The farmer Jón Jóhannssen already established the market next to his greenhouses a couple of years ago so that the vegetables have a short way from harvest to sale. People who have not known about the market before are always surprised about this treasure when they come for the first time. Still it is a place where the majority of visitors are Icelanders what makes it even more special considering the thousands of tourists in Iceland during high season. For those who come here regularly on Saturdays in summer, the market became something like a reliable recreational place where they not only buy healthy food for the week but also spend time to chat with friends and families and have a cup of coffee together with homemade cake or waffles. And all this only 20 to 30 minutes away from Reykjavík.

She is an artist. She lived in France for one and a half years. Now she is a business woman. Popping up at parties and events to whet the appetite of guests with one of the best well known French food: crêpes and galettes. Anna has only started this year with AMO Crêpes. If she sometimes gets tired of preparing crêpes I ask her. “No, definitely not, it is fun.” she says. It probably will not take long that you can try her delicious thin pancakes at different places in town.

Eleven years ago biologist Eyjólfur Friðgeirsson and his wife founded Íslensk Hollusta. It all started with his passion of harvesting nature. And seaweed. He was the first in Iceland who dried seaweed as a snack and ingredient for food preparation. Meanwhile Íslensk Hollusta has a great variety of products on sale. All products are based on the idea of using the Icelandic natural resources as nutriment and reawaking folk knowledge. And still Eyjólfur can be seen around Hafnarfjörður picking the raw material for his products. Whereas at the same time his wife might offer you to taste their range of products at some market around town. 

Roses, vegetables, eggs, fish and much more. There are still not many places in the south of Iceland where you can buy that variety of products available at one place. The farmers themselves sell their products and guarantee for their quality. So any doubts you might have about cultivation or healthy impacts you are more than welcome to ask them everything you ever wanted to know about farming. 

This African lady is ambitious to help people in their home town who can hardly cover their needs in life from what they earn. From her homeland she brings sixty kilogram of best Arabica Coffee to Iceland by plane when she comes back to her new home. Her mission: Selling the coffee in Iceland on markets with the story behind. The story that probably every one of you know from media or reports. The story of people who do hard physical work and do not receive sufficient salary to cover basic expenses like food, water, electricity - not to mention either school attendance and books for kids. So the story is well known but when you listen to her speaking with emotion in her voice you no longer only buy coffee. You then inevitably feel it worth paying 1.000 ISK for a package of beans offered by her.

Fresh fish caught near Reykjavik. The fisherman himself sells his fish on the market. He and his wife are pleased to give you answers on everything that you are interested in related to their products.

The founder of the market and owner of the land welcomes everyone at his place. He lives his life at this particular place. Living, farming, selling - everything goes together. Plus the camp site “Mosskógar” that he is running there as well. Additionally, he opened a greenhouse only this year to give shelter to campers when it is miserable weather outside. His door is open. And he always has time for a chat. No matter if it is about his animals or the Icelandic weather or the question why there is a Chinese flag waving on his land.

Already in winter Vala becomes excited about the market and starts thinking about improvements and what could be done to create a good feeling for guests as well as sellers while the market is going on. She addresses people personally and indulges them with sweet specialities. Every waffle she sells to guests is prepared with love and with the ambition to only use good ingredients while it is also appealing to the eye. Homemade is her passion.

From the perspective of a foreigner this lady earns her income the “typical” Icelandic way. She bakes the traditional Icelandic Sveitabrauð. She knits. She imports mustard from Norway and sells it to Krónan. She does drawings and paintings on greeting cards. So she does a bit of everything and probably even more. And she seems really happy with it.

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Back home it is like a feast. All specialities from the market get their place in the fridge and the cupboard. It is likely that they do not last long just like the fish from Þingvallavatn that has already been brought into the digestive system. Luckily summer is not over yet and there will be another chance to visit the market. Juche!

Recommendation by the author: Season the fish with the sustainable sea salt from the Westfjords (SALTVERK), black pepper and the so called “Laune gut, alles gut” (If your mood is good everything is good.) flower spice (SONNENTOR) and then fry it in a pan with a little bit of oil and butter. It cannot be more pure, healthy and delicious.