Caloric Delights Of Iceland: Bragðarefur

Remember that time when you were pregnant and craving gummy bears, coconut, and ice cream? Remember frantically stuffing your mouth with all three at once and lamenting the fact that you couldn’t get it in fast enough?

Never fear, gluttons

Long ago, the genius foodies of Iceland found a solution to this quandary with their beloved creation bragðarefur. Directly translated as “Tricky Fox,” the treat is a blended mix of crushed up candy and soft serve vanilla ice cream. For foreigners, you could compare it to a McFlurry, except with more than one candy, better ice cream, and three times the serving size. Seriously, this thing makes American portions look like an appetiser. Order a small.

The choices for treats inside your bragðarefur are endless. Daim, liquorice, fruit, anything your heart desires. The process is simple: You order one, point to your fillings of choice, and the trusty ice cream shop employee puts it all in a blender and whips it up. The best part of this, though, is that often there is a long line at the ice cream shop and bragðarefur are somewhat time consuming to make, so then everyone hates you for making them wait longer for their post-breakup binge. But such is life for us gluttons, right?

Tricky Fox

While the traditional bragðarefur is made with vanilla ice cream, in the years since its inception, stores have begun offering chocolate- and strawberry-based concoctions as well. The Grapevine strongly condemns these flavour deviations and recommends that you stick with the old faithful, vanilla. See, vanilla allows you to not only taste the sugary goodness of ice cream, but also appreciate the delightful goodies you have chosen to mix in. Go forth, ye hungry folks, and definitely don’t count calories.