Food Culture and Tradition

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  • Iranian Foods

    FOODS IN IRAN

    DAIRY PRODUCTS

    Ten percent of Iran’s population consists of nomadic tribes who herd coats and sheep. Fresh milk is not practical in a hot climate; goats and sheep can forage for food in dry scraggy areas where cattle could not survive; hence the title of “poor man’s cow” bestowed on the goat, the producer of milk that makes excellent cheeses and that is also fermented to produce rich buttery yogurt. Most homemakers prepare their own yogurt simply by adding a little yogurt to fresh milk and allowing it to ferment. Spread on a cloth and allowed to dry in the sun, the yogurt culture can be transported as a dried powder then reconstituted. Yogurt is used as it is or diluted with water and lightly salted to form a refreshing beverage. Because yogurt is mildly acidic, it is also used as a marinade to tenderize meats, and as an ingredient in many dishes.

    FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

    While the climate of the Middle East is conducive to the growing of fruits, the orchards and vineyards of Iran produce fruits of legendary flavor and size. These are not only enjoyed fresh and ripe as desserts but are also imaginatively combined with meats and form unusual accompaniments to the main dishes. When fresh fruits are not available, a large variety of excellent dried fruits such as dates and figs, dried apricots and peaches are used instead. The list of fruits includes: fresh dates and fresh figs, many citrus fruits, apricots, peaches, sweet and sour cherries, apples, plums, pears, pomegranates, and many varieties of grapes and melons.

    While the eggplant is “the potato of Iran,” Iranians are fond of fresh green salads dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and a little garlic. Vegetables such as pumpkin, spinach, string beans, varieties of squashes, and carrots are commonly used in rice and meat dishes.

    Tomatoes, cucumbers, and green onions often accompany a meal. A small sweet variety of cucumber is popularly served as a fruit. The term dolmeh is used to describe any vegetable or fruit stuffed with a rice or rice-and-meat mixture: grape leaves, cabbage leaves, spinach, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, even apples, and quince (beh).

    To underline both the skill and imagination of Iranian cookery, a few examples of the main ingredients in national specialties would include: duck, pomegranates, and walnuts; lamb, prunes, and cinnamon; spinach, orange, and garlic; and chicken and sliced peaches sautéed in onions and butter, seasoned with cinnamon and lemon juice.

    The above are only a few examples of the combinations of meats and vegetables, or meats and fruits plus unusual seasonings that may go into chelo koresh, the favorite Iranian dish that is served at least once daily This dish of crusty baked rice is topped by one of the sauces listed, or one of dozens more, limited only by price and availability of ingredients.

    MEATS AND ALTERNATES

    Lamb is the favored meat. Young, sweet, and tender, lamb is treasured for its taste and texture and is usually combined with rice to form chelo koresh, tah chin (layered rice, yogurt, and lamb) or the many dolmeh dishes. Next to lamb in importance is kid (young goat), and very occasionally beef and chicken. Many varieties of local fish are eaten, but almost no seafood.

    An important source of protein is found in the large quantities of beans, legumes, and nuts Iranians consume almost daily. Chickpeas, dried lava beans, white and red beans, dried yellow and green split peas and lentils are used not only in stews with vegetables and bits of meat but also mixed with rice and even toasted and salted to be enjoyed as appetizers. Nuts in rich profusion, especially pistachios, walnuts, and almonds, are used widely as ingredients or garnishes as well as appetizers or to nibble lightly toasted and salted like the beans.

    Iran’s beluga caviar, lightly salted sturgeon roe, deserves special mention for it is world famous. Sturgeon and swordfish are served skewered as a specialty dish of the Caspian Sea region, but these fish are also good smoked.

    BREADS AND GRAINS

    Unpolished long-grain rice or patna is an Iranian staple. Many say that the preparation of rice in Iran is unequaled elsewhere in the world. The exact method of cookery – whether or not to presoak, and how long to cook – depends on the age of the rice. Who else but Iranians concern themselves with the age of rice? The scores of unusual food combinations are actually based on two simple rice dishes: chelo, in which the brown crustiness of the rice is encouraged with the addition of melted butter and egg yolks, then the rice is topped with sauces; or polo, similar to pilaf in which the many ingredients are mixed and cooked together with the rice. Khoresh is the name given to the many sauces that can top a chelo and these are usually only limited by season, not by imagination.

    Aside from main dishes, rice may also be heavily sweetened with sugar, syrup, or honey and flecked with almonds and pistachios to prepare a type of shekar polo, a very sweet polo used for special occasions. Finally, rice will likely be the principal ingredient in many stuffed fruit or vegetable dishes called dolmeh.

    Second only to rice is the production and use of wheat. There are more than forty types of wheat breads, from very dark to very light, from crisp to limp, and at least one type of flat bread will be a part of every meal. Nane lavash is an example of the thin crisp bread with good keeping qualities, while nane sangak is a fresh yeast bread, baked on hot stones and eaten while still warm. Nane barbari is a flat thick bread sprinkled with cornmeal and sesame seeds and enjoyed warm from the oven. Some barley is produced but it is used mainly as food for animals and only occasionally for human food when wheat crops are poor.

