ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the shift from a traditional to a modern food culture and how the two world wars contributed to this process. The Icelandic diet seems to have changed more in terms of quantity than quality during the war. The most important national figures are the previously mentioned food supply estimates, which suggest a fall in total energy value in the diet of 17 per cent between 1915 and 1919. The protective tariffs set up to shelter domestic production severely restricted imports of various types of foods that Icelanders were accustomed to, setting a lasting mark on food culture. The carbohydrate revolution was underway in Iceland. It accelerated towards the end of the century with a rapid increase in sugar imports and the belated popularity of the potato. In the First World War Iceland experienced a serious and prolonged economic crisis, trade disruptions and food shortages, which created a critical situation among the urban poor.
