Reykjavik
It’s minus 10 degrees in Reykjavik, the world’s northern most capital city and it’s snowing! So where’s the street food? Ainsley sets out to find how the food-loving people of Iceland cope with living in an extreme climate and what he discovers is a truly exciting mix traditional foods with new Nordic cuisine. Around the city’s harbour, small cooks in fishing shacks make rich lobster soup, salt cod croquettes and crayfish bakes as they have done for decades. Working with a local chef, Ainsley discovers that most of the salt cod eaten in Europe comes from Iceland. To balance things up he uses the freshest Icelandic cod, prawns and scallops to make a Portugese caldeira (fish stew). Iceland is also a land of strange Viking food and in the mountains above Reykjavik, Ainsley travels to a remote farm to try lamb smoked in dung. It’s a delight compared to urine-marinated shark and rancid whale meat! All part of the journey!