11. Food Observations

A few notes about food...

The language spoken here is Icelandic, though everyone we've met seems to be anywhere between competant and fluent in English. Food labels at the grocery stores are mostly in Icelandic so the camera feature of Google Translate has been particularly useful.

Food prices are very high here - appetizers run $15-30, dinners run around $25-60, (the $25 options are bread-based foods like sandwiches, burgers or small pizza), a glass of house wine about $16. We did find one local fish'n chips take-out for about $23. Veggies are rarely served with meals, and are roughly twice the price at the store of what we are used to in the US. I've been munching on store bought carrots, lettuce, apples and a red pepper in the car as we travel. Not unexpectedly, the quality & taste of these products shipped here from abroad is less than what we're accustomed to in the US. Craig's snack of choice is crackers with peanut butter, or pb & banana sandwiches. Yes, I've had a few of those too!

Some of the meals have been delicious, most just kind of average. The lamb, cod & arctic char are wonderful . I made the mistake of trying a local dish called "Icelandic moss soup", served up in a local farmhouse turned cafe. The moss was fine, but the broth tasted like sugared oatmilk, which I think is what it actually was. I try to roll with the punches, but I confess to finding it downright inedible. (When the waiter asked, I told him it just wasn't quite what I had expected. He smiled indulgently - I'm pretty sure I wasn't the first person to say this).

Anyway, our self-drive tour includes buffet breakfast at each hotel, and the offerings were varied. The best ones included hot food like scrambled eggs with bacon & brown beans, but they all include breads, rolls, croissants, & pastries, yogurt, oatmeal, cereal, and processed meats & cheeses. Sometimes there is canned fruit cocktail & sometimes fruit like bananas & apples.

Bottom line - you need to like fish/meat, potatoes and bread to survive here. Fruits & vegetables just aren't readily available. One of our healthiest and least expensive meals was found at the gas station convenience store - a tip we picked up from a fellow blogger.Read more