Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.09.2011, Blaðsíða 4

Licensing and
registration of travel-
related services
The Icelandic Tourist Board issues licences to tour operators and travel agents,
as well as issuing registration to booking services and information centres.
Tour operators and travel agents are required to use a special logo approved
by the Icelandic Tourist Board on all their advertisements and on their Internet
website.
Booking services and information centres are entitled to use a Tourist
Board logo on all their material. The logos below are recognised by the
Icelandic Tourist Board.
List of licenced Tour
Operators and Travel
Agencies on:
visiticeland.com
WELCOME CARD
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when visiting Reykjavík.
Free admissions and discounts
off tours, shopping and services
for 24, 48 or 72 hours.
Great value for money.
The Welcome Card can
be purchased at:
The Centre, major hotels, museums,
tourist information centres and
Hlemmur and BSÍ bus stations.
WELCOME CARD2009 - 2010
48
INCLUDING CITY BUS TRANSPORT, FREE ADMISSIONS, DISCOUNTS OFF TOURS,
SHOPPING, AND SERVICES
AVAILABLE FOR 24, 48 AND 72 HOURS.
WELC
OME C
ARD
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www.visitreykjavik.is
Aðalstræti 2 • 101 Reykjavík • Tel +354 590 1550 • info@visitreykjavik.is
Say your piece, voice your
opinion, send your letters to:
letters@grapevine.is
Sour
grapes
& stuff
MOST AWESOME LETTER:
Dear Grapevine,
a word from the precarious position of an
gourmet immigrant. Coming to Iceland
I was prepared for trying some, lets say,
unusual food, such as sheep face or cured
shark, what I was not expecting is food to
become one of my biggest challenges of
living in this otherwise unique and truly
admirable country. Circumstances led me
into eating most of my meals in a cafeteria
of a large nursing home. The menu is com-
posed so it would serve practicality and the
taste of some very old people, people who
grew up chewing on dry fish for breakfast
every day. In these 10 months that I have
been living in Iceland I have shovelled down
unseasoned boiled fish, mashed fish rem-
nants, industrial gravy and endless amounts
of boiled potatoes. Occasionally there is the
"special" food on the menu, such as shark,
skate, pickled testicles, whale fat and all the
other delicacies. I respect the hard work that
is required to feed up to 300 people every
day, and the food is not bad, but my taste
buds come from the background of Mediter-
ranean cuisine, so every day as I descend to
the cafeteria for my daily fuel, my taste buds
shrivel and hide. On the other hand, outside
the cafeteria the food does not seem so hos-
tile. Delicious roasted lamb, caramelized
potatoes, great dairy product and of course
the lobster. Now my frustration is next, due
to the fact that I'm a beginner at Icelandic
language, I have accepted my position as a
proverbial "bottom feeder", immigrant on
minimum vague, and I'm overcoming my
challenge with traditional everyday Icelan-
dic food. On the other hand, opportunity to
enjoy some other, more satisfying traditions
comes rarely, and lobster is as much an Ice-
landic tradition as is boiled Ysa. Would like
to help me integrate that bit better and throw
a party for my taste buds?
Regards
Lara
Dear Lara,
thank you for your letter and your kind
words. Now. You’re killing us here! As much
as we would love to make a world’s-tiniest-
violin joke or a snarky first-world-problems
remark, we just can’t! Your accurately de-
pressing description of the local daily diet
commonly found in group home cafeterias
had us groaning and gagging so hard. We ap-
preciate how pragmatic and resigned to your
gastronomic fate you are (for the most part!)
but yeah. We’re totally gonna throw you an
awesome free meal here! You have effectively
tugged our gastric heartstrings and we kind
of feel like suckers, but whatever. It’s safe to
say YOU’VE EARNED IT.
Enjoy your meal and keep on rocking in the
free world!
Dear Grapevine staff.