    FATS

    Olive oils, clarified butter, and fat from the “fat-tailed sheep” are used in cooking and salads. Butter is clarified mainly to remove the milk solids and enhance its keeping qualities.

    SWEETS AND SNACKS

    Fresh fruits are the usual dessert, but the insatiable Iranian sweet tooth finds some satisfaction in the many fruit khoreshes used in chelo, the many cups of hot sweet tea (herbal and regular), candied and dried fruits, and the special occasions when shekar polo and pastries like baklava are prepared in profusion.

    SEASONINGS

    One of the distinctions of the Iranian cuisine is the subtlety of the seasonings. The traditional Iranian politeness even extends to limiting garlic in cookery so as not to offend others. Onions and garlic are used only with discretion, but cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, saffron, paprika, fenugreek, marjoram, savory, nutmeg, turmeric, and dill are used with artistry: never overpowering, always gently enhancing the main ingredients.

    To balance the natural sweetness of fresh and dried fruits used so often in cookery, the Iranian cook adds judicious amounts of tartness by using one of the following: verjuice, the sour juice of un-ripened grapes; lemon or lime juice; strips of dried limes; dried tangerine peel or tamarind. Powdered sumac, with its chili-powder appearance and sour taste, is a seasoning often used for broiled meats. Pomegranate juice and seeds are often used both for color and tartness. Sweetness and tartness: a skillful balance in Iranian cuisine.

    BEVERAGES

    The national beverage of Iran is sweet clear tea, often sipped through a sugar cube. Sweet tea starts the day, breaks the work hours, may accompany social or business engagements and sometimes meals. Tea called chai is always appropriate. But so are the special herbal teas called tisanes, used for a variety of medical “cures,” steeped from flowers such as roses, violets, jasmine, chamomile, and spices such as ginger, saffron, and anise: all fragrant, flavorful, and aromatic.

    Next in importance is coffee – more important in some areas than in others. Special rituals surround the preparation and serving of tiny cups of coffee (discussed below) but it is taken with little or no sugar.

    Yogurt, diluted with water or sparkling mineral water and lightly salted, is served as a refreshing ink – often with meals – and is called dugh or abdug. Although Muslims do not drink wine, they sometimes allow themselves beer (often taken with the addition of salt), cognac, or Aarak, a clear potent liquor redolent of anise. Large quantities of carbonated beverages and soft drinks are also enjoyed.

    Not to be overlooked are the many refreshing non-alcoholic drinks prepared from fresh fruits called afshoreh and from fruit syrups called sharbat. Unique syrups include those made from quince, rose petals, rhubarb, lemon, and even from vinegar scented with fresh mint. Fresh fruit drinks can be made From varieties and combinations of orange, berries, cherries, and melons.

  • Iranian Food and Culture

    ABOUT IRAN AND ITS FOOD AND CULTURE

    In 1935, the Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi changed the name of his country from Persia to Iran. Changing a name is simple, but shifting an ancient nation into the high gear of modern western civilization is a monumental and complex task.

    Beginning with the shedding of women’s veils and the doffing of men’s traditional fezzes, the Shahs reforms spread widely and thrust deeply into many aspects of Iranian life.
    In 1979, with the forced exile of the Shah, and the return from exile in trance of Iran’s dominant religious leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his reversal of the Shah’s reforms, clashes between religious factions and between the urban middle class and the disenfranchised poor left a bloody trail of thousands killed or arrested. Despite the death of the Ayatollah in 1989, and a more moderate regime, Iran was politically and economically stagnant. Whether the Shah’s reforms and modernization will gradually seep back to renew and restore ancient pride and vitality in this lustrous land remains to be seen.

    Yet in this harsh dry land, despite illiteracy and poverty, foreign dominations and religious disputes, some things remain constant: the innate artistry of Iran’s people and the Iranian philosophy of duality, evident not only in issues of morality but also in balancing sweet and sour, hot and cold, and even light and dark.

    Ancient Persian culture abounds with eloquent tales of wit and exquisite paintings. Her cities reflect the genius of sculptor and architect and her peoples participate in crafts of carpet weaving, delicate metalwork, and pottery that have been handed down from generation to generation since prehistoric times. Persian artisans throughout history absorbed the new and subtly blended it with the familiar old ideas, perhaps with some inner vision that their skills would long outlive conqueror and conquered.

