
How Icelandic Yogurt Invaded America - ryan_j_naughton
http://priceonomics.com/how-icelandic-yogurt-invaded-america/
======
jnaglick
This article is marketing for a yogurt company disguised as journalistic
content, not an analysis of how new foods are introduced to America.

~~~
IkmoIkmo
Yeah kind of lame. It's an article by CircleUp, which is where this yoghurt
company raised their capital. Founder/funder articles are nice to read if
they're insightful, but this is just marketing fluff. I mean hell it doesn't
just take the story, but even the picture right from the company's marketing
page.

Biggest insights are: Whole Foods essentially committed to a buy-in before
they had the product, they took an Icelandic recipe, used 'mystery machines'
about which they can't say anything because it's IP, and some more stuff on
how Whole Foods is nicer than everyone else, that's as deep as it gets.

If this was Show HN: Contentmarketing done right, I would appreciate it more
:)

------
simonebrunozzi
This is something I wrote about it a while ago:
[https://medium.com/@simon/the-not-so-brave-yogurt-of-
iceland...](https://medium.com/@simon/the-not-so-brave-yogurt-of-iceland-
de2eb0f6aaff)

I still don't like that the first impression a consumer has is that the yogurt
is made with milk from Icelandic cows, while in reality it's American cows.

~~~
justinator
I understand your point of view. This, as you well know, is not a isolated
incident. Let's take say: Italian Bicycles (since you wrote about Italian
Food). Flamboyant owners[0], Italian names[1], and a history of inventive
technologies[2], in a bicycle-crazy country.

These days, they're almost all made in Asia[3]. we'd like to think there's a
small workshop where there cranked out by hand by craftsman, but that's rare
these days - almost mythological [4].

The marketing then yes, is trying to sell you on the dream, or "legacy". But
it's all smoke and mirrors. We're all pretty intelligent to understand this,
but we _want_ to believe, and we allow ourselves that suspension of belief.
That's what the marketing is selling you, and that's what you're buying. You
can't scale up Icelandic yogurt from Iceland, to sell to the masses of a
country that's many times larger.

[0] [http://www.prologuecycling.com/interview-mario-cipollini-
cip...](http://www.prologuecycling.com/interview-mario-cipollini-cipollini-
bikes/)

[1] [http://cinelli.it](http://cinelli.it)

[2]
[http://www.campyonly.com/history.html](http://www.campyonly.com/history.html)

[3] [http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2010/03/making-
of-...](http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2010/03/making-of-carbon-
fiber-frame.html)

[4]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hjCwav452s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hjCwav452s)

~~~
pyvpx
you can still get hand made italian bicycle frames. you just have to know what
you're looking for; it's actually not even that hard [0]

[0] [http://www.pelizzoliworld.com/products/leggenda-
for3/](http://www.pelizzoliworld.com/products/leggenda-for3/)

~~~
justinator
I know you can.

The point is that it's fantasy to think we can ALL reasonably buy an Italian
bicycle, right now, even though demand may be great.

So instead we believe the myth of the Italian Bicycle For All by buying one
with an Italian name, and perhaps with a sticker that says, "Fatto in Italia".
The large Italian bicycle manufacturers may eve want to produce an all-Italian
bike, but they can't - perhaps the technology they need isn't in their
possession, or the techniques needed don't work scale well

It could even be a really good bicycle! But part of what I'm buying into is
the myth that it's a really good, Italian Bicycle. For some reason, this is
important to us humans, and we'll pay a premium even though the bicycle is
made in the same factory, by the same workers as a bicycle that has labels
from a domestic company.

So this, "Icelandic Yogurt" is just more marketable then calling it,
"Icelandic-style Yogurt".

It's not a rare thing. Look in the ice cream isle for "Ice Cream", as well as
"Frozen Dairy Dessert"[0]. Which one sounds better to you?