I read your insightful article on whaling in
Iceland. Congrats for that one. Well done!
Something wasn't quite right though. As
I skimmed on I couldn't prevail an image
haunting my mind. No, not the pic of the
slaughtered whale you printed with the ar-
ticle. It was the naughty smile of the little old
fellow in an ad holding up a whale stick on
page 27 of the same Grapevine that featured
the article (whaling was uncool etc.). Hence,
it is not so much the article as its appearance
in your paper which inspired me to get in
touch. In fact I found a good few advertise-
ments in your paper trying to lure tourists
into having a grand time enjoying a fine
whale steak. Oh yes, the prize for the Most
Awesome Letter this very issue is a meal for
two, a feast as you generously put it, at Tapas
Barinn. Now the very same, very noble place
I find on page 37 offering Minke Whale with
cranberry-souce. Now that I call style! I hope
I'll win this one. I mean the little old men I
mentioned featuring in the Moby Dick On
A Stick ad is probably harmless, just as his
phony smile is harmless. Just as harmless as
all the pretentious activists and article scrib-
blers (except me of course) who frequent his
little pathetic fish bar down there by the old
harbour. I wonder if the brave women and
men who according to your article sunk two
whaling boats next door afterwards called
in and had an overprized Lobster Soup.
But as you mentioned, that was in '86, back
then when Lada Niva was still big in Iceland
whereas now it seems mandatory here to
own a Range Rover. I hope grandpa from
the Moby's Dick place got one as well. Any-
way, well done not to place advertisement for
whale meat on the same page with the article
which avidly concludes that: 'whaling seem-
ingly continues in opposition to the interests
of Iceland'. Btw, 'seemingly' (???). Nice one!

With Best Regards
Don 3
Dear ‘Don 3’ (if that IS your real name),
thank you for your letter. Now, what can we
say… you caught us!
The truth is, whaling and the consumption
of whale meat in Iceland is a really divisive
topic around here, amongst natives, immi-
grants and foreigners alike. We just can’t all
agree on it! And while we did run an article
on whaling from a writer who is really not
into the practice, with some really gory and
graphic images, the opinions of our writers
do not always fall into ideological line with
our advertisements. Or even our editorial
staff! You might have noticed a lot of ads for
bars too? Well, we have contributors that are
straight-edge teetotallers. Ads for clothing
stores? There are fervent nudists among us.
We try to present content that reflect a variety
of uncensored opinions, likewise providing
the options for people to try out everything
this country has to offer and you know, like,
make up their own minds, or something.
Take it easy, yo!
Hello-
I've been reading the articles in the Grape-
vine with much interest and am amazed
at how much talk there is about sexual as-
sault and rape. I'm an American who is liv-
ing here over the summer, and I really wish
there were more articles like this one back
home- rock on! My only concern is that the
language in the articles has been primarily
man-on-woman. Rape happens person-on-
person (in the sense that men rape men,
women rape women, women rape men...),
and I think your points could be furthered
by using language that reflects that. Just a
thought.
Cheers,
Jess
Dear Jess,
thank you for your letter, and your kind
words. We’re glad you’ve been digging it! We
have a small country and community, but
that’s all the more reason for us to engage in
discourse about it and try to create a new con-
sciousness to go beyond these borders. We
wish it were being spoken about more else-
where too. You are totally right about the use
of gendered language in some (but not all!)
of the articles—we don’t buy into gender bi-
nary nonsense. We don’t censor our writers’
words but we will totally let them know you
brought this up and do our best in the future.
Thanks for calling us out on our bullshit!
Love!

MOST AWESOME LETTER
FREE ICELANDIC GOURMET FEAST
There's prize for all your MOST AWESOME LETTERS.
And it’s a scorcher! No, really! It's a goddamn scorcher
is what it is! Whoever sends us THE MOST AWESOME
LETTER this issue will receive A FRIGGIN GOURMET
FEAST FOR TWO at TAPAS BARINN.
Did you hear that? Write in and complain about
something (in an admirable way), win a gourmet feast at one of Reykjavík's finest? THIS IS
THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY IS WHAT IT IS!
What's in a 'lobster feast'? Well, one has to assume that it has lobster-a-plenty. Is there
more? Probably, but still... Gourmet feast? Wow! DON’T PANIC if your letter wasn’t picked
AWESOME LETTER. There's always next month!
Now, if you're in the market for free goodies next month, write us some sort of letter.
Give us your worst: letters@grapevine.is