    Persia, like many other countries, experienced periods of power and times of suffering. It was the Persian, Cyrus the Great, who united the tribes of Medes and Persians and established the Persian Empire about 540 B.C.E. By the time of Darius in the fifth century B.C.E., the mighty Persian Empire dominated the countries from India to Greece and its power was only subdued with the might of Alexander the Great in the early 300s B.C.E. This was the period of great commercial expansion: increased trade, use of coins, building of roads and irrigation tunnels, all of which also included the exchange of ideas. Long ago, Oriental tea and rice had revolutionized Persian cuisine and Persian expansion in turn had spread crafts and arts. With Greek conquests, Hellenistic influences touched everything from the foods on the table (sauces, stuffed vegetables, and methods of food preparation) to architectural design.

    A change in religion came with the Arab domination in 640 C.E. Zoroastrianism had been the Persian faith since its founding by the Persian prophet Zoroaster (about 600 B.C.E.). The dualistic faith of Zoroastrianism, teaching that the principles of good and evil struggle for mastery in the universe, was suppressed and replaced by the faith of Islam which appealed to Persians because of its simplicity and emotionalism. Small pockets of Zoroastrian believers are still found in areas of Iran and the Near and Middle East as well as among the Parsees in Bombay, India.

    But foreign influences and dominations were not to end with the Arabs. In the next 800 years, Turks and Mongols vied for control of Persia. It was a period that all but wiped out the country’s ancient culture and artistry. In the crumbled small kingdoms of the ancient Persian land, only small pockets of learning kept alive arts, science, and literature, while in the homes parents quietly passed on their skills to their children.

    The brief Persian resurrections, under Ishmail I in 1499, who established the Persian Islamic sect of Shiism, and later the rule of Shah Abbas I, who restored order and even promoted trade with the British East India Company were squelched in 1722 by an Afghan army.Later, a tug-of-war between Russia and Great Britain further weakened Persian rulers and increased foreign influence to the point where the despair of the people resulted in the growth of a nationalist movement. This climaxed in 1923 with the election of Riza Kahn Pahlevi as prime minister. The shift to independence, renewal of ancient pride, and vitality had begun.

  • Glossary of Foods and Food Terms in Iceland

    ICELANDIC FOOD GLOSSARY AND FOOD TERMS

    Astarbollur: Christmas specialty of deep-fried doughnuts leavened with baking powder and rich with currants.

    Brennivin: Icelandic brandy drunk icy cold and straight.

    Blodmor: formerly a staple in the Icelandic diet, today a traditional favorite. It is made from salted, diluted sheep’s blood thickened with barley or rye flour and boiled in intestine casings. To preserve the boiled sausage, they are stored in sour whey.

    Fiskibollur: Icelandic fried fish cakes made by combining finely minced fish with chopped onions and separated eggs. The flattened cakes are fried till golden then gently steamed by adding a little broth.

    Flatbrau: Icelandic griddle cakes made from whole rye or wholewheat flour blended with boiling water to make a dough. Served with sugar or preserves of rhubarb or berries.

    Hakarl: cured shark’s meat prepared by cutting the fish meat into strips and storing in clean gravel beds for several weeks. Following this, the strips of fish are washed then air-dried in special sheds. Although strongly pungent, the flavor is much prized and is enjoyed with Brennivin.

    Hangikjot: the Christmas specialty of smoked cured lamb or mutton. Often enjoyed throughout the year, thinly sliced and sometimes served with fried eggs.

    Harkfiskur: fish that is wind-dried till brittle. It is eaten uncooked but pounded till soft and crumbly. The torn strips of fish are butter-dipped to eat.

    Kaupfelagi: the name for Icelandic cooperative supermarkets, offering reasonable food prices – a balm to the tourist after the exorbitant cost of restaurant meals.

    Koefa: simmered meat (usually lamb, occasionally veal) ground then packed into a loaf mold with some of the broth. The jelled chilled loaf is sliced to serve.

    Kringlur: pretzel-shaped yeast dough flavored with cinnamon and caraway seeds.

    Lifrapilsa: a baked liver pate or boiled liver sausage made from sheep’s liver, oats, flour, and milk.

    Mola Kaffi: strong coffee served with loaf (cube) sugar.

    Mysostur: a brown smooth-spreading cheese.

    Ponnukokur: simple light pancakes served cold as a dessert or with coffee. They are usually served in rolls, sprinkled with brown sugar.

    Rullu Pylsa: pickled rolled lamb, served cold as a sliced meat with buttered wheat or rye bread.

    Rusks: sweet. plain yeast dough in buns or slices that have been oven toasted till crisp and dried.

    Skyr: a curd dish somewhere between yogurt and cottage cheese in flavor, prepared by fermenting pasteurized skim milk with renin. It is served with sugar or with sugar cream. Icelandic staple and favorite dessert and snack available everywhere.

    Steiktir Partar: thin wafer-like pastries filled with sweetened whipped cream.

    Svid: general name for singed sheep’s or lamb’s heads. These may be smoked or boiled or simply boiled and served, often as a Sunday specialty. The heads may also be simmered in a stock, the meat removed and jelled in the stock aspic to be chilled and served sliced as head cheeses.

    Svidasutla: head cheese.

