Icelandic food grew out of a hard place: a short growing season, long dark winters and an ocean full of fish. For most of the country's history, people ate what they could catch, raise or preserve, and they got very good at preserving. Drying, smoking and salting kept families fed until spring.
That history is still on the menu. Some of it is comfort food you'll want every day of your trip. Some of it is a dare. Here are 11 things to eat in Iceland, roughly in order from easy to adventurous.
1. Dried fish
Iceland's oldest snack is still one of its most popular: white fish, usually cod or haddock, dried in cold air until it's light, flaky and chewy. Icelanders tear off a strip, spread it with salted butter and eat it like chips.
It tastes clean and savory, closer to a light jerky than anything "fishy," and it's almost pure protein. Icelandic producers list it at roughly 80–85% protein by weight.
Where to find it: Every grocery store (look near the snacks or the fish counter) and most gas stations. The bags are labeled harðfiskur (HARTH-fis-kur), Icelandic for "hard fish." That's the one Icelandic word on this list worth memorizing.
Full disclosure: this one is our favorite. It's why we started HardFish. More on that below.
2. Skyr (Icelandic yogurt)
You may already know skyr from the grocery store at home. It looks like Greek yogurt but is technically a fresh cheese: thick, tangy and high in protein, with around 10–12 grams per 100 grams. The versions in Iceland are fresher and come in more flavors.
Where to find it: Any grocery store, in tubs and drinkable versions. Cafés serve it with berries and granola, and skyr cake shows up on dessert menus.
3. Icelandic hot dogs
Yes, the hot dog. Iceland's are made mostly from lamb, blended with pork and beef, and they're snappier and milder than American franks. Order one "with everything." That gets you raw onions, crispy fried onions, ketchup, a sweet brown mustard and remoulade.
Where to find it: Bæjarins Beztu, a stand in downtown Reykjavík selling hot dogs since 1937, is the famous one. Honestly, the ones at gas stations around the country are nearly as good, and they're the cheapest hot meal you'll find.
4. Lamb soup
Icelandic sheep graze free in the highlands all summer, and the lamb tastes like it. Lamb soup is the classic way to eat it: a clear, hearty soup of lamb, rutabaga, carrots and potatoes. After a cold, wet day at a waterfall, nothing beats it.
Where to find it: Cafés and casual restaurants, especially in winter and in the countryside.
5. Fish stew
Iceland's version is closer to shepherd's pie than to chowder: flaked cod or haddock mashed with potatoes and onions in a white sauce, sometimes topped with cheese and baked. It's home cooking, not fine dining, and that's the point.
Where to find it: Lunch menus in Reykjavík and small-town cafés. Order it with rye bread and butter.
6. Hot spring rye bread
Icelandic rye bread is dense, dark and slightly sweet. The traditional version is baked slowly in a pot buried in geothermal ground for about a day. Eat it with butter and smoked trout, pickled herring or that fish stew.
Where to find it: Grocery stores sell it sliced. Around the Golden Circle, a few places, such as Laugarvatn, have dug it out of the hot ground in front of visitors.
7. Langoustine
What Icelandic menus call "lobster" is langoustine, a small, sweet cousin of lobster. It's usually served grilled in garlic butter or in a rich, creamy soup.
Where to find it: All over, but the fishing town of Höfn in the southeast is the langoustine capital and even holds a festival for it. If you're driving the Ring Road, plan a meal there.
8. Smoked lamb
Iceland's smoked lamb is deep red and intensely savory, traditionally smoked over a fire of birch or dried sheep dung. It's the centerpiece of an Icelandic Christmas, but you can get it year-round, often thin-sliced on a charred rye flatbread.
Where to find it: Grocery store deli sections sell both the sliced lamb and the flatbread. It makes a perfect road-trip lunch.
9. Twisted doughnuts
Icelandic bakeries sell twisted, deep-fried pastries that taste like a not-too-sweet cake doughnut, often with a hint of cardamom. They go perfectly with the strong coffee Icelanders drink all day.
Where to find it: Bakeries, gas stations and grocery stores, usually in bags of five or ten.
10. Licorice
Iceland is obsessed with licorice, especially licorice paired with chocolate: chocolate-covered licorice pieces, chocolate bars with licorice inside, licorice-dusted everything. If you think you hate licorice, Iceland's version might change your mind.
Where to find it: The candy aisle of any grocery store, and the big bulk candy bins.
11. Fermented shark
Now the dare. Fermented shark is Greenland shark, whose flesh is toxic when fresh. It's cured for weeks, then hung to dry for months until it's safe to eat. The smell is strong ammonia. The taste is milder than the smell, but not by much.
Icelanders eat it in small cubes, usually chased with a shot of Brennivín, a caraway-flavored schnapps. Try one cube. You'll have a story, and nobody will make you eat a second.
Where to find it: The Bjarnarhöfn Shark Museum on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula lets you see the drying shed and try a piece. Grocery stores sell it in small tubs, and it's a fixture of the midwinter food festival.
What about whale and puffin?
They still appear on some menus aimed at tourists. They're not everyday Icelandic food, and many Icelanders never eat them. With so much great fish and lamb on the table, we'd skip them.
The one to take home
If you only try one thing on this list, make it the dried fish. It's the most Icelandic snack there is, it fits in a jacket pocket, and it packs more protein than anything else at the gas station.
The only problem is that you can't find it at home. We're working on that. HardFish is bringing wind-dried Icelandic cod to the U.S., with just cod and salt and about 84% protein. Join the founding list below and we'll tell you the day it lands.