Food/Water Safety in Iceland

How safe is the food and water in Iceland? One of our shore excursions calls for Tunisian couscous, Mediterranean salads, tomatoes and greeneries, and fresh Icelandic water.

Are those hot dog carts safe? I ended up with norovirus after a hot dog cart in Amsterdam.

Safer than Texas. Less industry, and much tighter pollution rules.

Not sure how you could tell you got noro from a hot dog cart. If you said e coli, or salmonella, that would be more plausible.

That being said, Iceland is a first world country. The people are healthy and live long lives. No reason to fear the local food and water.

Not sure how you could tell you got noro from a hot dog cart. If you said e coli, or salmonella, that would be more plausible.

 

That being said, Iceland is a first world country. The people are healthy and live long lives. No reason to fear the local food and water.

Don't know what I had, but fever, vomiting and diarrhea. DH called it food poisoning. Lost weight on that cruise.

Iceland imports a lot of the food, since agriculture is limited there, but standards are high ...

DH got hoarse (sp?) from a restaurant in Iceland. ;):rolleyes:;):D

Don't know what I had, but fever, vomiting and diarrhea. DH called it food poisoning. Lost weight on that cruise.

Fever, vomiting, and diarrhea on a cruise ship? Are you sure you didn't just touch a railing on board? ;)

I can't imagine why Iceland would be unsafe. However, I certainly wouldn't eat a hot dog from a cart anywhere, in fact, unless they have a government hygiene licence they are illegal in London.

The staples of Icelandic cuisine are Atlantic fish and local lamb, all very fresh.

I might recommend that Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog carts in Reykjavík. When we were there several years ago (not on a cruise ship) we had a couple of hot dogs from there and they're quite delicious. Also good enough for Bill Clinton. Back in 2006 they were voted the best hot dog stands in Europe.

The only thing I would recommend not eating in Iceland is hákarl. I smelt it there and that was good enough for me - it's rotten fermented shark.

Baejarins has a building, not a cart, near the port. Excellent dogs and toppings, and they (and everyone else in Iceland) are happy to take your credit or debit cards.

The only thing I would recommend not eating in Iceland is hákarl. I smelt it there and that was good enough for me - it's rotten fermented shark.

Sounds like an Icelandic equivalent of the Swedish Suströmming dish.

Baejarins has a building, not a cart, near the port. Excellent dogs and toppings, and they (and everyone else in Iceland) are happy to take your credit or debit cards.

This one in the picture I took? They are delicious!

How safe is the food and water in Iceland? One of our shore excursions calls for Tunisian couscous, Mediterranean salads, tomatoes and greeneries, and fresh Icelandic water.

 

Are those hot dog carts safe? I ended up with norovirus after a hot dog cart in Amsterdam.

Will your itinerary take you to Copenhagen? If so, I can recommend the organic hot dog stand located near the Round Tower in Copenhagen. (There's apparently another branch located near the Church of the Holy Ghost, but we ate at the Round Tower branch).

Under normal circumstances, I never would have tried street food, but we were taken there as part of a wonderful food walking tour. ( foodtours.eu ) The hot dog was delicious -- literally award winning!

Here's a link to the web site for the hot dog stand which is named DOP.

http://www.xn--dp-lka.dk/en/

Water is very pure there. Food was very good but expensive in restaurants. Very modern low crime country with beautiful scenery

You can drink water from any tap, and quite literally from 90+% of any stream or river in Iceland. Most rivers and streams are straight up glacier melt and very pure.

Most Icelanders consider bottled water to be somewhere between ridiculous and offensive, given how good their tap water is.

And actually, there's quite a bit of agriculture there. The south shore has many green houses due to their very cheap geothermal heating. Bananas and tomatoes are some of the most prevalent crops, believe it or not.

Feel free to eat and drink whatever you want.