    Vinarterta: called “Viennese torte,” an Icelandic specialty made with many layers of cookie-like pastry filled with cardamom or cinnamon-flavored pureed prunes.

  • Icelandic Food and Culture

    FOOD AND CULTURE IN ICELAND

    Ingolfur Arnarson guided his Viking ship towards a northerly land and threw some logs overboard. Wherever they would drift would be the location of his settlement. Whether it was the will of the gods or simply the drift of the tides, Arnarson found that his logs had drifted ashore at a place he called Reykjavik. That was in the year 874 C.E. Today the city is the capital of Iceland and with a population of about 103,000 it claims one-third of the country’s population in its treeless, dogless but sun-filled streets.

    Although the name “Iceland” is a misnomer, it ensures a pleasant way of life for Icelanders and means they avoid the influx of tourists and new settlers that many other countries experience. Moderate winters, cool summers, and only one-eighth of the country covered with glacial ice indicate that the name is inappropriate. Since only 1 percent of the land is arable, the main harvest is from the sea, while meat is obtained from the sheep and cattle that nibble seaweed and mosses from between lava rocks.

    Iceland is located just south of the Arctic Circle and there is evidence that before people arrived with their sheep and goats, their fire and their axes, there were woods of birch trees. Mostly because of people, but also because of wind erosion and volcanic eruptions that scorched the earth with fiery lava, vegetation is minimal despite efforts at reforestation.

    The Vikings, however, were not the first to step on this land. There is evidence that adventurous Irish were there first. These early Irish were said to be Celtic monks in search of solitude. As the Viking settlements grew, they brought with them not only logs and provisions, but also animals for food (there were no herbivorous animals on Iceland) and Celtic women and bondsmen. It is said that the Norse and Celtic strains remained without change for a thousand years. Later, very small groups of other immigrants came to the land and intermarried. But all continue to live in a tolerant and classless society.

    Early Icelandic history matched the pattern of the country and its climate. Tribal blood feuds, fiery volcanic eruptions, silent snowy winters followed by glacial floods, the plague of the Black Death, the ravaging raids of English and Algerian pirates, and finally cattle disease and famine gradually took their toll of hope and life. The Black Death in the early 1400s killed two-thirds of the population, but it was not until the “greatest recorded eruption and lava flow in history” in 1783-1784, a horror that decimated live-stock as well as people – that the first groups of emigrants left Iceland for North America. Many of those first settlers made their homes in Saskatchewan and it is said that today more Icelanders reside in Manitoba than in Iceland’s capital.

    It is understandable that their history would give Icelanders an empathy for the suffering of others, as well as a fierce desire to maintain their independence. Offers of aid from other countries are met with the reply, “We’ll do it ourselves when we are able.” And so they have. They have built roads, highways, and huge greenhouses heated with piping hot spring water. In fact, the heating of all homes in Reykjavik is by the same system of harnessing the heat and water of the many underground springs. Where else in the world can one turn a tap for instant hot water and enjoy hot-water heating all supplied from deep underground springs?

    Another characteristic of Icelanders, whether in their native land or abroad, is their insatiable love of books and reading. The humblest home proudly displays a well-stocked bookshelf, and Iceland reputedly has more publishers, more published hooks, and more daily newspapers than any other country in the world.

    The Icelanders’ capacity for alcohol does not quite match that for books, but it is considerable. Icelandic wives dutifully bring the black coffee – it is still a mans world in Iceland. This is clearly visible in the after-dinner separation: men in one corner to talk, while women gather in another to “chat.” Many parties finish only in the small hours of the morning, for the men take great pride in “finishing the bottle.”

    Icelanders adapt well into almost any society and live in almost every Canadian province. Their rapid integration has made them a valued part of the Canadian lifestyle. The deep importance in their daily lives of hooks and their profound desire for self-education has always placed them on an elevated intellectual level even though they may make their living at humble tasks. Most Icelandic families enjoy the custom of evening and Sunday reading. Icelanders are also said to have the healthiest and wealthiest society in the world, but visitors are apt to be shocked at the high prices of lodging and meals they encounter.

  • Meals, Customs and Food Commonly Used in Iceland

    Meals and Customs in Iceland

    The normally reserved, independent, and industrious Icelanders become talkative, gregarious, and even humorous after a few drinks. But it should be noted that the usual alcoholic beverages are confined to meals and most especially to evening gatherings in homes or nightclubs. Morning breaks are not the rule, but an afternoon coffee break with bread and butter and several cakes and cookies is enjoyed. Snacking and street vendors are not as much a part of Icelandic life, but coffee shops are as popular here as anywhere else.

