TORSHAVUN, Faroe Islands (AP) – The farmers market looked sad, to be honest.
the situation is not friendly faroe islands To grow food. Raked by North Atlantic winds and gnawed by thousands of sheep, the island has few trees and poor soil, leaving little room for plants. Potatoes and rhubarb are local staples.
But some residents are tired of importing almost all their food from other parts of Europe and other countries. Many products are engraved with the flag. Denmarkunder which the islands have autonomy.
Efforts are being made to grow more adventurous crops, such as kale, which is considered hardy in other parts of the world, and to promote local products, from seaweed to salty “fermented” meat and fish.
The effort can also be seen in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, where a small farmers’ market is held one Sunday a month for most of the year. In September, there were several food stalls near the harbor under cloudy skies offering meat, bags of kale and cabbage, and seasoned salt.
The vegetables cost about 40 Feroz Skrona (about $6) per bag, a reminder of the high food prices on the remote islands whose closest neighbors are Iceland, Scotland and Norway.
A cup of soup made from fermented local radish and imported beans sold for 75 krona, or more than $11, including a slice of bread.
The farmers market is part of Matkovin, a project founded by a local couple to promote food producers. The magazine points to growing international interest in Faroese cuisine, including Michelin-starred restaurants and a home-cooked network for tourists called Heimabridni.
“However, there is a disconnect between this romantic vision of Faroese food culture and the everyday reality, where much of our food is imported from distant countries,” the project states. “There are very few Faroese foods available in stores. We are never told where the producers of these foods are. The producers of Faroese foods are invisible.”
Some Faroese said the COVID-19 pandemic and its shock to supply chains, along with a large-scale labor strike in the islands in May 2024 that led to rationing, had raised serious questions about food security.
The Matkovin project highlights more than a dozen local food producers, including goose carcasses, pesto and liver pâté, and includes biographies that better explain the challenges of the rocky island.
“We live half the year in the shade, because the sun sets for the last time in Trollanes on Michael’s Day on September 29th and is not seen again until St. Gregory’s Day on March 12th. During the winter, it is indeed very dark here,” reads the bio of Upistova, a small farm on the island of Karsoy from which The Associated Press bought eggs and rhubarb jam.
Meanwhile, a project called Veltan is working to grow a wider variety of vegetables from greenhouses in the south of Sandoy Island, although the vegetables on offer remain hardier vegetables such as peas and carrots.
“We at Veltan believe that you should be able to eat Faroese vegetables in the Faroe Islands,” says the project.
The production builds on a growing sense of local pride, showcasing the island’s more adventurous food, which has emerged over the years from its remote location and harsh lifestyle.
Michelin-starred restaurant Paz offers tasting menus of “what land and sea have to offer at that moment” for nearly $400.
Its menu relies on the seafood that drives the economy and the local fermentation process in which fish and meat are hung in wooden slatted structures and aged in the sea air. Locals call it an acquired taste.
There is still much work to be done. At a steakhouse in Klaksvik, the island’s second-largest community where sheep roam, the waiter asks me where they get their lamb.
“New Zealand,” she said.
