Fancy of dining in with locals in Iceland? Although not a common practice in Iceland there are a few individuals who open up their homes for strangers and offer a memorable dining experience. Travel guide Sólveig Jónsdóttir and sculptor Anna Sigurjónsdóttir not only offer their guests delicious and healthy food but also bicycle tours in the southwest coast of Iceland.
For those interested in the quiet green food revolution subtly shooting its roots in Iceland, Þórkötlustaðir, Grindavík, is a place worth visiting. This quint little neighborhood is the home of Anna and Sólveig, whom have opened their home for others to enjoy the green cooking of Anna.
“We don’t do it often, but every now and then we have all-strangers groups over for dinner,” says Sólveig. “If the occasion arises we offered people to come over for lunch or dinner, especially when I am doing a guided tours around the peninsula.”
The food on offer is very Icelandic, but not in the “sheep-head and ram-testicles” kind of way. Rather the focus is on locally grown organic greens.
“Anna’s wonderful art and her wonderful cooking really brings life to this place…”
“Me and Anna are both vegetarians, have been from the start of our relationship, apart form a short time of indulgence,” confesses Sólveig, who often had a hard time adjusting her diet to what was on offer as she darted across the highlands guiding tourists. “Traditionally Icelanders are avant meat- and fish eaters, but it is quickly changing. People are more open now to different ideas and different ways of building up our diet. One is not considered strange anymore for choosing something different and people are more curious when it comes to vegetarianism and raw food.”
Raw food is the dish of the day at Sólveig’s and Anna’s home, as Anna has spent the last years mastering the raw food tradition.
“She is quite frankly a genius when it comes to preparing and serving raw food,” Sólveig applauds, admitting she might be a little biased. “But the mixture of the beauty of this area, Anna’s wonderful art and her wonderful cooking really brings life to this place, and that’s the way we want it.”
Those who are interested in a raw/vegan dinner party at Solveig’s and Anna’s can contact them at annaogsolveig@simnet.is.