    Mornings begin with a breakfast of oatmeal porridge, bread and butter, milk and coffee. Lunch is usually a hot meal of meat or fish with potatoes, followed by a sweet fruit soup and a glass of cold milk. From about 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. most Icelanders will be enjoying their coffee with open-face sandwiches or bread and butter, and/or a variety of layer cakes, tortes, quick breads, and cookies. At 7:00 p.m. the family enjoys either another hot meal based on meat or fish and similar to the noon meal, or sliced meats and cheeses may be enjoyed as open-face sandwiches with rye and wheat breads. Skyr will be the usual dessert eaten with a sugar topping or sugar and cream. The day would not be complete without an evening coffee and pastries around 9:30 p.m. If there are guests, the evening will not be concluded until all have enjoyed coffee, though probably much later than 9:30 p.m.

    Icelanders are casual about meal service, preferring to place food on the table and allow diners to help themselves. Bread and butter is part of every meal. Given the country’s lack of vegetation, it is understandable that Icelanders have a great love for flowers and these are a part of the table setting whenever possible. Preferring to talk in separate groups, men and women disperse after the meal, it still being considered “odd” or “forward” if women join in men’s conversations.

    Foods Commonly Used in Iceland

    Iceland cuisine revolves around the plentiful sea harvest supplemented by dairy products, wholegrain and white breads, and potatoes. Vegetables and fruits are often scarce and expensive, but canned products and the produce from local greenhouses, which include bananas, grapes, and tomatoes, are helping to increase the variety.

    Vitamin supplements are widely used to help make up for the lack of greens and fruits. Lamb, the favored meat, is prepared in unusual ways. The traditional Scandinavian cold buffet and love of coffee together form the traditional ways of entertaining: buffet and coffee parties are common.

  • Domestic Life and Special Occasions in Iceland

    Domestic Life in Iceland

    Since wood is scarce and bricks expensive to import, most homes in Iceland are built of concrete blocks. Most Icelanders use the living room for company and the kitchen as the center of family living and eating. Actual food preparation areas are described kindly as “step saving”: tiny by any standards. Yet Icelandic women retain a proud tradition of home cooking, baking, and preserving.

    Electrical appliances tend to be expensive (prices for almost everything are said to be the highest in Europe) but the Icelandic homemaker will save her money for a first purchase of an electric iron, teakettle, and electric mixer; later acquisitions may include a toaster and a vacuum cleaner. Some homes have refrigerators with freezers, but most manage with “cold closets.” These are small alcoves built into the kitchen wall, enclosed with doors and ventilated to the outdoors. They are fine in winter, but of little use in summer.
    Because of inadequate storage, the homemaker shops almost daily for the needs of the family. The number of department stores and supermarkets are increasing, but most still shop in specialty stores.

    Special Occasions in Iceland

    Most Icelanders are of the Lutheran faith. Although they are not devoutly religious, many go to church services while others prefer to listen to the services at home on the radio. Others spend the day quietly resting and reading. But almost all Icelanders know it is Sunday when svid (lamb’s heads) and potatoes appear as the main dish and the favorite skyr as dessert.

    Perhaps it is because of their Viking heritage that many Icelanders believe in psychic phenomena such as communication with the dead and a belief in haunted houses. Telling ghost stories is a favorite pastime and these tales are listened to with more than casual interest. Though not strict in their own religious beliefs, Icelanders are most tolerant of other beliefs.

    Christmas is the main annual celebration with hangikjot (smoked mutton) being the specialty of the feast, together with a variety of special sausages, many cured and smoked meats and fish, and an array of special baked treats. Astarbollur are baking powder doughnuts made as a Christmas specialty and richly studded with currants. All in all, it is a veritable “groaning table” of hot and cold buffet dishes to please all family tastes and those of callers.

  • Foods in Iceland

    ICELANDIC FOODS

    DAIRY PRODUCTS
    A glass of fresh cold milk is a common accompaniment to almost every meal, and soups made with milk and dried pureed fruits are often enjoyed. But the favorite dish of all and an Icelandic staple is skyr. It is made from pasteurized skim milk fermented with rennin. The resulting curd is eaten with a sprinkling of sugar both as a snack and a dessert. The slightly soured whey is used to preserve many types of meats and fish. A brownish, smooth-spreading cheese called Mysostur is eaten as a spread on bread much as peanut butter is used in North America. Other cheeses are sliced and enjoyed in open-face sandwiches or as part of the cold buffet. Cream is used in cookery and whipped cream is a part of many cakes and desserts.

    FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
    Wild berries and rhubarb grown locally and imported dried fruits such as raisins, prunes, and apricots are used. These may be made into preserves with sugar, sugared fruit soups (with added cream or milk), or dessert puddings that are sweetened with sugar and thickened with potato flour. Fresh fruits are scarce.

    Use of imported and canned vegetables is increasing, but potatoes are the staple vegetable and are served daily often at more than one meal. Salads are all but unknown.

    MEATS AND ALTERNATES
    Icelandic lamb, the staple meat, is sold ground, in fresh cuts, spiced, smoked, salted, and served in the form of many varieties of sausages and frankfurters. It also comes in a meat paste made with ground mutton or lamb blended with potato flour. This paste is used to make fried meat patties.

