Spend a few days in Iceland and you'll notice cod everywhere: on menus, in museums, in harbor towns built around fish processing plants. That isn't a coincidence. For most of Iceland's history, cod wasn't just food. It was the economy, the currency and, at times, the reason for going to sea against a world power.
Here's the short version of how one fish built a nation.
A country with little else
When Norse settlers arrived in the late 800s, they found a land with few trees, a short growing season and soil that could support sheep and hay but not much grain. What Iceland did have was some of the richest fishing grounds on Earth, where warm and cold ocean currents meet and cod thrive.
Fish became the backbone of the Icelandic diet. And because Iceland's cold, dry air could dry fish before it spoiled, people could preserve the catch for months without salt, which was scarce.
Dried cod becomes money
That preserved fish, the ancestor of today's Icelandic dried fish snack, became Iceland's most valuable export. From the 1300s on, dried cod, known in English as stockfish, was shipped to England and continental Europe, where demand was high. It kept for years and could feed sailors on long voyages.
Dried fish became so central to Iceland's identity that for centuries a crowned, split stockfish served as the country's coat of arms. It was replaced by a falcon in 1903.
From rowboats to trawlers
For hundreds of years Icelanders fished from open rowboats close to shore. In the 20th century, motorized boats and steam trawlers arrived, and fishing turned Iceland from one of Europe's poorest countries into one of its richest. Harbor towns boomed, and fish processing became the heart of the economy.
The Cod Wars
As fishing became industrial, Iceland grew worried that foreign trawlers, especially British ones, would empty its waters. So Iceland extended its fishing limits, and Britain pushed back. The result was three confrontations known as the Cod Wars:
- 1958–1961: Iceland extended its fishing limit to 12 nautical miles.
- 1972–1973: Iceland extended it to 50 nautical miles.
- 1975–1976: Iceland extended it to 200 nautical miles.
These "wars" involved Icelandic coast guard ships cutting the nets of British trawlers, Royal Navy frigates escorting the fishing fleet, and ships ramming each other at sea. There were real injuries and damage, but they were fought with nets, net-cutters and hulls rather than guns. Iceland won. The 200-mile limit stuck, and 200-mile zones soon became the international norm.
For a country of only a few hundred thousand people, facing down Britain over fish is still a point of national pride.
Learning to manage the catch
Winning control of its waters meant Iceland had to protect them. After warnings that cod stocks were in danger, Iceland moved in the 1980s to a strict quota system that limits how much each boat can catch, based on scientific advice. It's now regarded as one of the best-managed fisheries in the world.
Iceland's cod fishery has been certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council since 2012, and it still lands well over 200,000 metric tons of Atlantic cod a year.
Cod in everyday life
Cod is still everywhere in Iceland:
- On the menu: Fish stew, pan-fried cod, salt cod and dried fish.
- In your wallet: Iceland's 1-króna coin features a cod.
- In the museums: Maritime and fishing museums around the coast, from Reykjavík to small fishing villages, tell the story in detail.
Taste a thousand years of history
When you eat Icelandic dried fish, you're eating essentially the same food that Icelandic families stored for winter and merchants shipped across Europe centuries ago: cod and cold air.
That's the heritage behind HardFish. We're bringing wind-dried Icelandic cod to the U.S., with just cod and salt and about 84% protein. Join the founding list and taste it for yourself when we launch.