I am of Dutch heritage and Scandinavian according to 23 and Me, so Iceland feels like my people in some ways. One of the things I love, that my Dutch friend would send me from the Netherlands, is black licorice. My little sister despises it. It is unpopular in many bags of jelly beans, but I love it! Icelanders do too, and I dug into a couple of black licorice treats. If that looks like a rotten banana in candy form (but black licorice and banana flavor), it is. And move over chocolate-dipped Dairy Queen for Black Licorice dipped soft serve!
If you google the food specialties in Iceland, you will find things like fermented shark, dried fish, and sheep's head. I would say try it because you never know. I did not try those things on my trip, but maybe next time! What I can strongly recommend is the dairy -- Skyr "yogurt" and all of the cheese! I bought both at the grocery store, and it is so good.
Being an island, seafood is obviously good, and I mentioned in my Iceland post the yummy langoustine legs, which are a crustacean between a mini lobster and a prawn. I had a nice fish and chips once (because it was pricey) and a seafood crepe.
Of course, there are the hot dogs made from a combination of lamb, pork, and beef at the gas stations and the one I tried from the Meistarinn good truck with beans and cheese.
My detour to the Meistarinn Food Truck was skippable, but I stumbled on Cafe Emil in the small town of Grundarfjordur while waiting for the food truck to open. It was a combo bookstore, cafe, and museum complete with a boat inside. It felt like a social meet-up place for the locals. Sadly, it seems to be closed now, but it made the long detour fun as I sipped my coffee, watched the locals, and indulged in a meringue cake!
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