In the sparsely populated Eastern Region of Iceland, a farmer and her family serve up a traditional feast of distinctly Icelandic dishes
“The testicle is as far as I’ll go," says Auja, widening her striking green-grey eyes. “It’s common for people to eat the penis of the sheep too, but we’re not quite there yet.”
For lunch, we’re joined by six of the couple’s eight children; Lilja , Anna , Stefán , Karólína , Gunna and Gudmundur , as well as Auja’s father, another Stefán. Meanwhile, the farm, which was built by Steinþór’s parents in 1954, is also home to 215 cows, 54 sheep and two outdoor cats, Fluffy and Honey, who, apparently, despise each other.
As for meat, which has always been a key ingredient in Icelandic cuisine, lamb dominates . Reindeer, however, is another favourite, particularly in the east of the country — so Steinþór tells me while promising to cook it for me the next time I visit. I ask her what she ate growing up. “Icelandic meat soup was my favourite,” she replies, pausing to comfort Gunna, or ‘The Rusty One’ as she’s known, a nod to her flaming red hair. Auja tells me she still makes the soup, known locally as kjötsúpa, using lamb, carrots, swede, onion and parsley — in fact, she often cooks 20 litres of it in a big pot, which lasts the family two days.
Then it’s time to tuck into those pancakes, each one slathered in obscene amounts of whipped cream, and sip a cup of strong, black coffee. It feels like the perfect way to spend a very cold afternoon.
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