Taste of Iceland

I’ve always had a fascination with Iceland. Wild horses; rough terrain (waterfalls, volcanoes and glaciers); descendants of Vikings (brutes that fooled other discoverers with the switcheroo-naming of lush Iceland and chilly Greenland). Everything else about it, to me, is a mystery. So I attended a press lunch at the Drake Hotel, a preview of The Taste of Iceland Festival this week in Toronto.
During four fabulous courses, prepared by Executive Chef Anthony Rose in collaboration with 5-star Icelandic chef Hakon Ovarsson, we clinked Reyka vodka-filled glasses to a word that sounded like “scowl.” It meant skull and is a cheers that dates back to when Vikings drank from skulls. We ate pickled herring atop lava bread – it’s baked overnight, underground over lava. The Icelandic, I learned, while eating shredded salt-cod soup, hold fast to many traditional Viking food preservation and cooking methods – no food (mainly seafood and sheep) is wasted. So unique are some of these methods there’s a month-long Stinky Food Festival held in February. It attracts international foodies and does not disappoint.
But we ate well at this lunch. The lamb two ways with mashed rutabaga and potato and pickled red cabbage was unreal. Icelandic lamb is world-revered: they roam free, munching hardy moss as they go.
Over rhubarb tart I learned Icelandair is offering non-stop flights from Toronto (only five hours) to Reykjavik in May. Toronto's Festival includes concerts, dance, art shows, film and of course, food. Check it out at icelandnaturally.com and be fascinated.
- Tory Healy, Food Associate