The History of Restaurants and Cooking in Iceland

This is the first episode in a series of podcasts that are the final project of Dóra Svavarsdóttir and Þyrnir Hálfdánarson, master chefs and students at the University of Iceland's School of Education. They produced the episodes in collaboration with IÐAN, and they cover culinary studies—past, present, and future.

The first podcast is about the history of the restaurant industry and culinary arts in Iceland, and their guest is Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir, an expert in Icelandic cuisine.

Nanna says that culinary education began in the mid-19th century when Icelandic women went to Denmark to study cooking and home economics. They then returned home with new knowledge and wanted to share it with their fellow Icelanders. Among other things, they founded home economics schools, which were well-attended.

The oldest Icelandic cookbooks were intended for middle-class homes and taught, among other things, hygiene in cooking, table manners, nutrition, and food presentation. This was a clear change from when people sat with a bowl on their laps.

It was at the beginning of the 20th century that eateries began to spring up in market towns, but the first fine dining restaurant was opened at Hótel Borg.

This and much more in this informative and entertaining episode.