Icelandic Food Culture: From the Middle Ages to Modern Cuisine – Ep. 28

Icelandic food culture is deeply rooted in Scandinavian cuisine. As I mentioned in the "Brief History of the Icelandic language" episode, Iceland was settled mostly by farmers from Norway along with Vikings and some Celtic people who were made slaves after being captured by those Vikings . These Scandinavian people brought with them their cooking traditions and farming lifestyle. However, there is not much evidence of Celtic influence in Icelandic cooking. Icelandic Food Culture During the Middle Ages During those medieval times, settlers grew barley and oats and raised mainly cattle.They also raised other animals, like sheep, horses, pigs, chickens and goats. The rivers in the country provided fresh water fish and people with boats could venture out to the sea to catch cod, haddock and other variety of saltwater fish. Fish was either eaten fresh or stored in salt and then dried. The salt was made by boiling salt water or burning seaweed. However, firewood in Iceland was used up  quickly in most areas of the country, so dried salted fish was eventually phase out. Drying fresh fish in the wind was the dominant way of preserving this food, which is still done today to make harðfiskur. Meat was also preserved in fermented whey. Fermentation of shark, skate and herring still happen today. One would assume that there were a lot of fishing villages in Iceland since the beginning of when it was settled, but that was not the case. The farmers that settled there seemed to be stubbornly devoted to cultivating crops in such a harsh climate. Some were even opposed to fishing villages, mainly because fishing was considered a lot more risky when compared to farming. However, this didn’t stop people from fishing or consuming that food. While stockfish was used for trading with other countries, Iceland wasn’t heavily relying on fishing to fuel their economy until the 20th century. Meat and dairy products were what primarily made up the Icelandic diet for many centuries. Dairy, Turf Houses & A Little Ice Age Like many western cultures, Icelandic people love cheese and other dairy products. For centuries, they have been creating cheese from goat, sheep or cow’s milk. Interestingly, skyr, a food that Iceland is known for is said to have come from Norway but it seems that it fell off as a food in Norway, but  it never disappeared from the Icelandic diet. The leftover whey from skyr was allowed to sour and then was used to preserve meat. As I mentioned in my Top 10 Icelandic foods to try episode, skyr is classified as a cheese, even though people, including myself, call it yogurt. Check out that episode to find out what the other foods are. From settlement times until the 14 century, Icelandic people used to live in longhouses that placed the kitchen in the center of the house in order to heat it up. Earth ovens were used for making bread and cooking meat. During sometime in the 14th century, those longhouses were replaced by turf houses. These houses were smaller and the kitchen had its own room with a raised stone or hearth. Hooks were hung from above to hold pots at the desired height from the fire. During this time there was also shift from eating  two meals a day to eating three. During medieval times, grains were more easily incorporated into the Icelandic diet. On average, it was a warmer time, which allowed for barley and other grains to be grown in Iceland. However, that all changed when the country and other parts of Europe and North America experienced a  “Little Ice Age”.