhaps above a regular Icelandic meal. This is in which Eating with Icelanders will come in.
Eating with Icelanders is the brainchild of Helga Kristin Fridjonsdottir, herself an Icelander, and owner of journey advisory Iceland Unwrapped. Iceland Unwrapped is all about connecting men and women with Helga’s homeland in a more immersive way, bringing the interactions involving folks far more to the fore than could possibly be doable with a conventional tour experience, for example.
Eating with Icelanders is a absolutely unique way to get to know Iceland and Icelanders. Helga is an seasoned traveller herself – possessing lived in Brazil, Austria, Denmark, Portugal and the Netherlands, as very well as Iceland of training course – and connects guests to Iceland with community individuals, more than a eating encounter, for a certainly exceptional experience. In our situation, we were fortunate adequate that Helga invited our loved ones to be part of her possess spouse and children for evening meal at her residence on one of our last evenings in Iceland, even though this would not often be the circumstance considering that Helga has a quantity of various hosts with which she connects her journey consumers at a range of distinctive venues.
We ended up pretty warmly welcomed into Helga’s house. She is fluent in Icelandic, English, Danish and Portuguese, and returned from the Netherlands (from where by she experienced presently began her enterprise some several years previously) in 2020 to reside in Reykjavik with her partner, Mike, a communications advisor from Chicago, and teenage son, Gabriel.
We were extremely substantially designed to experience at property and inspired to help ourselves to some appetisers that bundled delightful smoked lamb and smoked salmon on buttered rúgbrauð. This rye bread would usually be built in the floor, with the dough typically put into a container this sort of as a milk carton and remaining in the geothermally heated earth for 24 hours, and then it is all set.
I was also interested to attempt the harðfiskur – dried fish (in this situation, haddock) with salted butter as I had read through about this becoming a common Icelandic snack. It’s Iceland’s reply to fish jerky and has been well-liked in the state for centuries… and is of study course also packed with protein, vitamins and Omega 3 so rather a wholesome snack, way too. After you have tasted it, you’ll see why it’s a staple in Iceland!
It was lovely to get to know Helga and her relatives, and we had an pleasant chat about a complete array of matters, from learning about how Icelanders reside and the Icelandic schooling procedure, to the country’s modern strength initiatives and dwelling with earthquakes. We even chatted about elves and street diversions, the Katla sequence on Netflix, and Gabby and Mike’s like of Tottenham Hotspur.
For our key, we experienced cod that was basically cooked in butter, and seasoned with salt and pepper. This is a excellent example of how not striving to in excess of-complicate a dish pays big dividends as the cod was so delicious that it didn’t need just about anything more.
It was served with potatoes and greens, as the conversation moved on to Icelandic cuisine, our Arctic rafting expertise, the pandemic, politics, modern businesses in Iceland and additional. I was definitely interested to listen to how the recent boom in journey to Iceland was observing the tourism marketplace overtake the fishing field, and however Iceland could survive from fishing by yourself because this was proven throughout the COVID pandemic.
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For dessert, we had pönnukökur served with jam – wonderfully sensitive Icelandic pancakes that are significantly like crêpes. They ended up served with rhubarb jam and whipped cream and we ended up revealed how they were traditionally stuffed, folded in fifty percent and then folded once again into quarters.
I later uncovered that these golden pancakes, which resemble the sunshine, are frequently made to welcome the initial sunshine in late January in a celebration named “Sólarkaffi” when the sunshine rises higher more than enough previously mentioned the mountains to glow its rays in excess of the locals.
Ahead of we understood it, three hours experienced flown by. We’d experienced a definitely enjoyable evening and experienced been built to experience extremely welcome we’d relished an knowledge that pretty handful of vacationers visiting Iceland would ever get to encounter. If this appears like a little something you’d love, be certain to get in touch with Helga. She is extremely approachable (in truth, I spoke to her on line prior to our possess visit to Iceland and picked up all types of handy ideas), and will be only much too pleased to help you. Her Eating with Icelanders encounter can be booked as portion of a holistic package that encompasses hidden gems, off-the-beaten-observe activities, audio and society, as well as dining.
Organizing a trip to Iceland oneself? You can watch a video from our journey to Iceland in this article:
Disclosure: This put up is sponsored by Iceland Unwrapped. Our vacation to Iceland was also sponsored by Helly Hansen.