Icelandic cuisine is TOTALLY terrible...

... at least if you believe a recent survey from the Taste Atlas website.

Currently, around 140,000 members of the site have voted on and rated around 16,000 dishes from all over the world. The result is a list of the best and worst cuisines worldwide and the best / worst dishes.

Current ranking: Iceland in 91st place out of 95

The "Taste Atlas" sees itself as a culinary travel guide for authentic, traditional dishes worldwide. It has existed since 2018. The national cuisines of 95 countries are currently being compared here.

From Italy (first place) to Norway (last place)

In the current ranking , Italian cuisine is in first place (with 4.72 out of 5.0 points), followed by Greek and Spanish cuisine .

German cuisine is in 15th place (with 4.37 points), Austrian cuisine is in 33rd place (with 4.09 points) and Swiss cuisine is only in 83rd place (with 3.82 out of 5.0 points).

Well - and traditional Icelandic cuisine is considered one of the worst in the world:

With 3.80 points, Iceland is only in 91st place in the Taste Atlas. After that comes only Canadian cuisine, Latvian cuisine and Moroccan cuisine and in 95th place out of 95 is Norwegian cuisine (with 3.48 out of 5.0 points ).

Hversdagsmatur - everyday Icelandic cuisine

According to the site, the rating was "traditional everyday cuisine", and the Icelandic dishes were apparently not particularly well received by eaters from all over the world - or perhaps they simply did not know them and therefore did not rate them.

I took a closer look at the site to see what traditional Icelandic everyday dishes are mentioned there. Here is the list of the 15 most common everyday dishes according to “ Taste Atlas ”:

1. Svið - singed sheep's head (0/5 points)

2. Harðfiskur - dried fish (3.2/5)

3. Hákarl - Rotten Shark (1.7/5)

4. Kjötsúpa - meat soup (4.3/5)

5. Fish and Chips (3.6/5)

6. Þorramatur (2.4/5)

7. Hangikjöt - lamb smoked over sheep dung (0/5)

8. Rúgbrauð - sweet rye bread (3.9/5)

9. Icelandic Hot Dog (3.6/5)

10. Vinarterta (n/a)

11. Broddur - baked colostrum pudding (4.4/5)

12. Laufabrauð (kA)

13. Ábrystir - colostrum pudding (n/a)

14. Flatkaka - Icelandic flatbread (n/a)

15. Skyronnes - Skyr-naise with herbs (n/a)

Okay - if the majority of the testers from "Taste Atlas" don't necessarily warm to singed sheep's head, I can still understand that. This is certainly "everyday cooking" and you can find sheep's head in the freezer of practically every supermarket, but I am also aware that not everyone wants to be so directly confronted with the animal they are eating. And dried fish or rotten shark certainly can't inspire everyone. The intense taste of Hangikjöt also takes some getting used to, well, let's say.

But apparently many people who voted on the site have probably never eaten Icelandic dishes before, for example when no one seems to have judged Vínarterta or Laufabrauð or Flatkaka. Maybe many people don't know the other dishes, so many delicious things weren't rated well..? And if the selection starts with singed sheep's head and continues with rotten shark... but that's really not what you get every day in the cafeteria or the school canteen or in the restaurant.

I find it amazing that two colostrum puddings appear in the list, because you can't even get colostrum (foremilk, ie the first thick milk a few days after birth) in the supermarket in Iceland, so it's not quite easy to prepare such dishes if you don't live on a farm yourself (or do a bulk purchase at the Kolaportið flea market, where I've also seen colostrum in large plastic bottles).

But I'm missing a lot of traditional dishes on the list, such as plokkfiskur, pearl barley, nothing with rhubarb, none of the legendary, delicious Icelandic desserts, no carrot cake, no cinnamon rolls, not even marital bliss or Ástarpungar...?!? Nothing with licorice chocolate..?!?

And I'm not entirely sure whether "fish and chips" and "hot dogs" really have to be viewed as traditional everyday cuisine. Of course, you can get it almost everywhere at the gas station or in a fast food joint, so you really eat it every day. And the lamb sausage in the hot dogs is certainly something specifically Icelandic, but all in all...? I'm not entirely sure about that...

Particularly popular products

The website also lists particularly popular Icelandic foods:

1. Skyr

2. White mold cheese

3. Sea hare roe

4. Kæst skata - fermented skate

5. Lightly smoked whale

Well, I can completely understand the Skyr.

And I also know the cheese from the supermarket - and I definitely think it's delicious. We just have it in the fridge again...

But sea hare roe...? Yes, I've already encountered sea hare roses in Iceland, but I wouldn't consider it an "everyday food" and I don't think it's all that ubiquitous either.

The fermented stingray is actually only available at Christmas, i.e. at the Þorláksmessa on December 23rd, with the "kneaded fat" on the side - and that actually polarizes Icelanders too, not everyone loves this dish or can smell it, while for others it is really the epitome of Christmas dinner. But not “everyday life” either.

Incidentally, Brennivín was listed as the most popular Icelandic drink by “Taste Atlas” - but also as the only Icelandic drink.

Overall, I find the rating a bit unfair - and the selection of "typical everyday dishes" even more so. Icelandic cuisine is not just sheep's head and rotten shark, there are also a lot of very tasty dishes that you can take a look at here on the blog and try out for yourself with the recipes.

With that in mind - good luck, bon appetit to everyone!

[Translated from here.]