A new survey shows that the vast majority of travellers, or 90% of foreign visitors, try local food while visiting Iceland, RÚV reports. The Gallup poll was conducted by the Icelandic Lamb Marketing Board and according to CEO Svavar Halldórsson, this percentage was unexpectedly high.
“Foreign tourists eat Icelandic food,” he said. “…90% of tourists, or right thereabouts, try some kind of typical Icelandic food on their trip. Right up there at the top is lamb. Skyr is right behind it.”
According to the survey, nearly half of all tourists try lamb in Iceland and just under half eat skyr. 45% eat local salmon and 41% drink Icelandic milk. Almost a third of tourists eat cod, beef, and Icelandic cheese, while under a fourth of visitors sample Icelandic pork. Fewer than a fourth are brave enough, however, to try harðfisk (dried fish), whale, hákarl (fermented shark), or horse.
Svavar said that another surprise result of the survey was that visitors tend to eat more traditional Icelandic food in the countryside than in the capital area.
