{"id":666,"date":"2016-08-20T12:09:25","date_gmt":"2016-08-20T16:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/food-faith\/?p=666"},"modified":"2021-01-29T11:12:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T16:12:01","slug":"iceland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2016\/08\/20\/iceland\/","title":{"rendered":"When in Iceland, eat sheep"},"content":{"rendered":"\"kathleen\"\n

By Kathleen Murphy, former Boston Food Justice Young Adult Volunteer and PHP Food Justice Fellow, pictured here in Thingvellir Park, Iceland, where the continental divide goes through the island nation and the ancient parliament met.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As an adventurous eater I was really excited to see what kind of trouble I could get myself into when in Iceland.<\/p>\n

A good friend from grade school moved to Iceland a few years ago for grad school and as I like to say \u201cLife happened.\u201d He was going to school when he met his partner, who has since become his husband. He and his husband, a native Icelander, have started roots in a town outside of Reykjavik called Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. With friends to show me a truer version of Iceland I set off full of excitement and wonder.<\/p>\n

I told my friend that I was interested in trying traditional Icelandic fare–with very few reservations. I suppose there could have been something I wasn\u2019t willing to try but I eat by the motto \u201cI\u2019ll try anything once.\u201d Luckily my friend is a rather adventurous person and made the commitment to try anything I wanted to try.<\/p>\n

What I discovered is traditional Icelandic food is a food of necessity. Many traditional foods are those of farmers and sheep herders surviving Iceland before refrigeration, grocery stores, and industrialization. A common theme was food out of struggle. As one can imagine, Iceland is somewhat desolate as far as edible native vegetation and crops can struggle to survive. Sheep herding used to be an enormous industry on the island nation. It\u2019s not as popular now but you can see its imprint in the culture, and of course, the food.<\/p>\n

Sheep meat is available but no longer the staple it once was. Unless you\u2019re a tourist. Sheep\u2019s head has gone from farmstead cooking to tourist trap. One of the few remaining places that still serves sheep head, svi\u00f0, is the bus terminal in Reykjavik. Yes, its ok if your stomach just turned. The idea of eating a sheep head\u2026 at a bus terminal\u2026 took some adjusting to but when we arrived I was surprised at the cleanliness of the cafeteria and knowledgeable staff.<\/p>\n

Clunk. <\/span><\/strong>The plate hit the table and there it was. A sheep head.<\/h3>\n

Cut in half so that you get a profile. There\u2019s no dressing it up; not disguising it. You have to hand it to Icelanders–they don\u2019t hide the reality of what\u2019s on the plate by covering it flowers, greens, or other adornments. It came with rounded mounds of pur\u00e9ed squash and mashed potatoes.<\/p>\n

I have a picture but I\u2019ll spare you. No, on other hand…<\/p>\n\"sheep\"\n

We took the first bite with a hint of unease. Guess what? It wasn\u2019t bad. Really. It reminded me of a gamier pot roast in a way. Truthfully I can\u2019t tell you enjoyed the dish itself but I did enjoy the experience. That\u2019s what it\u2019s about, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Enjoying the experience was paramount to my trip.<\/p>\n

For my last night my friends took me out to a steak house in town. Again, with the pleasure of the experience guide me, I chose new foods. Sure you could get the usual beef steak but Iceland is famous for its lamb and seafood so I went all in. I got a lamb appetizer and it was delicious! I\u2019m not a lamb fan but I\u2019d order that again without hesitation. For the entrees I got horse, my friend got minke whale, and his husband got lamb. We sampled each other\u2019s and they were all delightful! I know horse and whale meat is rather controversial but I researched both industries. Despite being meat industries, restrictions do apply and it\u2019s not a free for all. Icelanders seem to be keen on keeping tradition alive while taking care of modern concerns for animal welfare and the environment.<\/p>\n

I left Iceland with one thing left on my \u201cto try\u201d list. I unfortunately did not have the opportunity to try one very unique food. Fermented shark, h\u00e1karl, is the one dish I was oddly excited to try yet ironically didn\u2019t. H\u00e1karl is fermented under some sand and rocks to eliminate the liquid and then hung in a shed for a few months. You\u2019ll be first in line to try it, I know.\"hakarl\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been told it smells like the feet of someone who has been in a dumpster but I was so curious that it wouldn\u2019t have deterred me. Of course I can comfortably say that since I didn\u2019t get the opportunity to try it. I\u2019m hopeful my attitude will be the same when face to face with it. It\u2019s still on my \u201cto try\u201d list.<\/p>\n

Is traditional Icelandic food one of a kind? Yes. Could it be hard to digest based on taste, ethics, environmental concerns? Yes. However, it is the food of a people- a strong, reserved, lovely people- and I wanted to experience whatever it brought my way. Food is a great look into a culture. I\u2019m curious person by nature and Iceland taught me that you can discover fantastic food if you follow your curiosity.<\/p>\n

\n

Kathleen is now working as Child Nutrition Program Assistant at the Virginia Poverty Law Center<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Kathleen Murphy, former Boston Food Justice Young Adult Volunteer and PHP Food Justice Fellow, pictured here in Thingvellir Park, Iceland, where the continental divide goes through the island nation and the ancient parliament met. As an adventurous eater I was really excited to see what kind of trouble I could get myself into when… Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,321],"tags":[17,688,689,19],"class_list":["post-666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-young-adults","tag-food-justice","tag-iceland","tag-sheep","tag-yav"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen in Iceland, eat sheep - Food and Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Clunk. The plate hit the table and there it was. 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