This forum is for anyone from Iceland who wants to discuss veganism or vegetarianism or anyone not from Iceland who wants to discuss veganism in Iceland
...I'm sad. No icelanders.... *cry* Aren't you even interested?
...kidding, I'm not sad. It would be cool if anyone that has been to Iceland, has Icelandic friends, etc etc etc would post here. I really need to find some vegans in Iceland. I really do.
People once thought my mother is a nut, but I once thought a nut was my mother! :D
Well, I've never been to Iceland, but for some reason I am attracted to the idea of visiting someday. Probably because to the average American, Iceland doesn't even cross their mind, anytime, much less giving thought to traveling to there. The only thing Americans know about Iceland is Bjork and (for those a little bit hipper) Sigur Ros.
I do wonder about the possibility of being vegan there. Knowing that Reykjavík and other cities are supported by the fishing industry (isn't there an Icelandic saying or word equating the smell of fish processing to the smell of money?), I can't imagine that vegans would be well served there. So how hard is it for you?
Well, I've never been to Iceland, but for some reason I am attracted to the idea of visiting someday. Probably because to the average American, Iceland doesn't even cross their mind, anytime, much less giving thought to traveling to there. The only thing Americans know about Iceland is Bjork and (for those a little bit hipper) Sigur Ros.
I do wonder about the possibility of being vegan there. Knowing that Reykjavík and other cities are supported by the fishing industry (isn't there an Icelandic saying or word equating the smell of fish processing to the smell of money?), I can't imagine that vegans would be well served there. So how hard is it for you?
well, actually it's pretty neat here, a lot of vegan things in shops, and most of the kids I meet say: "oh, cool, youre a vegan? wow, how is it? you must get pretty cool food!" so I'm very lucky abut that. Um, about the fish thing, yeah, that's true, but It IS possible to be vegan here, pretty easy actually. somewhere around here is a vegan resturaunt, I'm going there soon, and looking forward to it!
People once thought my mother is a nut, but I once thought a nut was my mother! :D
I've always been fascinated by Iceland and would love to tour it one day.
But don't they eat sheep heads for snacks over there?
LOL no, not as snacks! but there is a special holiday when people eat rams balls, sheep heads, pickled rams balls and some stuff I don't know about. Never liked that holiday. Some people eat shark, which is salty, and one time when I tried a incy tiny bite (before vegetarianism) I had diarhea for two days. yuk! Anyway, you should visit Iceland, it is the most beautiful european country I've been to (ok, so it's the second most, so?) but Icelanders are doing whatver they can to destroy it do you know about the GIANT COLOSSAL dam they are building? it is so they can generate electricity for an aluminium factory, it will drown much of the beutiful nature here
but anyway, the downtown life here is great fun, and there is a vegan resturaunt in town. hey, mabe I'll see you there someday
Last edited by l337_v3g4n_1; Sep 13th, 2004 at 10:33 PM.
Reason: me dumb!
People once thought my mother is a nut, but I once thought a nut was my mother! :D
Hi,
I've talked to some people who lived on a UN military base in Iceland. They said it was beautiful and was a sought after location.
Does Iceland celebrate Halloween? Are the days getting short yet?
Hi!!! Wow, never thought I´d find an Icelandic vegan here... Má ég tala íslensku? Yes, the days are getting shorter here, and no, we don´t do Halloween, we do "Öskudagurinn" which is when we go to Shops and sing. I can´t be bothered to write more about it right now, I´m at chool, so ask me if you want more info
People once thought my mother is a nut, but I once thought a nut was my mother! :D
I dont think I could survive in Iceland as I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, as it is, I just want to hibernate like a dormouse when our days get shorter here in the UK. If I lived there, no one would ever see me!!.
I dont think I could survive in Iceland as I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, as it is, I just want to hibernate like a dormouse when our days get shorter here in the UK. If I lived there, no one would ever see me!!.
Does Iceland still slaughter the minke whales?.
haha, in summer there is actually one day without darkness! summer is very sunny here, so you'd be fine. I don´t know about the whales, I´ll check it out sometime soon
p.s. sorry for the late responce
People once thought my mother is a nut, but I once thought a nut was my mother! :D
Hi, Im from sweden and Im going to live in Rejkjavik January-July and I would like to meet vegans there. I am also looking for places to go, like cafees, were I can meet people like me.
