“Every adventure is worthwhile.” ~Amelia Earhart
Indeed, Amelia. And on our shared birthday last week, the food adventure at a greenhouse in Iceland was definitely worthwhile!
While Icelandic sheep outnumber people 3-to-1 (or so I was told, by both guidebook and Icelanders alike), their ability to produce well, produce – as in vegetables – is a little more complicated it seems. Avocados and other things we Americans take for granted are quite expensive in Iceland, and you can see why fish and lamb are sometimes more economical than ordering a big salad off of a restaurant menu. That being said, a visit to Fridheimar Farm was a special food adventure with some of the best tomatoes I’ve ever tasted. I am not exaggerating.
At Fridheimar, and according to their website, they “grow tomatoes all year round, despite Iceland’s long, dark winters, under artificial lighting in greenhouses.” Besides growing tomatoes, selling delicious products made from those tomatoes and serving visitors in their restaurant, they also breed horses and were even putting on a horse show as we arrived.
Wow.
What a place. What an experience!
Now, don’t get me wrong. I was in Iceland just about all of last week and I seriously did not have a bad meal. But lunch on July 24th was a special treat and well, eating lunch in a greenhouse was a treat all by itself. But it wasn’t just a gimmick, the food was amazingly good. I consider tomatoes to be both my favorite fruit (yes, it’s technically a fruit) and vegetable, and while I’m not that big of a soup fan in general, I love a good tomato soup. This tomato soup was great and then some. And did I mention it was on an all-you-can-eat-soup buffet with delicious and warm fresh bread also at the ready? Yes, that just added to the special experience.
Oh. I haven’t even mentioned the tomato beer (yep, brewed with ripe tomatoes added) and the cheesecake dessert that I really didn’t have room for in my belly, but that I have no regrets now for making myself eat it. You only live once, right.
Yes. Tomato beer. It was a white ale with just enough of the sweet taste of ripe tomatoes. So good and refreshing, especially while being surrounded by the warm lights of the greenhouse. And the cheesecake dessert? Look at the photo above. It just looks delicious. And it most definitely was and then some.
The taste of tomatoes, the smell of tomatoes, the warmth of tomatoes as well as the farm’s hospitality were all enough to make the expeirence a worthy one, but the fact that the food was one of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had, makes my lunch at Frieheimar the best thing I ate last week. I’ve never had a lunch quite like it, and I doubt any future bowl of tomato soup will be able to live up. Oh well, the burden of going on food adventures is that you might have to kinda settle after that. I can live with that.
I can eat like that.
#eldaeats XO
#wortheverycaloriewortheverymemory