    Smoked, salted mutton is a Christmas tradition, while blodmor, a sausage made from salted sheep’s blood thickened with barley or rye flour and boiled in the cleaned sheep intestines, has been made from earliest times. Another sausage called lifrapilsa is made from sheep’s liver. Still another traditional dish that is often the Sunday dinner is svid — smoked or fresh whole lambs heads served boiled. Svid is sometimes prepared into headcheese – meat from the lamb’s heads jelled in its own aspic.

    Cattle are mainly used for dairy products, rarely for beef. Pigs are all but nonexistent; pork is rare and expensive and said to have a fishy taste because of the pig’s diet. However, horsemeat is a frequent part of the menu and is more available and more tender than beef.

    Icelandic fish is of excellent quality, relatively inexpensive, and abundant. Herring in many forms – salted, fried, pickled, smoked, raw, baked – form an important part of many meals and especially the cold buffet table. Whole baked stuffed fish and Icelandic fish cakes called fiskibollur, made with minced fish, eggs, and seasonings fried to golden brown patties, are special treats. Hardfiskur is a traditional Icelandic dish of wine-dried fish, usually haddock. This fish is not cooked, but is pounded until it reaches a soft crumbly texture, then it is dipped into butter and eaten with the fingers.

    Still another uniquely Icelandic fish dish is hakarl – cured shark meat. Shark meat is not considered edible until it has been cured. The meat is cut in strips and laid in clean gravel beds for several weeks. Finally it is washed and air-dried in special sheds. As is the case with most pungent but delicious foods, the taste is an acquired one; however, it is widely agreed that washing it down with icy Icelandic Brennivin (brandy) adds to the pleasure.

    Icelanders have a deeply rooted objection to eating birds of any type, so the poultry that is raised supplies eggs but not meat to the Icelandic table. Eggs are often served with smoked mutton in the same way that bacon and eggs are used. Eggs are also used widely in the many fine baked products and also blended with sugar and milk or cream to make a type of eggnog soup. Dried legumes and nuts are used minimally.

    BREADS AND GRAINS
    Grains in the form of porridges, flour for thickening, and baked goods comprise a large and important part of the Icelandic diet. Oatmeal together with bread and butter is an almost daily breakfast, while breads made from wholegrain wheat flour, barley flour, rye flour, or white wheat flour are present at every meal and often accompany coffee.

    Homemakers pride themselves on the many breads, cakes, and cookies they bake and there always seems to be “a little something baked” to go with coffee, no matter the hour. Potato flour is used for thickening soups, gravies, sauces, and puddings. Rice is used seldom and then only in the form of a milky dessert pudding.

    FATS
    Much fat is consumed in the form of cheeses, coffee and dessert cream, ice cream, and also in many fried foods where any fat – from margarine and butter (all unsalted) to sheep’s fat and horse fat – may be used. Icelanders like the rich taste of fat fish and meats and seldom skim soups or gravies.

    SWEETS AND SNACKS
    Icelanders do not hedge about their love of sweets. They add granulated sugar to almost everything from appetizers to soups and even in mashed potatoes. They sweeten their many daily cups of coffee and enjoy them with a great variety of sweet baked and fried cakes, often adding an extra sprinkle of white or brown sugar on top.

    SEASONINGS
    The Icelandic spice shelf is a minimal one. Salt, pepper, and onions are the few added seasonings; most food is enjoyed for its natural fresh or smoked flavor. Salt is seldom added, and to most other tastes, Icelandic food often seems like part of a salt-free diet. But it should be remembered that Icelanders enjoy many salted meats and fish so that the contrast of bland dishes is a welcome one. Fresh cream and fresh unsalted butter are frequent additions, but most often sugar is used to heighten natural flavors, and with a liberal hand.

    BEVERAGES
    Young and old enjoy a glass of cold milk with almost every meal, but there is little doubt that good strong coffee with cream and sugar is the number-one beverage. While milk accompanies meals, coffee does too, but goes on to be the snack beverage as well as the drink to discuss business, chat over old times, and entertain friends.

    Icelanders, together with most Scandinavians, also share a predilection and capacity for alcohol seldom equaled elsewhere. The idea of a “good time” is never complete without the other idea of “finishing the bottle,” and the men are quietly indulged by patient wives waiting with the sobering strong coffee. Imported wines sometimes accompany meals, though beer and ale are more common. The national drink is Brennivin, similar to brandy and taken straight and icy cold.

  • Irish Glossary of Foods and Food Terms

    GLOSSARY OF FOODS AND FOOD TERMS IN IRELAND

    Balnamoon Skink: a traditional special rich chicken broth and vegetables finished by beating in egg yolks.

    Barmbrack: one of the few yeast leavened breads made in Ireland. Increasingly more varieties are being added. This delicious fruited bread is a special treat for Halloween when tiny charms are often tucked inside, bringing luck to the finder.

    Bastable: the three-legged iron cook pot still very much in use in Irish country kitchens. It is hung on a hook above the peat fire in the open hearth and is used for soups, stews, potatoes, and even baking. The famed Irish soda bread is made in a covered bastable.

