Organic products have never been as popular as right now. With the increasing awareness of health and diet, people are growing tired of artificial pesticides, synthetic chemicals and other unwanted ingredients and would like to know what’s really in their food.
Yggdrasill (named after the giant World Tree in Norse mythology) at Skólavörðustígur 16, you’ll find what you need to make a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner, as the store offers the biggest variety of organic products in Iceland. The shelves are stocked with fruits and vegetables, pasta, rice, sauces, eggs, jam, tea, spelt bread, muesli, yoghurt, herbs, oats and chocolates and even frozen pizzas and ice cream. All these products have been produced and grown without any GMOs, poisonous insecticides or artificial ingredients. The product range isn’t limited to the edible but also includes organic cosmetics, moisturisers, deodorants, body oils and hair products and the Hollywood food guru Dr. Gillian McKeith – probably best known for her TV show, You Are What You Eat, where she teaches Britons how to change their bad eating habits – has her face stamped on vitamins and energy powders behind the counter.
Yggdrasill started as a small basement store in 1986 when Rúnar Sigurkarlsson and Hildur Guðmundsdóttir along with some farmers dedicated to organic farming decided to establish a company selling primarily organic products. In recent years Yggdrasill has enjoyed a big boost and today runs its business in the city centre with an increasing variety of organically produced groceries. They now sell almost everything you need for the household – even cleansers, soaps and washing powder.
In the days of fast food chains and big supermarkets many of us forget about these kinds of stores and instead settle for a quick hamburger meal, high in calories, low in nutrition, while excusing our eating habits with healthy cooking being “so damn complicated.” Going to Yggdrasill may change your way of thinking a bit, as happened to me as my companion and I spent a great deal of the afternoon scouting the various selection of muesli, pasta sauces and energy bars and came out with both hands full.
Even though most of us know very little about all these healthy products and don’t have a clue what to do with pumpkin seeds for example, it doesn’t mean we have to skip it altogether. The staff is more than willing to help you stuff your basket with organic goodies and explain how to use them and why they are so good for our bodies. If you ask nicely, you might even get some recipes, with nothing left but to start your new healthy lifestyle.
Yggdrasill
Skólavörðustígur 16
101 Reykjavík
Tel.: 562-4082
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
