Capital Region, Iceland

Iceland

Höfuðborgarsvæðið — the capital region around Reykjavík — is where two out of three Icelanders live, and where the country's most iconic street food, the pylsa, gets eaten by the millions every year. Iceland never built much of a charcuterie tradition the way mainland Europe did; the climate ruled out air-curing, the diet leaned on lamb and fish, and the sausages that exist are mostly fresh boiled and grilled ones. The pylsa is what most visitors meet first: a slim lamb-pork-beef link, simmered in beer-spiked water, served on a soft warm bun with two kinds of onion, two kinds of sauce, and a brown sweet mustard called pylsusinnep. The original pylsa stand has stood at Tryggvagata 1, ten steps from the old harbour, since 1937.