[0] [http://consumerist.com/2012/09/11/new-breyers-recipes-
when-i...](http://consumerist.com/2012/09/11/new-breyers-recipes-when-ice-
cream-is-frozen-dairy-dessert/)

------
mikkom
AFAIK skyr is no yogurt, it is a quark.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_%28dairy_product%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_%28dairy_product%29)

~~~
ricardobeat
They mention adding bacterial culture - quark cheese involves none of that.
See the link for "yoghurt cheeses" at the end of the article.

~~~
mikkom
What do you mean it doesn't involve adding backterial culture? Quark is made
with it! See for example (first result from google query "making quark")

[http://www.cheesemaking.com/Quark.html](http://www.cheesemaking.com/Quark.html)

I also have no idea why they call it cheese. Quark is very far from cheese
(the quark that is sold here is exactly the same as Skyr)

------
kaybe
I'm still waiting for Skyr in Europe/Germany. While this article calls it
yoghurt, it's.. not. Maybe I should start an import or production business
myself..

On another note, it is really annoying how every country has their own
collection of dairy-based products which one cannot get anywhere else and one
has to adapt recipies all the time. (It's also nice, because diversity, but
still.)

edit: Looks like this year, finally, there will be skyr in Germany. Now to
find a supplier..

~~~
mikkom
Quite interesting that you can't find skyr in germany as one of the first
places that sold Skyr in Finland was Lidl..

------
Panino
Nice story, especially about the company's beginnings.

I encourage people to try their hand at making yogurt. It's a little time
consuming (proper prep, timing, temperature monitoring, cleanup), but
otherwise easy and the result is so satisfying. For me, the cost is about the
same (if using expensive milk at 2x the price of "normal" stuff), but again
it's all about satisfaction.

It's partly about the value of understanding one's food, and partly that with
only a little practice, it's difficult to find better tasting yogurt at the
store.

~~~
jqm
Agreed. Its even better if the homemade yogurt is strained. I got one of these
a few months ago and have been mightily impressed.

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DDXWX0Q](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DDXWX0Q)

I strain the yogurt down much thicker than even Greek yogurt sold in stores.
It's great on a sandwich, as a mayo substitute, dressings etc. I have
experimented with a number of different starters from commercial yogurts and
each has a slightly different flavor. Homemade yogurt really is very good and
worth a try.

------
applecore
_> At the time, most Whole Foods stores already stocked one other skyr yogurt,
Siggi's, which had launched a few years prior to Smári Organics._

Shouldn't this story be about Siggi's, then?

~~~
xeromal
The article mentions that they don't use the equipment actual Icelandic yogurt
needs.

~~~
hugi
You don't need specialized equipment. I used to make skyr at our local dairy
back when I was a kid (in Neskaupstaður, East Iceland), the equipment we used
for our method of production was:

1) A large metal vat for the milk to ferment in.

2) Burlap bags that the fermented milk was drained into.

3) A large open top metal tub with wire racks on top, stored in a cooler.

The burlap bags were placed on the wire rack and the whey (mysa) allowed to
drain from the bags for a couple of days. When the curds were almost free of
whey, the Skyr was scooped from the bags and sold. Not exactly a high tech
process.

------
Xophmeister
I noticed they recently started selling skyr in my local supermarket, in the
UK. I was so excited! I had it on a trip to Iceland several years ago and have
been trying to find it ever since... It was a bit disappointing; not how I
remember it, even against the Icelandic consumer stuff (rather than the fancy
restaurant versions). Oh well :P It's not bad and it's pretty good in a
nutritional sense.

------
jmr0
Very happy to hear this. Having visited Iceland last week, I was very
impressed with their dairy products in general. Coming from the US, the first
morning I opened a small container of Smjör butter I was convinced they had
added Yellow 5 to it, but it just seems to be the product of healthy grass-fed
cows.

------
Pephers
Skyr is everywhere in Denmark now. Every supermarket is selling skyr, and you
can even buy it in 7 Eleven. It's quite remarkable how fast this product has
established itself.

------
leoc
Apparently Iceland has _n_ variations of yogurt-like products but you can't
buy condensed milk anywhere.

~~~
emj
Just boil milk a couple of hours and you have condensed milk, very easy at low
temps, faster with a hot stir plate.