Last edited by flutterby; Nov 23rd, 2005 at 11:14 AM.
Reason: Merged with similar thread.
HI, sorry to butt in, but myself, my girlfriend Zoe and a friend are visiting Iceland from the Uk this August. We'd love to know of any good vegetarian/vegan eateries, or of anywhere to stay/visit that operates according to fair trade/ethical principles.
Also, a little bit cheeky I know, but does anyone there have a car they can lend us for a few hundred pounds? All the local firms seem to want thousands and we only want a runabout for a fortnight.
Now I admit, I'm not scandinavian, but a Brit whos off to Iceland in a matter of months, and I caaaaaaaan't wait!
But perhaps here is the perfect place to ask advice. When I booked with the guesthouse I'm staying in late last year, I told them I was a veggie and would they be able to cater for that? They said they could. Now even I didn't know I a few months later for me eggs and milk would be off the menu, so now I pity the nice sounding woman in the guesthouse, any ideas of what Icelandics think of vegans??
Will I heard nothing but low muttered foreign swear words (not that I'd know, as all I'm learning are a few of the polite ones!). I know they're big on their fish...will it seem offensive of me not to join in, does an Icelandic vegan exist or are they nothing more than a myth there, spoken only around camp fires by wise men when they speak of days of old...
Hehe Thank you, or should I say Takk, for any advice.
Wish I was on that plane now....can't wait!!
I didn't know you post a thread about Iceland, you should have tell me so...
I became vegan in Iceland. Seeing so much suffering and exploitation was a revelation for me. I thought about it and give up quickly to eat the few tiny part of animals I was eating, becoming back vegetarian, and I thought about animal exploitation and found it wrong, then I become vegan... in Iceland, thanks to Yggdrasil among others.
2 months after I left Iceland, I had becomed a "complete" vegan...
HI, sorry to butt in, but myself, my girlfriend Zoe and a friend are visiting Iceland from the Uk this August. We'd love to know of any good vegetarian/vegan eateries, or of anywhere to stay/visit that operates according to fair trade/ethical principles.
In and around the main shopping street in Rekjavik there's a few vegan/veggie places (you'll find them on the Happy Cow website).. . When I went, the main ones were shut over the bank hols Luckily we took lots of dry veggie food with us so if there was ever a dilemma, we could eat from our stash of snacks and take packed lunches with us I'd recommend doing this, as if you go on any kind of day trips, you might have a hard time finding somewhere- or anything at all- to eat.
Iceland is such a beautiful place, and the scenery can look really alien (in a good way!). Also, the air was a pleasure to breathe
hæ!!
ég er einmitt komin heim! En hvernig finnst þér að vera vegan hér?
ég er alltaf að hanga í Yggdrasill...og Heilsubúðini...en allir halda að ég er eitthvað kex rugluð!
ég er sko að fara að flytja til Skotlands í háskóla...og bý í Frakklandi en sjiiiit hvað það er erfitt að vera vegan hérna...at least nálagt fólki sem fattar varla grænmetis ætur!
væri alveg til í að ver í sambandi!
Hi there
Not Icelandic! but went for an amazing short break there last year - found amazing food.
Didn't realise all manner of fruit and veg are grown in the geothermal? greenhouses - had amazing meals in both the the hotels we stayed in country and city - fancy vegan stuff in the country retreat place! We had a different 3 course meal there specially cooked each evening.
Also loved the vegan restaurants in the city - went to two - both great.
Can appreciate that living there, food can maybe get tiresome as looking in the supermarkets, there seemed not to be much more than soya yoghurts!
but wanted to post to say how fantastic a time we had and thet the food we had was amazing (as was the hospitality) and the Geysers were smoking!!!
Also spent most days in the public outdoor spas chatting with the locals!
Sorry if it's off thread but loved Iceland!
Nicky
Well, time to resurrect this ole' monster. That guy up there, with the bad spelling and the funky avatar, that's me.
