We're Seriously Questioning Iceland's Pizza Topping Choices

Pizza has been a part of American life since the late 1800s; but, in Iceland, it dates back only to the 1970s. Is that, then, why they still don't seem to have quite gotten the hang of the topping thing? Pizza toppings are supposed to taste good! Among our staff favorites are such perfect pizza partners as prosciutto, peppers, and, uh ... french fries and eggplant. Well, okay, so we've all got our personal preferences; but, in Iceland, it seems like the whole country just doesn't quite get pizza, or else seems to think of it as some kind of TikTok challenge. How else to explain some of the questionable toppings they've come up with?

Among the more unusual pizzas spotted in the land of ice and fire are apples, hazelnuts, boiled potatoes, salted cod, hot dogs, and bananas (often eaten with blue cheese). Oddly enough, with all these, um, interesting options on the menu, it seems as if pineapple may be just as controversial there as it is in the U.S. While some Icelanders enjoy the stuff (which they don't even need to import, as the fruits are grown in greenhouses powered by geothermal energy), President Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson once spoke about wishing he could ban its use on pizza.

Iceland doesn't have a monopoly on polarizing pizza toppings, as Denmark has kiwi pizza while Sweden, too, is big on bananas — although they like theirs with chicken, bacon, and peanuts instead of blue cheese. Sweden also gave us a Christmas dinner pizza that includes anchovies and cabbage (we know where we're not spending the holidays next year). In Norway, reindeer/pomegranate pizza is a thing. Hmm, so maybe oddball pizzas are a Scandinavian tradition? Still, Iceland takes top honors, now and forever, on account of a dish dreamed up by a pizzeria in the bustling metropolis of Hveragerdi.

Hveragerdi, a town previously known for its earthquakes and hot springs, is now on the map for producing what may be the world's most terrifying pizza — it's topped with an entire sheep's head. Think that's bad? The pizza sauce contains, wait for it, sheep dung. Apparently, this pizza was created for an Icelandic holiday called Thorrablot. While some have called it that country's answer to Valentine's Day, it seems the tradition there is to torture men, not by guilting them into buying expensive gifts, but rather by forcing them to eat ram's testicles, fermented shark, whale blubber, and other items that would even give Andrew Zimmern pause. Olverk Pizza owner Laufey Sif Larusdottir says of her poopy pizza (via CBC), "It's a visceral experience. A smell, a taste ... it stirs a lot of feelings." Bet, but we're still going to pass.