Easter without the Fasting

While Iceland is a wonderful travel destination year round, Easter, like Christmas, in Iceland is a special time.

Officially, the country is dominated by the Lutheran church, as seen by the giant testament to their faith, Hallgrímskirkja, the famous church which dominates any Google image search with the word, “Reykjavík.”  However, most Icelanders declare atheist (although perhaps a truer word would be “agnostic”) beliefs.  Despite this, all of Iceland still celebrates Easter full-force.

By this I mean, they start the Easter season the way any holiday should be started, with food.  The Monday before Catholic countries start Lent, Iceland celebrates Bolludagur (“Bun Day”).  This is one of my favorite holidays.  In Icelandic, “bollur” are round bread buns (“bolla” is singular).  These bollur are light, round pastries, sliced in half and filled with a cream in the middle.  They are often also covered in a frosting or sweet fruit topping as well.  To me, they are kind of like a cross between a donut and a cream puff, which makes for sweet, sweet happiness.

The tradition is that one must spank another to receive their bun.  This leads to children arming themselves with homemade paddles on Sunday and waking their parents on Monday morning by spanking them while yelling “Bolla!” over and over again in order to receive their bollur. Where else can you spank your PARENT and get away with it?

This is only the beginning.  The very next day is Sprengidagur (Mardi Gras in most places).  While Icelanders do not partake in Lent, they still want to participate in the gluttony celebrated on “Explosion Day.”  Similar to Mardi Gras, Sprengidagur is reserved for eating as much as one can, or till one explodes.  Traditional food for the day is salty (I guess to balance the sweet from the day before) – salt-preserved lamb and split-pea soup.

Ash Wednesday, Öskudagur, also has a special Icelandic tradition where children dress up in costumes and solicit shops and businesses for candy by singing to them, very similar to Halloween in the United States.

All is quiet in Iceland for the next few weeks until … the Easter eggs (páskaegg) come out.  Then you know it’s almost time!  You can find these eggs in grocery stores all over the island.  Locals will give them to their children, spouses, or receive them from their employer.  They range in sizes and are hollow, but don’t worry the large ones contain more candy inside.  Every egg from the tiny number 1 to the large number 9 all contain an Icelandic proverb, malshættir, which often have hilarious English translations.  The eggshell is chocolate, some of the newer ones are chocolate and licorice (such as the Draumur one in the photo) or puffed rice.  A new one this year from the famed Icelandic candy company, Nói Síríus, featured an Icelandic candy, Tromp, which is chocolate, marzipan, and licorice.

Various Icelandic Easter eggs. The middle one has a Draumur shell, which is a licorice and chocolate bar.

Traditionally, these eggs are hidden.  Children will wake up on Easter morning and hunt down their eggs with their parents and caregivers helping them along with “hot” and “cold” verbal cues.  Once they find it, the children break open their páskaegg excitedly and read the proverb inside before devouring the candy.

Easter is a national holiday in Iceland.  As a result many companies and businesses are closed from Maundy (Holy) Thursday through Easter Monday.  With so much time off, a favorite past-time of Icelanders is to go skiing, visit a summer house, or even take a holiday outside the country.  Do keep this in mind if you are travelling in the country during this time.  Many businesses will be closed.  Additionally, it is forbidden to party on Good Friday, so all bars and clubs are closed midnight to midnight on Good Friday.  In protest, Icelandic atheists gather annually at Austurvöllur in downtown Reykjavík to play Bingo.  It’s open to anyone, and there are prizes!

For those staying close to home, traditional meals include a “party bird” (turkey with stuffing) or a “turkey ship” (turkey breast) with sweet potatoes, vegetables, and gravy on Good Friday, similar to Thanksgiving in the United States.  On Easter itself, families indulge in a roasted leg of lamb, more sweet potatoes, vegetables, and gravy.

All in all, Easter in Iceland brings families together over food.  How does your culture celebrate Spring?  What foods are special to this time of year?

Food and Fun

My favorite thing about Icelandic culture is that much of it centers on food.  While Iceland may not be the first place that comes to mind when one thinks of gourmet food (fermented shark anyone?), it is certainly a hidden gem.  A perfect highlight of this is their Food and Fun week in late February/early March.