So, since the Icelandic vegetarian society (and their entire website) seem to have disappeared for good, I'm going to attempt to spark some fresh discussion here. It seemed appropriate to use the old Icelandic thread as the vessel. So, any Icelanders around, these days?
I guess many Icelandic vegans must hang around café Hljómalind (organic café in Iceland, very nice), but I'm no good at getting to know people like me through cafés and other such places, so I ask here instead.
Thread's a little old but if anyone has any info on being vegan in iceland, please let me know. I can't find any information on the cost and availability of anything, even potatoes. I also can't find any info on importing food or how good online delivery is. I'm being led to believe that online delivery to iceland simply isn't possible and eating vegan is impossible but clearly there's at least one icelandic vegan here.
I'd love to go and do some season work in iceland and not in the fishing industry - is this possible? And no, I dont speak icelandic but swedish, norweigan and a bit of danish, but id love to learn some - beauuutiful language!
I want to learn Icelandic, too. It looks so weird to me, but also interesting - especially the different letters like the "þ". It's not pronounced like "p", is it? ^_^
And I'd love to visit Iceland someday, but it's pretty cold there, eh?
As Iceland got hit pretty hard by the credit crunch, it may be affordable to visit here these days. Our currency's value got cut in half months ago, so tourists may have an easier time.
Opheliac: The language is pretty difficult! Þ sounds like "th" in "thorn" or "thousand" : ]
It does get pretty cold in the winters (and spring and autumn, too), but the summertime is quite pleasant.
Windfall: The unemployment rate here is around 10% at the moment, so finding work could be quite difficult. I do not recommend trying until our economy becomes more stable. Being vegan here is tolerable if you're not too dependent on specialty goods like vegan ice cream or nutritional yeast - we don't have an amazing variety of good vegetables either, but it's more than enough to get by on. I don't eat out much (last time I ate out was more than six months ago), so I don't know the status on that, but I think there are a few good places that serve vegan food.
Nyphur: Online delivery of food is quite uncommon, possibly unheard of here in Iceland, I'm really not sure of it. Veggies can be a bit costly, but the priciest items are the specialty foods (although, as I mentioned above, we don't have a very wide range of them). On a positive note: Store-bought bread is mostly vegan here, unlike in the USA where honey is ubiquitous (in the states I've visited, at least). One should be careful with bakery-bought breads though, of course. Reading the labels on foods can be difficult even for Icelanders, as much of the food we get is imported from other Scandinavian countries, and thus does not have the ingredients list in English.
Sorry for the late replies, everyone! I haven't been active on these boards for a while.
Ah, already you stumble upon the intricacies of our language!
There is in fact a slight difference. "Þ" is as you think (in fact, the letter is called thorn), but "ð" is softer. Like the "th" in "the", "there" or "that". I'll record an audio file explaining it if you want :]
Neptunus, where in Iceland are you? If I someday become insane enough to visit Iceland, I'd like to meet you. And if I do, would it be conceivable for me to stay with you for a couple of days?
Depends on my funds, but I'm thinkin' about it for September because it's on the way to the U.S.
"cake is a good tool for the revolution!!!" - saycheezly
It would definitely be conceivable! It depends a lot on the whims of my mother (who pays for the place), but we'll probably be able to work something out.
I won't be back in Iceland 'till the tenth or eleventh of August, but I'll e-mail my mother about this before then.
Cool, well I looked into this some more and it seems pretty sure that I can do this.
Icelandair will do stopovers in Reykjavik for several days at no extra charge. Well, I first got the idea because I was gonna fly directly from London to Boston, but saw that there was a stopover in Reykjavik, and then I just saw right now that they have a deal to extend that stopover time and it makes no difference on the price. So for about $385, I can fly from London to Reykjavik, then Reykjavik to Boston a couple of days later. Sweet!
So if it's cool with your mom, I'll see you in September! If that doesn't work out I still might come and couchsurf and meet up with you anyway.
"cake is a good tool for the revolution!!!" - saycheezly
Hi everyone, this is the only Icelandic thread I could find, so I hope I shall be welcome here with my current issue....
