Iceland review - 2014, Síða 61

ICELAND REVIEW 59
Fresh bunches of green kale, rainbow chard, spinach and
arugula, aromatic herbs, green, red and yellow peppers,
alfalfa and bean sprouts, radishes, cauliflower, broccoli,
cabbage, carrots, celery, mushrooms, rutabaga and tomatoes
galore… The shelves of Iceland’s grocery and health food
stores have come a long way in recent years.
Apart from the fish in the ocean, Iceland’s settlers arrived
in a country almost devoid of food. Everything had to be
brought with them and the harsh climate and absence of
refrigeration put its mark on the traditional Icelandic diet:
lamb and dairy products featured strongly while fruit and
vegetables were largely absent.
During World War II, Iceland’s economy started to boom.
This had a profound impact on the nation’s dietary habits,
according to Dominique Plédel Jónsson, president of Slow
Food Iceland. “When market policy took over—the war
played a large part in this as Icelandic export of fish became
vital for the British [and American] market—a feeling of being
new rich, combined with the proximity of American interests
at the military base of Keflavík turned the country onto fast
food,” she wrote in a chapter on Icelandic food in the book
Hræringar – the Nordic House and Iceland/2007-2013.
“One could say that Iceland went directly from being
a farming and fishing society into [the] computer age. In
that leap was an attempt to obliterate ancient local produc-
tion culture, which was a reminder of poverty, isolation and
backwardness, compared with the new arrivals on Icelandic
ground.”
Although Icelanders live longer than almost all other
nations, as in the rest of the western world they have been
succumbing to fast food and obesity. Iceland now ranks as the
fattest nation in Europe and the second-fattest western nation
after the united States. Around 21 percent of adults suffer
from obesity, almost double that of Sweden. In recent years,
though, the diet of Icelanders seems to have improved.
According to a 2012 study conducted by the Directorate
of Health, the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority
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