Allergies and Intolerances
When discussing dietary restrictions, you will often use the words ofnæmi (allergy) and óþol (intolerance). To say you are allergic or intolerant to something, use the phrase að vera með ofnæmi/óþol fyrir, followed by the food item in the dative case.
| She has an allergy to nuts. | Hún er með ofnæmi fyrir hnetum. |
| Do they have an intolerance to milk? | Eru þeir með óþol fyrir mjólk? |
Genitive Prepositions: Án and Vegna
While most prepositions in Icelandic govern the accusative or dative cases, a select few require the following noun to be in the genitive case. Two common ones you will use when discussing diets are án (without) and vegna (because of).
Notice how they trigger the genitive endings for neuter nouns like hveiti (wheat) and ofnæmi (allergy), adding an -s to the end.
| This recipe is without wheat. | Þessi uppskrift er án hveitis. |
| The girl drinks oat milk because of an allergy. | Stelpan drekkur haframjólk vegna ofnæmis. |
Complex Genitive Prepositions: Í stað
Sometimes, a multi-word phrase functions together as a single preposition. This is called a complex preposition. A vital one for cooking and recipe substitutions is í stað (instead of). Just like án and vegna, í stað always governs the genitive case.
When swapping ingredients, the item being replaced will take its genitive form. For example, sykur (sugar) becomes sykurs, smjör (butter) becomes smjörs, and mjólk (milk) becomes mjólkur.
| Why do you use honey instead of sugar? | Af hverju notar þú hunang í stað sykurs? |
| I want to use margarine instead of butter. | Mig langar að nota smjörlíki í stað smjörs. |
| We drink oat milk instead of milk. | Við drekkum haframjólk í stað mjólkur. |
| We use nuts instead of meat. | Við notum hnetur í stað kjöts. |