Icelandic Food

Updated September 2026

For most of its history, Iceland struggled to feed itself. The climate was harsh, and people found creative ways to use whatever the land and sea gave them, which is where dishes like fermented shark come from. Modern Icelanders have far more choice, and Reykjavik has a food scene that would have been hard to imagine a generation ago. Fruit, vegetables and many packaged goods are imported and cost more, so the core of the Icelandic diet is still what's produced at home: lamb, fish and dairy.

Lamb

Lamb is the staple red meat. Cattle are raised mostly for dairy, while sheep spend the summer grazing free in the hills; Statistics Iceland counted 349,936 sheep in 2025. The meat is tender and has a mild, herby flavor. Look for kjötsúpa, a hearty lamb and vegetable soup that's perfect after a cold day outside, and hangikjöt, smoked lamb, which turns up at Christmas and on flatbread all year.

Fish

Fish is the most common building block of an Icelandic meal. Cod, haddock, salmon, Arctic char, plaice, wolffish, halibut and herring are all caught or farmed locally, and langoustine is often sold as "lobster" on menus. You can't go wrong with a simple grilled fish fillet, a plate of fish and chips, or a bowl of fish or langoustine soup.

The home-cooking classic is plokkfiskur, a mash of fish, potato and béchamel, usually served with dark rye bread. Harðfiskur, wind-dried fish, is the traditional Icelandic snack, usually eaten with butter.

>> Icelandic food to try: Plokkfiskur

Whale, puffin and the stranger stuff

This is the section that has changed the most since this page was first written. Back then, minke whale had just come back onto restaurant menus, and it was eaten more by tourists than by locals. Minke whaling for the domestic market stopped in 2020 (a single minke was taken in 2021), and whale meat is much harder to find on menus now, though Þrír Frakkar still serves it. One company, Hvalur hf., hunts fin whales, mostly for export to Japan. It went back out in June 2026 after two years without a hunt and had caught 80 fin whales by 9 September. The government's legislative plan puts a bill overhauling the whaling law before parliament in February 2027, with a permanent ban under consideration.

Puffin is still hunted in the Westman Islands for a few weeks each summer, and horse (usually listed as foal) shows up on some menus, even though Icelanders shunned horse meat for centuries. You may see both.

Then there's Þorramatur, the traditional midwinter spread: singed sheep's head (svið), sour ram's testicles (hrútspungar), blood and liver sausages, and hákarl, fermented Greenland shark. It's eaten mostly during Þorri, the old month that runs from late January to late February, with a shot of Brennivín to help it down.

>> More on Icelandic delicacies and Þorrablót and other holidays

Dairy and skyr

Icelanders have a near obsession with dairy, and a supermarket dairy case here is an education. There's some local cheese, though much of it is imported. The most famous Icelandic dairy product is skyr. Technically it's a fresh cheese, but it has the consistency of strained yogurt with a milder flavor. It's low in fat and high in protein, and you'll find it in every grocery and convenience store in the country, plain or flavored. Restaurants use it in dips and desserts too, and skyr cake is worth ordering.

>> More on skyr

Breads and pastries

Grocery stores carry every kind of bread and pasta, but grains didn't play a big part in the traditional diet. The traditional breads are rúgbrauð, a dense, dark, slightly sweet rye bread that's served with fish, herring and plokkfiskur, and flatkaka, a soft rye flatbread that's often topped with smoked lamb. For something sweet, try a kleina, a small twisted doughnut, with your coffee. On Bun Day before Lent, the bakeries fill up with cream puffs.

Vegetables and greenhouses

Iceland imports most of its fruit, but geothermal heat makes it possible to grow a lot under glass. Towns like Hveragerði, east of Reykjavik, are known for their greenhouses. Tomatoes and cucumbers are grown indoors all year, while rutabaga, cabbage and turnips are often started in greenhouses and moved outside once summer arrives. Crowberries, blueberries, rhubarb, mushrooms, wild thyme and angelica grow outdoors.

If you're driving the Golden Circle, Friðheimar, a greenhouse farm in Reykholt, runs a restaurant whose kitchen is open every day from 11:30am to 4pm, plus a little tomato shop. It takes table bookings online, and booking ahead is a good idea.

Hot dogs

Icelanders are close to fanatical about their hot dogs, and once you taste one it's easy to see why. At Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, the stand that has been selling them since 1937, the sausages are lamb-based with pork and beef, served in a bun with ketchup, sweet mustard, remoulade, crispy fried onion and raw onion. Ask for eina með öllu, "one with everything". A hot dog there cost 880 ISK in 2026, still one of the cheapest ways to fill up in an expensive country. The flagship stand on Tryggvagata stays open until 1am most nights and until 6am on Friday and Saturday nights, which tells you who its best customers are.

>> More on Icelandic hot dogs

Everything else

The foods above are the most traditional, but they're far from your only options. In Reykjavik you can eat sushi, pasta, tacos, curry, Vietnamese noodles and plenty more, and even small towns usually have somewhere to get a burger or a pizza. There's still no McDonald's: the chain closed its Icelandic restaurants at the end of October 2009 during the financial crisis and never returned. (The old version of this page listed several American chain restaurants in Iceland. Some of those have since closed, so check before you go looking for one.)

To eat well on a budget, shop at the discount supermarkets Bónus and Krónan, and save your restaurant money for a few special meals. Every Icelandic restaurant bill includes 11% VAT on food, and no tip is expected.

>> More on dining and drinking in Reykjavik, where to eat in Reykjavik, romantic restaurants in Reykjavik and dining on a budget in Reykjavik

FAQ

Is it still possible to eat whale in Iceland?

Occasionally, but it's much rarer than it was. Minke whaling for local restaurants ended in 2020, and Iceland's remaining whaling company hunts fin whales mainly for export, but a few Reykjavik restaurants still list whale.

What's the one Icelandic food I have to try?

If you only try one thing, make it a hot dog with everything. If you have room for two, add a bowl of lamb soup. Save the fermented shark for when you have a Brennivín handy.

Is food in Iceland expensive?

Restaurant meals are. Supermarkets are more reasonable, so a place with a kitchen saves a lot. See self-catering in Iceland and how to budget for a trip to Iceland.

Can vegetarians eat well in Iceland?

In Reykjavik, yes. Outside the capital, menus lean hard on lamb and fish, so it helps to have a kitchen and shop at supermarkets.

>> Thirsty? Read what to drink in Iceland and what to eat in Iceland.

Photo by nicolasngkw, caliparisien