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| There is also vegan Icelandic food |
Plus lots of dairy products, especially Skyr, sour milk and buttermilk. When baking, people also like to use butter, cream, lots of eggs... Iceland is definitely not the country that comes to mind first when it comes to vegetarian or vegan cuisine.
This is also the case for many Icelanders - especially for older Icelanders, a "real meal" includes a lot of meat and fish and as few vegetables as possible ("rabbit food").
But something is now also happening in Iceland.
Many restaurants and bars also offer at least vegetarian and vegan food. Whether it's Pylsuvagninn, thehot dog stand in Akureyri , which offers vegan sausages in addition to classic lamb sausages, whether you can get a wonderful buffet with mostly vegan dishes at the Vallanes organic farm in East Iceland, for example, ...
...whether there is always at least one vegan alternative in the Ikea restaurant or you can now buy various types of meat substitutes in the freezer section of the supermarket - good food for vegetarians and vegans is also increasingly an issue in Iceland.
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| Hot dogs - either vegan or made from lamb |
Classic Icelandic dishes for vegetarians
In Iceland, vegetarians find it even easier than vegans to eat without problems, especially if they also eat eggs. But you can now also find vegan food in Iceland.
Sweet main dishes and soups (vegetarian)
There are also sweet soups, such as this " egg groats " (= eggjagrautur ), which is traditionally served with cinnamon and fruit juice or fresh fruits, cocoa soup (= kakósúpa ), sweet rye bread soup (= brauðsúpa ), milk noodle soup (= stenglusúpa ) or cold ones Buttermilk soup (= köld áfasúpa ).
fruit soups
There are warm fruit soups such as thisapple soup with rusks (= eplasúpa með tvíbökum ), blueberry soup (= bláberjasúpa ) or rhubarb foam soup (= rabarbarasúpa ) and lukewarm or cold fruit soups such as currant soup with eggs and rusks (= rifsberjasúpa ).
Vegetable soups
With classic recipes for vegetable soups it is more difficult because these dishes are usually made on the basis of meat broth or bacon or smoked/salted meat is added. There are also vegetable soups without meat broth or, if you cook it yourself, you use vegetable broth instead of meat broth. Dishes available here include this quick vegetable soup , cabbage soup , beetroot soup or roasted cauliflower soup or an “ everyday soup ” with carrots, beets and cumin.
Always vegan
What I actually really like are traditional recipes from the “always vegan” category. Tried-and-tested, classic recipes that, of course, do not contain any animal products, but also without any “substitute products”.
However, there isn't really much from this category in Icelandic cuisine.
A classic Icelandic pastry that is also available in versions without eggs and dairy products is hjónabandssæla - marital bliss . A cake made primarily with oat flakes, flour, brown sugar, margarine and rhubarb jam - i.e. without eggs and - if you use purely plant-based margarine - without dairy products. And this really is a traditional Icelandic recipe!
In addition to vegetable soups based on vegetable broth, there are also dishes such as this grænt byggsalat (green barley barley salad), which does not contain any animal products and really puts you in a good mood with its crisp green color!
Classic Icelandic cuisine - veganized
There are now an increasing number of chefs, hobby chefs and bloggers in Iceland who are concerned with vegan food. In addition to common vegan dishes, many people also try to transform the familiar tastes of their childhood into vegan alternatives.
From Christmas nut balls with mushroom sauce instead of meatballs in mushroom sauce to vegan "Stampfvisch" ( plokkviskur ) to vegan Kleinur... all traditional dishes whose taste even Icelandic vegans don't necessarily want to do without.
In the near future I would like to introduce you to some of these vegan versions of typical Icelandic dishes during Lent 2022!
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| Vegan stomped vish |
[Translated from here.]
