Iceland's New Nordic Food Revolution

Bon Vivant

BACK TO THE LAND ICELAND’S NEW NORDIC Strict environmental controls – this is an island, after all – help Iceland produce some of the most pure food in the world. FOOD REVOLUTION Grass-fed cows yield incredible, bright yellow butter and the milk’s high fat content produces rich and wildly complex cheeses. Skyr, a mild, yogurt-like cheese that works as an ingredient or with a dessert, has been a larder Iceland continues to reach back to its culinary roots, marrying staple for hundreds of years. tradition with nouvelle cuisine in an ever-evolving, Fall is the best time to enjoy Icelandic lamb, at its freshest from September to early December, raised with no New Nordic-influenced food revolution. antibiotics, hormones or pesticides. The lamb is some of the best in the world, with the tradition of raising sheep By Doug Wallace almost as old as Iceland itself. Haddock and herring, cod and char, trout and river salmon are insanely fresh and delicious, yet delectable even when dried or cured – methods that harken back to times when laying in supplies for winter was paramount. Seabirds and waterfowl are also part of the food trend, as are wild ingredients like Icelandic moss, wild mushrooms, herbs and berries. The medicinal herb angelica, almost like a wild celery, is used to flavour salads, mustard, side dishes and meats. Foraging definitely has a place in a country ICELANDIC WAITER SERVING DELICIOUS LAMB DINNERS © SIGURJON RAGNAR covered with lava rock.

RESTAURANT SCENE Other hot restaurants include: Apotek, a blend of Icelandic Iceland’s top chefs are revitalizing the national cuisine, and European cuisine; Haust, featuring a strictly seasonal- taking traditional foods and giving them a modern twist. ingredient menu; and Vox, which maintains a direct path from nature to plate, its national roots really showing. This Reykjavik’s Dill Restaurant, now helmed by Ragnar all adds up to a restaurant scene that’s worth the five-hour Eiríksson, is one of many at the forefront of this wave flight from Toronto in itself. of New Nordic cuisine, adding things like geothermally baked rye bread, inventive smoked fish dishes, goose WHEN TO GO breast and incredible cheeses to a seven-course tasting Now is a great time to plan a visit. Summer months are menu. This changes weekly, and features bold uses of local warm, and the northern lights are breathtaking from ingredients, such as celery successfully worked into October onward. And because Iceland lies in the path a caramel dessert. of the North Atlantic Current, its temperature is mild considering how close you are to the Arctic Circle – hovering around +2/-2 C through most of the winter.

Iceland’s embrace of its food roots and New Nordic cuisine suits its collective mentality, championing what they’ve been doing best for 1,000 years: fishing and farming. Family-run dairies and busy fishing villages are indeed the backbone of the food industry here, making the farm-to-table conveyance of organically produced lamb, dairy and fish that much easier.