Food and Fun is a week dedicated to well, food and fun.  In the traditional Icelandic way, they just call it what it is.  Many readers from the United States may relate this to restaurant weeks held in various cities around the country.  Here, in Reykjavík, top restaurants serve prix fixe, usually multiple courses.  You can also add on a wine pairing with each course.  Often times the restaurants invite award-winning chefs from mainland Europe as guests.  Each year, all the participating restaurants also have to develop a cocktail using a sponsored alcohol.  On the last day of Food and Fun, there is a competition (open to all) to see which cocktail is the best one.  So in a nutshell – food and fun!

Last year, my husband and I went out with some friends to Kopar with guest Belgian chef Kobe Desramaults.  We had the most amazing time.  The sponsored alcohol was Monkey Shoulder whiskey.  Kopar’s cocktail included Monkey’s Shoulder whiskey, yuzu, grenadine, angostura, lemon, and ginger ale.  I thoroughly enjoyed the cocktail, food, and friends.  I was so amazed when the chef came out to serve us the last few courses.  Our entire meal surrounded the great food – it was all we could talk about while we ate.  We enjoyed langoustine, snow crab with a Belgian gueuze beer, a scallop served raw with a hay smoked mussel and leek oil broth that cooked the scallop before our very eyes, whey and bone marrow, a rack of hogget lamb, and finished the meal with roasted sunchoke ice cream, dark beer, actual malt, and chocolate sauce.  Then, when we left (pleasantly full, but not over-stuffed) the meal was still all we could talk about.  It was incredible and unforgettable.  Maybe it was the two Michelin Stars Desramaults earned before the event last year, but this was definitely a top-notch experience.

All the food and fun at Sumac in 2020

Therefore, when Food and Fun came around this year, I was super excited!  My husband couldn’t come, but I was still able to get together with some friends for a great night out.  This time we went to another favorite restaurant, Sumac.  Sumac usually pairs Mediterranean with Scandinavian cuisines.  The two cuisines could not be more different, but somehow, Sumac makes them work together perfectly.  For this year’s food and fun, they invited Atli Már Yngvason.  Yngvason is Icelandic-born, yet he now lives in Oslo, Norway, where he is spreading his love of mixing Asian and Latin American flavors with those from Scandinavia.

And just like last year, this year did not disappoint.  The sponsored alcohol this year was Torres 20 year brandy.  At Sumac, they mixed it with umeboshi (pickled ume fruit from Japan), peach, and soda.  I enjoyed the summery flavor mixed with the smooth brandy.  It was a sweet cocktail, but not sickeningly so.

We had a seven-course meal, each course bringing new delights.  Our first course was a halibut ceviche and guacamole, followed by takoyaki (Japanese wheat balls) with refreshing ginger and bonito flakes.  The third course was a beef tartar topped with wasabi, löjrom (small roe), and chives.  A slow cooked (I suspect maybe even by sous vide) cod with celeriac, crispy chicken skin to change up the texture, and spring onion finished our first four courses.

Our first three courses at Sumac’s 2020 Food and Fun (clockwise from top left): takoyaki, halibut ceviche, guacamole, and beef tartar.

These dishes were followed by a salad, which was my least favorite course.  The dish was served with a few long Romaine leaves and a shrimp and beef minced meat sauce.  Since the shrimp and beef were intermingled, it could have been only beef.  I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.  I wish they had put whole shrimp on top, or not told me it was there.  To me, this entire course was a disappointment.

The disappointing salad. Look how sad it is.

However, that could have just been to bring me down before bringing me up for the main event.  The main course was by far the best course of the entire meal.  It was Raz el Hanout lamb with red cabbage, tzatziki, hummus, and freshly grilled pita breads.  They could have just served me this and the dessert and I would have left a happy lady.  So good.  The flavors popped in my mouth – sweet, tangy, spicy!

The main event: Raz el Hanout lamb and pita feast!

Finally, we finished with grilled pineapple topped with milk ice cream, green chili, and an Omnom chocolate toasted topping.  I think it could have used a bit more green chili to add some extra pizzazz, not much, just a pinch really.  However, this was my second favorite dish over the course of the entire menu.

Grilled pineapple, ice cream, chocolate, and green chili wonderment right here.

While overall, I think last year’s meal at Kopar far exceeded my culinary expectations as not just a great meal but also a mind-blowing culinary experience.  I felt that meal stepped out of comfort zones, and Desramaults took us on a culinary adventure as we toured the limits of cooking.  This year, Yngvason did not quite meet that bar, while it was still great meal ingested with great friends and conversation.  At any rate, I will still be looking forward to next year’s Food and Fun experience.

What about you?  Have you participated in a Food and Fun experience or any restaurant weeks in your local area?  What are some of your favorite events and restaurants?