    Bath Chaps: the lower half of the pig’s cheeks together with the tongue, cured like bacon and sold breaded and fried. They may be eaten hot or cold.

    Black Pudding: a thick sausage made from well seasoned lard and oatmeal with the addition of pig’s blood. It is served sliced and fried, often with eggs, as a supper.

    Boxty Bread: a flat round bread, marked in floury farts and made from mashed potatoes, flour, and buttermilk, and leavened with soda.

    Boxty Pancakes: dough similar to the Boxty Bread, only fried in bacon fat instead of baked.

    Brawn: a jellied dish of simmered pig’s head and sometimes vegetables. The meat is chopped and set to gel! in the cooking broth.

    Brotchan: an oatmeal thickened soup.

    Brotchan Roy: Brotchan, with the addition of leeks.

    Carvies: caraway seeds.

    Caveach: boned and fried fillets of fish (usually mackerel) stored in a crock covered with vinegar. This dish is served cold, often with potato salad.

    Champ: hot mashed potatoes served with a pool of melted butter. Each spoonful is dipped in the butter. An Irish favorite.

    Chicken Broody: oven-roasted chicken, cut up and served with a cheese sauce, potatoes, and mushrooms.

    Chocolate Sandwich: a layered cake prepared from mashed potatoes, eggs, flour, and melted chocolate. After baking, the layers are filled with mashed potatoes blended with melted chocolate, butter, and sugar. More filling is spread over the cake before serving.

    Coddles or Dublin Coddle: traditional Saturday night supper in Dublin said to prevent hangovers. Chunks of bacon and pork sausages are stewed with sliced onions and potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper and served like a thick soup.

    Colcannon: Scottish dish of hot potatoes mashed with another well-cooked vegetable (often cabbage or turnips) and served with melted butter.

    Corned Beef and Cabbage: pickled brisket is slowly simmered in water. Near the end of the cooking time, wedges of cabbage are added and cooked till tender. The meat is sliced and served with the cabbage wedges; the broth is reserved to use as a soup base for another meal.

    Cottage Soup: a meatless vegetable soup seasoned with salt and pepper and a dab of butter, finished with a roux and sprinkled with grated cheese.

    Crubeens: pig’s feet.

    Cumberland Pie: a two-crusted pie made with a potato and flout pastry filled with rolls of bacon and beaten eggs. Cut in wedges after baking.

    Curd Cheese: cottage cheese.

    Dublin Coddle: slowly baked stew of ham, sausages, onions and potatoes served with hot soda bread.

    Oaten Biscuits: a mixture of lard, oats, flour, and milk (no leavening) that is rolled thinly, cut in rounds then baked. Thin, crisp, and nourishing, these may be eaten with morning tea or for a snack.

    Scrooch: chunks of beef brisket, mutton, and vegetables boiled together with a little salt and pepper, served as a soup or a meal.

    Singin’ Hinnies: hot griddle cakes scented with cinnamon and studded with currants. These are usually prepared after pig-killing – so extra lard is added. Sizzling of the lard accounts for their name.

    Skirlie-Mirlie: a mixture of cooked potatoes and turnips whisked with boiling milk and butter until light and fluffy. Served with toast triangles or fried bread.

    Skirts and Bodices: pork trimmings and pickled spare ribs cooked with water, salt, pepper, and onions. A traditional Cork dish.

    Slainte: the one word meaning “good health” that is heard before the stout or whiskey disappear.

    Sloke: also called Sea Spinach. Requires four to five hours’ cooking, then drained and served with butter and lemon.

    Stirabout: what else would you be calling oatmeal porridge that is made by stirring the water about then adding the oatmeal (fine not flake) in a stream?

    Tripe and Onions: English fare adopted by the Irish and served as a Sunday breakfast specialty. Boiled onions and tripe are drained, mixed in a white sauce, and served over toast.

    White Puddings: a type of thick sausage made from well-seasoned oatmeal and lard boiled in sausage skins. Usually sliced, then breaded and fried before serving.

    Willicks or Willocks: another name for winkles or periwinkles. They are boiled in seawater then eaten out of their shells with a pin. Sometimes vinegar and salt are sprinkled over them or they are dunked in fine oatmeal before popping in the mouth.

    Yellowman: crisp brittle like the brittle in peanut brittle; sold in broken pieces. An Irish treat made from melting sugar till it browns then pouring quickly into a buttered pan or baking sheet to cool.

  • Irish Meals and Customs

    MEALS AND CUSTOMS IN IRELAND

    From a many centuries’ tradition of “having to endure,” the Irish have found some consolation in their “pint o’ stout,” their pot of potatoes, and probably even in the whimsical names lovingly given to the humblest of their dishes. Three meals a day is a fine pattern to follow if you can. But many Irish can make little distinction from one meal to the other so long as it is warm and filling. Tea, potatoes, and soda bread (made from flour, buttermilk, leavened with soda, and marked off into floury farls) may well serve as breakfast, lunch, and supper with only an occasional fish or two as a supplement. With peace and increasing prosperity, the table is expanding too.

