I'm Sorry, They Eat "What" In Iceland??!!??

I'm down to the last few days of my trip, so Silja and Vignir, Sil's Husband, thought it was only right that I experience some traditional Icelandic food and drink. So it was off to the Viking village where everything is done in a very old, authentic, Icelandic manner. From what the staff wear, right down to the music, decor and food.

Within minutes of our arrival the bar owner was over and presented me with a plate, baring stuff that instantly took me back to my secondary school days and in particular, a biology class where we were expected to dissect a sheep's eye. Only this time I was not expected to dissect anything, I was expected to EAT it and is was NOT no eye neither.

There is no easy way to share what I'm about to share, so I'll just come right out and say it. The plate contained shark, raw shark and.....................sheep's testicles. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you read that correctly, SHEEP'S TESTICLES. And they weren't breaded, deep fried and served up with some sauce in an effort to make it look more appetizing and possibly disguise the fact that you were about to eat the balls of one Mr. sheep. No, this was raw and obvious and sitting there on my plate, looking at me.

What blew my mind was that Vignir and Silja were both making more of a fuss about the raw shark then they were about the balls. "Oh wait till you taste the shark". "No, don't smell it before you try it, just pop it in your mouth and go for it". I was looking at them in shock. "Are you serious? You are more concerned with my reaction to some shark, when there is a veiny, shiny, squishy, sheep's ball sitting there waiting from me to taste it?" At this stage, the shark was really the least of my worries.

As a warm up and a desperate effort to delay the inevitable, I popped some shark in my mouth and waited for the taste to hit. It took a few seconds of chewing before I could taste anything but when it did kick in it was very strong, like old fish that had been heavily salted. The texture was very rubbery. I was chewing it for a while yet the thing never seemed to break down, so I eventually just swallowed it.

Next was Mr. ball and believe me when I tell you, I fought like a man fighting for his life on death row to avoid having to taste this thing. But my energy was wasted, cos this was going to happen whether I wanted it or not. I was fighting a losing battle. I braced myself with deep breaths, tried to steady my nerve and psyche myself up for this unfortunate event.
I cut a small edge off the end and spent a few seconds studying it closely as it sat on the end of my fork. Then I put the fork down. "I can't do it. Please, you don't understand, I just can't do it". But nobody cared. Nobody was listening. I was just getting heckled and yelled at to hurry up and eat it already. So quick as a flash, without another second spent pondering and stressing, I popped it in my mouth.

This was nothing like the shark. The outside part did have a bit of a chew to it, but the inside was mushy and gross. In flavor, it was quite bitter and really that's about all I can tell you, cos I swallowed it as fast as I could. In the seconds after, I was very relieved and shocked that I had actually gone through with the whole challenge and mentally I was giving myself a big pat on the back. Until I saw Vignir reach over, pick up Mr. ball and take a big ass bite right out of it with absolutely no hesitation. Like it was nothing but a chicken nugget or something. I almost threw up. It was just shocking.

These Icelandic people. Honestly, they come across all friendly and warm and blond and cute and energetic and fun, then you learn something like this about their customs in eating and right then, you begin to look at them in a whole other light. It' shocking.



Vignir and the Viking man point out and explain the various bits and pieces on my plate.

Ok, I don't think I need to point out the obvious here, do I?

This is me trying not to lose my stomach after eating the inevitable.

I needed a serious shot after that to steady my nerve and replace the awful taste in my mouth.

I was going to include a few more photos of the actual eating process, but they were kind of gross and I wanted to save you all from the harsh reality of the whole experience.