Thursday, September 11, 2008

Bizzare Foods - Iceland Part 2

Well I'm done with the bizarre. Now covering less scary items.

4) Skyr Cheese/Yogurt hybrid.

I suspect Icelanders grow up eating this stuff. It's a type of cheese that's low fat but tastes like yogurt. According to Wikipedia Skyr's been appearing in New England gourmet stores though I haven't seen it.

This tastes pretty good. It tastes richer than regular yogurt though not as rich as Fage. It is sold in a variety of yogurty flavors like blueberry, strawberry and vanilla.

I seem to have lost my photo of poor Skyr :( Here's one from the Skyr website. It comes with a spoon! LOL


UPDATE: I found Skyr today at Whole Foods! The price was $2.73 which is high for yogurt but I suppose it is imported and comes with a spoon :P Seriously though, it is virtually fat free so try it sometime.

5) BrennivĂ­n aka "Icelandic Black Death"
We were treated to a round of this when our dearest Hotel Budir "lost" our reservation. It's served cold, in a shot glass, and is pretty smooth. It tasted like Greek Ouzo / Sambuca with a liquorice flavor but way milder. I hate usually hate liquorice but liked this.

I don't have a photo but here's one borrowed from Wikipedia.


6) Icelandic Produce - Lamb and Fish
Lamb in Iceland is free range, delicious and cooked fabulously. Slightly pink on the inside and very tender. Icelandic chefs also seem fond of cooking with Asian sauces. Perhaps inspired by their Japanese counterparts who share a love for whale.

We also enjoyed the fresh fish caught from Breidafjordur Bay. Fresher than Whole Foods, yum! ;)

Yummy lamb with a soy glaze:


7) Dried Cod

Icelanders love their dried cod. Apparently so do certain African countries. It is considered a delicacy and exported there from Iceland. The dried cod tasted alright, fishy without much flavoring. I prefer the Asian versions of dried seafood (you can find this at Kotobukiya) that use vinegar or salt and sugar as seasoning.



8) Mystery Fish Roe
I quite enjoyed this mystery fish product for lunch. One of my favorites. Anyone have any idea what it is? It's imported from Denmark.



And to finish off, presenting one of my favorite photos of Iceland ...


Askja Caldera in Iceland's Interior

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks like you had some fantastic (and odd!) dishes! Thanks for sharing!

mini said...

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed reading about it :)