Gas Station Gourmet

In New Jersey partaking of any readily available hot food at a gas station seems like an easy way to contract a foodbourne illness. But in Iceland, gas stations offer everything from hamburgers and hot sandwiches (hot dogs included of course) to video rentals and yummy soft-serve ice cream. In some of our travels, gas stations have been the only place for miles to make a pit stop, and I have been very pleasantly surprised at not only the extreme cleanliness but the level of quality food choices.
So far, our agreed upon favorite gas station item is the hot ham and cheese sandwich. This seemingly normal sandwich comes on toasted white bread with a thin slice of ham, a thin slice of cheese (presumed to be of the Swiss variety) and is stuffed generously with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and a close cousin of thousand island dressing. This orangey, creamy sauce reminds us of the homemade thousand island dressing you could make as a kid with ketchup, mayonnaise and relish but missing some sort of zing. When we ordered this sandwich at an a la carte restaurant of sorts in the small coastal town of Vik, not only did the sandwich come complete with sauce, but we were given some on the side assuming itself to be used for dipping our paprika sprinkled french fries in. The hot, oozy cheese and grilled ham help to make this sandwich exactly what you need after a long travel and plenty of windy walks. Thanks to N1 and Olis pit stops for helping to make our stay more affordable and gas station gourmet.
-ROSE