Customer Reviews

Iceland

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This is my favorite episode of "No Reservations." Tony Bourdain is in fine form, and Iceland is my favorite place on earth. Tony does himself no favors by going during winter, but he does get to attend the traditional Icelandic feast, Thorrablot. Thorrablot is a feast of horrors for most people from outside Iceland, but Tony tries everything, much to the amusement of his audience. ("That was unspeakably nasty.")

While "No Reservations" is essentially a travel show about food, there is a lot of travel depicted, and here the natural beauty of Iceland shines through (although I would advise a summer visit next time.) Tony tours Reykjavik, rides an Icelandic horse, and takes a soak in the Blue Lagoon, among many other activities, but the real star is the food. Anytime you talk about Icelandic cuisine, the subject of the famous shark comes up. The central food around which Thorrablot revolves is called "hákarl" (with variants known as "glerhákarl" and "skyrhákarl," depending on the species of shark.) The shark is prepared by burying it in the ground during summer and letting it rot for six months or so, then processing it, ultimately cubing it into toothpick-ready portions. It is advised that people new to the food hold their nose as the stench and ammonia smell is overpowering; perhaps failing to heed that crucial step is what made Tony not only call hákarl "unspeakably nasty," but go on to elaborate that "this is probably the single worst thing I've ever put in my mouth." (Note that this was before the Vietnam episode, however.) Hákarl is so rank, that the recommended method of consumption is to chase your putrefied shark with "Brennivín," a type of very strong indigenous caraway schnapps, which some people think tastes worse than the shark.

Tony not only tried the hákarl, but helped prepare and ate such delicacies as "hrútspungar" or pressed sheep's testicles, which he termed "breakfast of champions," "Sviš," (sheep's heads,) and other gastronomic atrocities: at the end of the Thorrablot dinner he reflects, "let's call it what it was, worst meal ever." (Again, that was before he went to Vietnam.)

This is a great series, and this is the best of all the episodes that I have seen. Anyone who likes an irreverent approach to travel or food will love this show, especially if they love Iceland like I do.