Sea Truffles, Angelica & Guillemot Eggs on the Vestmannaeyjar Archipelago

The edible ecosystem of Iceland's Westman Islands.

The team from Slippurinn harvesting seaweed on the southside of Heimaey. Photo: Nicholas Gill.

Washed up along the shore on the south end of Heimaey, just below where the puffins are nesting on Stórhöfði, growing on the stems of a seaweed called knotted wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum), is a red algae, a parasite, known as sea truffles (Polysiphonia lanosa). It looks the fuzz of a beard with thin strands all clumped together. When you hold it close to your face you get a faint whiff of a White Alba truffle, yet there is still that unmistakable, briny flavor of the sea. It’s a flavor that becomes stronger when dried. You can then grind it into a powder and sprinkle it in stews on fish or anything you would use a truffle with.

Sea truffles are one of hundreds of the spectacular ingredients that make up the edible ecosystem of the Vestmannaeyjar Archipelago, a chain of tiny islands and islets hanging off Iceland’s south coast. On Heimaey, the only inhabited island, two volcanoes hover over the town and a 1973 eruption nearly wiped it out, but ultimately expanded the terrain. During the summer months, the volcanic soil is full of wild herbs like oyster leaves, pineapple weed and Arctic thyme, three ingredients with as much poetry in their names as flavor in their veins. There are also beach herbs and dulse, as well as the pear shaped, blue with black specked guillemot eggs that are gathered sustainably from the cliff sides during a short window each year. The waters surrounding Heimaey, an island where nearly everyone has some connection to the fishing industry, attract some of the richest aquatic life in the North Atlantic. Aside of cod, the primary catch, these warming seas have been attracting mackerel, a fish not historically found in Iceland, in large shoals, as well as countless varieties of shellfish. Puffin hunting, once the second largest industry here, is no longer permitted, so the islanders have become avid conservationists.

Heimaey is where you will also find Slippurinn, a family run restaurant that continues to capture the imagination of those seeking the flavors of remote Nordic isles (I wrote a book about it with chef Gislí Matt). It’s a part of a growing culinary scene on the island that includes several other great restaurants and an annual seafood festival [listen to our on location podcast].