My now-standard practice, upon discovering anyone I know is heading overseas, is to beg for food photos. Sometimes they oblige me. Even more rarely, they take the time to write up reactions to those photos and the country's food culture in general. Fresh off a recent trip to Iceland, perspicacious guest poster Emily Alta Hockaday has filed some quick impressions, covering hot dog men, demented pigs and the omnipresence of rhubarb. Still no answers regarding the mysterious popularity of orange soda in Scandinavian countries, but it's a start. A common instruction to tourists in Iceland: “You have to go to the hot dog stand in Reykjavik—you know, the famous one.” And indeed, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur was easily found and wildly popular. The last weekend of our trip (4/26/15), it was 32 degrees and lightly snowing. So with tears freezing in our eyes, we sat at the iconic red picnic table with three steaming hot dogs lined on their crimped tray and loaded with remoulade, sweet mustard, relish, and fried onions. The overall effect was very sweet, delicious with a satisfying texture, but a bizarre combo of sugary toppings over a savory dog. The main grocery store in Iceland, Bónus, for some reason represented by a demented (drunk?) looking pig, was a staple for our car-picnic-lunches, and also came in handy for dinner one night in Selfoss. The store boasts an array of hothouse fruit and vegetables, a few aisles of the usual grocery fare, as well as a butcher and freezer section. The main grocery store in Iceland, Bónus, for some reason represented by a demented (drunk?) looking pig, was a staple for our car-picnic-lunches, and also came in handy for dinner one night in Selfoss. The store boasts an array of hothouse fruit and vegetables, a few aisles of the usual grocery fare, as well as a butcher and freezer section. Icelandic breakfast was well loved by me and perhaps too well loved by my husband. If you aren’t familiar, the typical Scandinavian andIcelandic morning meal consists of bread—whole grain flat breads, rugbrød (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugbr%C3%B8d), rolls, you name it—and a spread of cold sliced meats and cheeses, very large curd cottage cheese, smoked salmon, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, in some cases paté, always fruit salad, and of course, danish. The making of beautiful tiny and hearty open-faced sandwiches is imperative. The danish were unbelievable (thank you, colonialism!) and tasted heavily of butter: apple kringle, cinnamon/chocolate kringle, and then standard sweet or savory croissants.
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The coded language of snacks, sandwiches and seasonings, in NYC and beyond.
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