Category: interesting

Zzalgern0n sent me pics from his adventures across the sea. He recently tried boiled sheep’s head (svið) with his new friends in Iceland. This is intense, especially since Zzalgern0n was a vegan before he left. Most of my vegan experience has been with him (Vinnie’s pizza, Red Bamboo, Pure Luck). His whole diet changed when he went off to shoot a documentary in Africa about isolated native tribes back in March. I know how picky he could be about food, so I’m sure having to eat meat was tough but expected.

Svið, sheep’s head is prepared by burning off the hair, splitting them in half and boiling them with salt. More on that recipe here.

me: so what was the occasion of eating heads?

zzalgern0n: No occasion it’s just normal food. you can get them at a bus stop in reykjavik too. It’s normal here like hamburger almost.

Yeah. That was a really intensely surreal experience. Ate two heads, which you slice open at the mouth, peel off the skin (or optional: eat it), sliver out cheek meat, skin the tongue, carve out the eye, shave around the ears. I tried all parts…, including the eye (which is apparently considered nasty by all but the most hardcore Icelanders — my friends would not eat it). The eye was really fatty like.

The food was decent, but the little girl of the house just stared in horror at the heads. She had to eat her meat in the other room.

A pretty worthwhile experience to really face what you’re eating, acknowledge that it was honestly alive in order to pay some respect.

All photos courtesy of Zzalgern0n. http://zzalgern0n.com/