Icelandic Sheep

Despite rapid changes in Icelandic work patterns, the Icelandic sheep still has an important place in Iceland. The sheep accompanied the early Icelandic settlers more than 1100 years ago and has had to endure variable days spent in inhospitable country. But its particular cost-effectiveness and its ability to survive even when there is little food, has meant that it has often kept people alive during difficult times.

Although the nation no longer builds its profits from agriculture and sheep herding, sheep products remain an important part of the economy. Icelandic wool is endowed with special qualities, which make it manageable and strong, and clothes which are made out of Icelandic wool are particularly good cover against both cold and wet conditions.

Icelandic wool has long been used for making clothes, but it was also once used to make a type of homespun cloth called "vaðmál" which, together with wool and sheep skin, was the largest Icelandic export until stockfish took over in the fourteenth- and fifteenth-centuries. Icelandic wool products are now amongst those items which overseas visitors seek out when they visit.

Sheep meat is also important. It was the main feature of the Icelandic diet over the centuries, eaten either fresh, smoked (called hung meat, that is "hangikjöt"), salted or pickled in sour whey: the entire animal was used. Today, traditional foods such as liver sausage, blood pudding, sheep's head, and soured ram's scrotum are still considered delicacies and are amongst the most favoured dishes at the Icelanders' annual traditional feast called the "Þorrablót".

For many years, Sunday dinner in Iceland has meant a roast leg of lamb with caramel potatoes and green peas, rightly called Icelanders' national dish.