I am spending 3 weeks in Iceland this summer wild camping near the Vatnajokull ice cap doing field assistant work, and I am slightly worried about what I will eat and staying warm without a down sleeping bag. Does anyone have any advice? Is it easy to get pulses etc. at supermarkets? What snacks should I bring from home (UK) which I can't get in Iceland.
Hi everyone, this is the only Icelandic thread I could find, so I hope I shall be welcome here with my current issue.... <snip> Thanks guys
I'm sorry for missing your question Karen.
I haven't been around here for a while.
So, as official Icelander of the forum, I'll keep an eye on this thread in the future. If anyone has any travel plans that include Iceland, or wants to chat about the whole "being a vegan in what amounts to an oversized fishing-village on a desolate rock in the Atlantic ocean" thing, go ahead. ; )
I'm planning on spending a week in Iceland in may with my husband and three small children. Does anyone know of a bed and breakfast that can serve vegan breakfasts? We would like to stay in a hotel for a few days and a b&b for a few days.
I visited Iceland in December to see the Northern Lights fell in love with the country and could easily see myself living there! Great vegetarian/vegan food although there were a couple of restaurants where they just didn't understand the concept of veganism. It may have been the language barrier. But, when I asked for something without cheese they'd replace with chilli and so on. Will need to learn some Icelandic for my next visit, which hopefully won't be too far away!
If anyone has any travel plans that include Iceland, or wants to chat about the whole "being a vegan in what amounts to an oversized fishing-village on a desolate rock in the Atlantic ocean" thing, go ahead. ; )
Hi Neptunus,
Thank you for starting this board. I am hoping you can help me. I am traveling to Iceland in March and am looking for an upscale veg-friendly restaurant. Its my boyfriends birthday, he is not vegan but I am. I would like to take him to a special restaurant with a nice atmosphere but do not know which ones will accommodate a vegan. I looked at HappyCow.net and it seems all of the restaurants are either cafes or casual restaurants. Do you know of any fancy restaurants that will gladly accommodate vegans? I looked at the menu at Perlan and its so heavy on the animals and no side dishes. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hello vegans of Iceland! I am coming to Reykjavik in September for Airwaves, staying self catering and wondered what you guys have available for doing of the vegan cooking in your supermarkets? Is it the usual med veg selection or more root based? Is soya milk a normal option as here in the UK or will it require tracking down? Is pasta normally of the non egg variety? Does anyone have any go to recipes that only involve what you can get from the typical Reykjavik corner shop when everything else is shut because you forgot to buy shit earlier? I ask because I am well aware local shops outside London do not often have the kind of mad selection I am used to...
Thank you for any help you can give!
Hello vegans of Iceland! I am coming to Reykjavik in September for Airwaves, staying self catering and wondered what you guys have available for doing of the vegan cooking in your supermarkets? Is it the usual med veg selection or more root based? Is soya milk a normal option as here in the UK or will it require tracking down? Is pasta normally of the non egg variety? Does anyone have any go to recipes that only involve what you can get from the typical Reykjavik corner shop when everything else is shut because you forgot to buy shit earlier? I ask because I am well aware local shops outside London do not often have the kind of mad selection I am used to...
Thank you for any help you can give!
Hello!
There are a few good shops in Reykjavìk, they will have almost everything you need!
My favourites are Yggdrasill (Skolavordustigur 16), Madur Lifandi cafe (Haedasmari 6, Kopavogur) & BooztBar (in the Kringlan shopping centre). These are the places I visited myself, I am moving to Reykjavìk in August so I might be able to tell you of many more places.
Ég er að læra íslensku, og er að koma til íslands í ágúst. (Frá ágúst fyrst til sextánda)
Ég hef verið vegan (hvernig segirðu "vegan" á íslensku?) fyrir tvö og hálft ár. Ég er svolítið hræddur um að vera þar fyrir svo lengi tíman, af því að ég hef aldrei verið þar sem vegan.
Það væri frábært að mæta nokkrar grænmetisætar á íslandi.
Icelandic Vegans
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Welcome, by the way!
Korn
anyway, thanks for the welcome, I'll be hanging around this place for a while, probably like a few years o'something. 
Lol
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