    Traditionally, the Irish like to awaken to a steamy cup of tea taken with milk and sugar. For some, breakfast may also include oatmeal, bacon and eggs, soda bread and preserves. Around eleven, most people pause for a “wee bite of pastry” taken again with tea and sometimes with coffee. The main meal often takes place at about one o’clock and may include a hot and hearty soup of fish and vegetables or a casserole. Either dish is accompanied by soda bread, potato bread, or potato pancakes. Irish stout or fresh buttermilk is the likely beverage, and a pudding the likely dessert. Late afternoon tea may include a few small sandwiches and little cakes or even a hot fish dish. The evening supper around eight o’clock is light and often cold, prepared from the leftovers of the noon dinner.

  • Irish Domestic Life and Special Occasions

    DOMESTIC LIFE AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS IN IRELAND

    DOMESTIC LIFE

    The emigrant Irish may dream of potato fields, turf-roofed cottages, and a hearth with bubbling stew, and they could return to Ireland today and see much unchanged. Modern Irish cities, however, are as noisy and crowded as most around the world, but one need not travel far into the countryside to find examples of life as it has traditionally been lived and as it will likely continue for a long time.

    Accustomed to a frugal existence and hard work, many rural Irish still find deep contentment in simple daily life. The huge hearth for cooking and heating a cottage, and open shelves to store dishes and groceries are used today much as they were several hundred years ago.

    The term “to take pot luck” reputedly originated with the three-legged iron pot that the Irish homemaker hung over her fire to cook potatoes, make a soup or a stew, and even bake breads and cakes. Skill was necessary to bank the coals of the fire just so, and to raise or lower the “bastable oven” as the three-legged pot is sometimes called. A kettle for boiling water, a churn for butter, and a sturdy wooden board for making dough (mostly quick breads) as well as mixing bowls and stirring spoons comprised the important utensils of the Irish country kitchen.

    City kitchens, like those in most of the rest of Europe, are efficient and compact, and contain as many electrical or gas conveniences as needed. However, the Irish cook, like the Scottish, prefers simple substantial meals with no frills so there is little need for many of the gadgets and “conveniences” found in so many western kitchens. Although this too is changing.

    SPECIAL OCCASIONS

    Most Irish are of Celtic origin and about 95 percent are of the Roman Catholic faith. The majority of Protestants live in the north. Freedom of worship is guaranteed by the constitution.

    A Christian country, Ireland celebrates Christmas and Easter, but since there is still more than a small belief in the “wee people” and in spirits and fairies, Halloween is also still very much a part of the festival calendar.

    Christmas is the most lavish family celebration of the year with many specialty dishes that are also very much a part of holiday tradition in Canada and the United States. The traditional dressed boar’s head is sometimes replaced with a potato-stuffed roast goose or turkey, and homemade spiced beef is a frequent holiday delight. Spicy-sweet plum puddings, hot mince pies, and traditional iced rich Christmas cake round out the meal. New Year’s is a more important celebration in Scotland than in Ireland, but the Irish do celebrate it with the Scots currant bun and Scottish shortbread.

    The austerities of the Lenten season are ushered in with Shrove Tuesday, when pancakes highlight every meal and homemakers happily attempt to win the many pancake-flipping races held locally. Lenten dishes are based on fish, cereal, and vegetables and are really not too different from the rest of the year. Soups like brotchan and brotchan roy made from an oatmeal-thickened vegetable broth and sometimes garnished with grated cheese as in the meatless cottage soup, champ, and colcannon, and dishes like mealie greachie (pan-fried flaked oatmeal served with fried eggs) are all examples of filling and meatless dishes.

    Easter is welcomed with the spicy warm fragrance of hot cross buns, simnel cake (marzipan-topped fruit cake), and Easter biscuits made with currants, grated lemon rind, and egg yolks.
    Halloween is celebrated with parties and fireworks. Roast goose is part of the traditional menu, topped off with apple cake, toffee apples, and nuts in the shell. Often tiny charms are wrapped in paper and baked in the cake or in dumplings to add to the fun of the evening. A must with the goose dinner is the making of dozens of boxty pancakes, gobbled up as fast as they are fried. The large potatoes grated for the pancakes are usually too big to store and no one objects to this method of storage. Barmbrack is the fruited yeast bread for Halloween.

    There could not be an Irish wedding or christening without a many-tiered darkly rich fruitcake, beautifully iced and decorated. Because it is considered good luck to share this cake with the guests, all are given a small finger of it, often specially wrapped. The top tier of the wedding cake is the smallest one and is often stored away to be used for the christening of the first child. Sometimes the middle tier is saved for a 25th wedding anniversary. If these wedding customs have a familiar ring, now you know their source!