Eat shark in Iceland
Open the container, meet the sharp ammonia smell and spear one small cube. In Iceland, hákarl is Greenland shark cured through fermentation and drying, turning meat that is unsafe when fresh into a traditional food with a reputation far larger than the portion on the fork. The dish belongs to a history of preserving food through severe winters and appears in the Þorramatur spread associated with the old month of Þorri. Today it is often offered as a cultural tasting rather than an everyday meal. The Bjarnarhöfn Shark Museum on Snæfellsnes explains the processing tradition as well as serving samples. Only eat commercially prepared hákarl from a reputable producer, museum, food tour or restaurant; never experiment with fresh Greenland shark. Begin with a small piece, ask about provenance and avoid turning a host’s food tradition into a disgust performance. Build it into a wider exploration of Icelandic food. Add this to your list for a taste that makes preservation history impossible to ignore.