Iceland may be melting off the face of the planet, but it is still going strong in the freaky foods department. Iceland is home to a lot of traditional foods such as fish (and lots of of it!), meats and cured edibles, but it also offers many extremely bizarre foods fit only for the most hale and hearty adventurous eaters. Here are some of the top weirdest and most incredibly disturbing freaky foods in Iceland.
Pickled ram balls: Not the kind of balls as in “meatballs,” the kind of balls as in testicles. Surprisingly, animal testicles are a popular delicacy in many countries around the world. In Spain, for example, people enjoy noshing on bull testicles. The Icelandic version of eating animal balls is to process them into a block shape and then boil and pickle them in acid. They are said to have a “spongy” texture. Which is worse: the fact that the dish is made out of testicles, the acid pickling or the word “spongy” in relation to food? It is hard to decide, is it not?
Buried, fermented, cured, rotten poisonous shark: It may not sound too appetizing to chow down on a poisonous animal species, but all around the world, people are crazy for poisonous fish of all kinds, and Iceland is no exception. Icelandic folks love to munch on this shark, but only after it has been buried in the ground for a couple of months, then cured by drying it out. The poison becomes non-toxic to humans after the preparations, but the scent is noxious. In fact, it is said that the taste and smell is horrific to those who are not used to it, and outsiders have a hard time gagging it down, but Iceland natives love it and eat it routinely. Oh, and it smells like old urine, FYI.
Pickled whale blubber and beer made out of whale testicles: Like many foods in Iceland, pickled whale blubber is made by fermenting the item in whey. The fat from the whale is then eaten like a cheese. Most recently, Iceland made news headlines when the country began making beer out of whale testicles. There is really not much more to say about this except “ew.”
Slimy seal flippers: Seals are perhaps one of the cutest species on Earth. It is wonderful and delightful to see them at the zoo and wave to them, marveling at their extreme preciousness. Not for people in Iceland, though. People in Iceland enjoy cutting the flippers off of seals and then soaking them in milk and salt. The texture is said to be slimy and the taste, quite sour. But probably not as sour as the tears running down the faces of everyone who loves seals when they find out about this cuisine, which is considered to be a major delicacy in Iceland.
Entire burnt sheep’s head with eyes intact but with no brain: Seeing an entire sheep’s head burnt and served on a dinner plate would probably be quite unnerving to even the most seasoned foodie, but Icelanders just love this dish, which is considered to be special and is eaten during their festival time. Some people in Iceland consider the head to have spiritual properties. For example, the ears are generally not eaten as doing so might cause the person to be falsely accused of stealing. The most desired part of this entree is the meaty and fatty cheek. The animal’s brain is always absent, though.
Raw, still-warm bird heart eaten right out of the animal itself: Man, people in Iceland are not joking around when it comes to being tough about their food. Forget Snow White’s evil stopmom; Icelanders long to munch on warm, raw hearts. This dish is from the puffin bird, and it is served routinely in many restaurants. The rest of the bird’s flesh can also be served and usually comes with a creamy dairy-based sauce.
Rudolph the red…bloody raw reindeer: Rudolph will not be leading any sleighs tonight or any night in Iceland. That is because people who love the disturbing, freaky foods of the chilly nation are busy gobbling down Rudolph’s bloody, raw flesh sliced into thin strips of gooey goodness. Forget delicate, lightly flavored raw fish like the kind that sushi is made with; Icelandic eaters prefer the heavy mineral and metal flavors of raw red meat. Bacteria, shmachteria. It builds the immune system!
Precious, adorable baby ponies: It should be obvious by now that people in Iceland are a hearty lot. Somewhere in the nation there must be a very lonely, singular animal rights activist, sitting all by himself in a sparsely decorated office, looking longingly at the phone and waiting for it to ring, bringing word of just one more person who wants to join in the effort to make Icelanders a bit more sensitive. That activist must be the world’s most ineffective person, because Icelanders love to eat the cutest animals they can find, and this includes tiny, precious adorable ponies. Horse meat is eaten widely throughout the world, and it all depends on which nations consider which animals to be “pets” as opposed to “food.” In Iceland, it seems no animal is off limits. Baby ponies are prepared similarly to how Americans might eat corned beef, and commonly served with turnips, potatoes and cabbage.
Organs, organs, organs: Most countries eat organ meats. In the United States, it is now uncommon to find liver on the menu at the vast majority of restaurants, but back in the day, it was a popular menu item. People who grew up here in the earlier half of the 20th century still have intense cravings for liver, liver pate and liverwurst, especially if those folks are of German background. However, sometime circa 1970, liver began really falling out of popularity here in the U.S. Not so in most other parts of the world. In Iceland, they are really into not only liver, but all organ meats, especially hearts (preferably warm and raw as in the aforementioned puffin), and all sorts of “giblets.”
Bread, tea and soup made from moss: Imagine you are in a fairy tale and you stumble across an old witch’s house. It is covered with bramble and vines. As the sun begins to set, the witch opens the door, and for a moment, you are blinded by the disappearing ball of fire behind her. “Come in, my Dearie,” she cackles, and she takes your hand in hers. It is old and rough, weathered and covered in age spots. She leads you to a tiny table made from gnarled branches, and puts a pot of tea on the stove. At this point, what do you think the tea would be made out of? If you said moss, you would be right. But Icelanders do not need any fictional setting or mythical character to serve freaky foods. Nope, they are happy to do that in real life and in quite a matter-of-fact way, too. Icelandic moss is a lichen that grows naturally and is harvested for all sorts of edible products. It is used to make tea, bread and soup and is considered to have healing properties. Icelanders think it cures everything from colds to stomach ulcers and works similarly to penicillin.
Jelly made out of lamb: Mmmmm a nice P, B and J sammy with yummy peanut butter, crunchy whole grain bread and jelly…made from lamb? Well, not exactly. People in Iceland eat their jelly made out of lamb, but not on a peanut butter sandwich. They eat this dish cold and sliced, like an entree, and usually serve it with turnips and potatoes.
So there you have it: the most disturbing foods of Iceland. Were there any incredibly weird foods from Iceland that we missed in this guide? If so, please write in and let us know what some of your favorite freaky foods are, either in Iceland or elsewhere in the world.
