Top 10 Traditional Icelandic Foods (and Drinks) to Try

#1 - Seafood

Obviously, you’re going to want to have a lot of seafood while you’re visiting Iceland. Many professions out here involve fishing, so much of what you get is very fresh - usually caught that very day. There are many varieties of seafood, such as fish, mussels, crabs, and lobsters. You can find food stalls serving up these delicacies like in the photo, where we got a lobster hot dog (Icelanders like to make hot dogs out of everything!).

#2 - Char

Speaking of seafood, one of the most popular and common types of fish is char. If you like salmon, you will most probably enjoy char. Char tastes quite similar to salmon, but it is arguably more flavourful and is distinctively meatier than salmon. It will come in all forms of cooking methods, like smoked, grilled, baked, or broiled.

#3 - Puffin

This one is a little controversial, but we were told it was survival food at one point and then stuck. The puffin population is very large in Iceland. Puffin is usually smoked or broiled and tastes kind of like salty liver. It’s exceptionally tender and mildly gamey. Very similar to duck, but less intense and more tender in texture. We don’t blame you if you want to skip this one, but it is considered one of the traditional foods here in Iceland.

#4 - Sanbo

While on our visit around Iceland, we didn’t see many traditional desserts. However, there were a few candies that we saw everywhere. When going to a candy store in Reykjavik, we asked the storekeeper what he would pick up as a local. He instantly gave us this and said it was the most popular local sweet in the country. It is a chocolate licorice candy. As someone who does not like licorice, I actually really enjoyed this sweet. It’s very mild in flavour and has just a hint of licorice in it. The chocolate is smooth and the texture is quite nice!

#5 - Horse

Another controversial food in Iceland is horse. We suspect this is done in a humane way for Icelanders to access this kind of meat. We have to say, though, that horsemeat doesn’t really taste like anything. It only takes on the ingredients that accompany it. The one we had in the photo was tartare served with parmesan, aloli, olives, and capers. So, the meal took on all of those flavours with not much “meat” taste. Again, it needs to be dressed up to really taste like anything, so maybe don’t order if you’re looking for something with a punch of flavour.

#6 - Lamb

You will most definitely see lamb everywhere. It is in stews, soups, on its own, and even in hot dog form! You can’t go to Iceland without having some form of lamb while there. Again, as someone who doesn’t particularly care for lamb (and I live in England), the lamb here is typically more mild in flavour and less gamey than in other countries. Yes, you can taste that it’s still lamb, but everything is seasoned well and is cooked with intention of bringing out all the nice accents of flavours that accompany the lamb. Definitely try different varieties!

#7 - Hearty Soups

Iceland is cold… like all the time… even in the summer. One of the foods you’ll see literally everywhere is soup. Now this was very nice for me, as I am a soup enthusiast. Like I’m talking having soup in 40 C weather kind-of-person. So, I was very excited to see so many soup variations around the island. Everything from traditional lamb stew (pictured), to tomato basil, to hearty potato, and beetroot. If you travel to Vik, there are even soups served in black volcanic ash bread bowls. Another interesting thing we found about Iceland is that if you order soup, you can usually get a free “refill” at many restaurants. We don’t know if that’s a thing everywhere, but it certainly was wherever we went. Good deal!

#8 - Appelsin Soda

While on our 2-week trip, we probably had about a dozen of these. I was surprised by how good this unassuming soda was. Appelsin is like an orange Fanta, but much more flavourful and tastes fresher and crisper. It’s like a really nice Mexican Fanta, but again, slightly better. (If you haven’t realised it yet, Fanta tastes slightly different in every country - Mexican Fanta is considered the best). So, if I’m saying Appelsin is better than Mexican Fanta, it’s SUPER good. You can find these everywhere, so you won’t have a hard time finding one and trying it for yourself!

#9 - Skyr

Growing up in Texas, we always had skyr at the grocery stores. That was kind of our introduction to Icelandic food. And that was about it. I didn’t really know anything else about Icelandic food other than skyr. Skyr is a type of yogurt that is extremely thick and tart. I really liked skyr growing up, but it seems different after you’ve had the real thing in Iceland. I’m going to be honest, I didn’t really like the skyr here, as it always tasted like it went off to me. Maybe it was just me, as others in my party really enjoyed it and liked its tartness. You can find skyr in many desserts, such as pies, cheesecakes, and ice cream. It’s very good for your gut and overall health. Try it for yourself and see what you think.

#10 - Fermented Shark

Ok, let’s be honest - nobody likes fermented shark. Those who say they do are lying. Fermented shark was a survival food back in the day, but now it’s taken more as a challenge than anything else. We were told to chew for 10-15 seconds until we tasted ammonia and then swallow. What?! When we tried it, we instantly tasted ammonia. Hunter swallowed and I did not. I spat it out immediately. There’s no way on earth you can get me to swallow that. We got our badge that says we did it, but we’ll never do that again. But hey, it’s tradition. You have to do it once in your life.