MANAGEABLE CHUNKS

In Europe we are under a cloud, it is a volcanic ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. That is mainly annoying to anyone wanting to travel by air, leading to trips being cancelled and David Lebovitz unpacking unworn swimmies.
Fortunately I have not been affected by this except the odd fruit or veg items that have not been delivered to supermarkets from other continents.
All this news about volcanoes, Iceland and ash got me to thinking of the connections to food or beer.
The first thing that I thought of was the cheese, thinking of cheese is almost a default position for me. The cheese that I was thinking of is the French Morbier cheese, cows cheese with a line of edible ash in the middle. Also some goats cheeses are rolled in ash to reduce the acidity of the cheese. The Morbier is an especially delicious cheese and is for me the acceptable face of ash , as it is much more less coarse than volcano ash.
Then I thought what is the food and drink of Iceland? So I googled Iceland Food and then Iceland Beer. Google offers up a suggestion of Iceland Beer Day. What a brilliant idea a day dedicated to having a cheeky pint.
However it turns out that the beer day does not come from an entirely happy place, for more than 70 years there was a prohibition the severity of which was reduced over time. It was ended on the 1st March 1989, a day when all of Iceland went to the pub and was able to enjoy a beer stronger than 2.25%. Following the joy of the first day that beer could be drunk, the annual beer day began. Icelandic beer is of the Continental European lager style.

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