Hunting for Delicacies at the Flea Market - Iceland
Skyr, a very popular Icelandic dairy product, best described as a milky, cheesy, Greek yogurt-like substance that's very high in calcium and protein.
One of my absolute musts when traveling is trying out the local cuisine. In fact the first thing I do after I’ve chosen a new travel location is look up what that place is known for, food-wise. Usually a quick google search will give me a “Top 10 must try foods in ___”. After looking at multiple lists, I’ll comb through them to look for the foods that consistently stand out in each list. In the case with Iceland, local “must-trys” included: whale, puffin, fermented shark, skyr, and the least unlikely food you could think of as their national dish: hot dogs!
Since our itinerary was already jam packed with activities, we didn’t have too much time during the day to explore different food options. In the mornings, we walked to a bakery down the street from our apartment to quickly munch on pastries before we were picked up by our tours. For lunch, we were always on the road, so we ate whenever we made pit stops. That meant dinner was the only time we had to explore the restaurants in Reykjavík. That also meant that we almost always overate just so we could fit in all the places we wanted to try. Not really a surprise there if you know us.
Ostaslaufur: Soft, cheesy, yumminess. Our fast go-to breakfast in the mornings
Unfortunately we weren’t able to try the puffin, fermented shark, or whale. We didn’t want to sit at an expensive restaurant and order an entire platter of puffin only to find that we didn’t like the taste. We just wanted to try a taste of it to see what it would be like. After all of our adventures in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam, we knew the perfect place for this would be an outdoor/night/flea market. Taiwan and Hong Kong are known for its night markets where anybody can sample all sorts of deliciously cheap eats. In Amsterdam, we were able to cross out 4 of the must-try food items on our list during one stroll at an outdoor market. So naturally we looked for outdoor markets to sample these types of food. Of course Reykjavík wouldn’t have an outdoor market in the winter, but there is a pretty well known indoor flea market close to the harbor called Kolaportid.
The market housed many booths that sold antique trinkets and knick knacks, vintage clothing, jewelry, and of course the food section. There’s a lot of cool jewelry made out of volcanic lava rock, and I bought a necklace for myself as a nifty Icelandic souvenir. In the food section, we mostly sampled and bought from the candy and cookies section to bring back to family and friends. We asked many snack vendors which treats were the most popular among locals and one of the ladies behind the booth told us that Icelanders love licorice. So we bought packs and packs of different colored licorice, chocolate covered licorice, etc. We brought them back home only to find out that it was all black licorice, and neither of us nor our friends have a taste for black licorice.
Since we had to check out the flea market after a tour, and we were busy sampling sweets and buying souvenirs, we didn’t have enough time to check out and sample the seafood area. Thus, we were unable to try fermented shark, whale, and puffin during our time in Iceland, but this just means that we need to plan a return trip another time for more dining opportunities! However, we did try the "best hot dogs in the world" which you can read about in my hot dog post.