Eating and dining on the Faroe Islands

Eating in a restaurant is a relatively new phenomenon in the Faroe Islands. The restaurants at the hotels were mostly used by visitors and tourists, and the food was mainly Danish inspired. Young people in education and others who lived in rented rooms could eat in the few boarding houses – everyone else ate at home.

In order to attract the local population, a dedicated hotel keeper in Tórshavn started organising dinners in the evening in the 1970s. In the period 1907‑1992, selling and serving of alcohol in all forms were prohibited, and this was a major problem for the restaurant industry. However, this did not apply to private closed parties or weddings where it was allowed to serve drinks that had been brought along. In Havnar Klubbi (Tórshavn’s Club), which is still active, it was possible to enjoy spirits which had been ‘brought along’ already from 1799, as the members could give the club power of attorney to dispose of the quantity of alcoholic beverages that they were each allowed to import. New private clubs were established, and the members could, to a certain extent, bring guests. Some of the clubs also started serving good food and organising wine tasting evenings.

With the new liquor act in 1992, a retailing monopoly was established where people could buy beer, wine and spirits. Restaurants and pubs could now also apply for a licence to sell alcoholic beverages, and at the same time a more general interest in food and food culture arose. Two Faroese chefs were co-signatories of The Nordic Cuisine Manifesto in 2004. Like many other places in the Nordic region, people began to see the value in local ingredients, to be inspired by elements of the local food tradition and to give them a sophisticated twist.

The resource base for fruit, vegetables and edible plants is limited, but the new cuisine has managed exploit what grows. On the other hand, the Faroe Islands have abundant seafood, be it langoustine, other shellfish and sea urchins. Today, the selection of fish is far greater than the few species that were previously considered edible. To this should be added the lambs, geese and hares grazing in the outfield, as well as the many seabirds .

Traditional dishes

From the late 1800s, many Faroese girls attended home economics schools and worked as maids in Denmark. The Faroe Islands also had Danish-inspired home economics schools, which contributed to the traditional diet being supplemented with more continental eating habits. Today, there is little difference between what is eaten in Faroese homes and elsewhere in the Nordic region, apart from the fact that there are certain traditional local dishes.

There is an old tradition of preservation by allowing both meat and fish to ferment and dry, for which the Faroese weather is perfect. The fermented food goes through a maturing process from fresh to ræst and is characterised by a special umami taste. In the past, lamb and mutton were mainly preserved and dried into skerpikjøt that could be eaten all year round. Fresh lamb from the free-grazing sheep is, however, a culinary equal to the fermented lamb, but although 60,000‑70,000 lambs are slaughtered every year, it is insufficient. Therefore, large quantities of lamb are imported from Iceland and New Zealand. Today, the range of food products in the large supermarkets resemble what you can get in Denmark and the rest of Europe, supplemented with local food products.

Fish dishes include fish cakes and knettir, which are large, boiled fish balls, previously always containing tallow, which are served with potatoes and possibly vegetables. The fish soup knetta is cooked on knettir and vegetables. Another dish is ræstur fiskur, which is slightly air-dried and fermented fish that is boiled and served with boiled potatoes, salted pilot whale blubber or garnatálg, a dip of melted fermented intestinal fat from sheep.

A few weeks after the autumn slaughter, ræst kjøt is prepared, which is slightly air-dried and fermented lamb that is boiled or fried. When it is boiled, the meat is used for soup called røst súpan, with vegetables, often beets. Fermented oven-roasted lamb ribs, riv, is also a favourite seasonal dish, which is also very popular among young people. To this should be added dried lamb and fermented and dried fish. Especially dried fish is a food tradition that is shared with Iceland, Greenland and parts of Northern Norway.

Pilot whale meat is also a common dish and is served with blubber and potatoes. Like dried fish with thin slices of pilot whale blubber, pilot whale meat is on most party buffets.

Further reading

• Association activities and volunteering on the Faroe Islands
• Languages and dialects on the Faroe Islands
• Literature on the Faroe Islands
• Religion and religious communities on the Faroe Islands
• Tradition and tales on the Faroe Islands

Read more about Culture on the Faroe Islands