Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.09.2016, Page 18

Starts with a shot of the Icelandic
national spirit “Brennivín“
Puffin
Smoked puffin with blueberries,
croutons, goats cheese, beetroot
Minke whale
Date purée, wakame, teriaky
“Torched“ Arctic charr
Cucumber, truffle ponzu vinaigrette
and yuzu mayo
Icelandic roll – 4 pcs
Gravlax roll with Brennivín (Icelandic
traditional Snaps) and dill. Avokado, mango,
cucumber, dill mayo, rye bread crumble
Market fresh Ling
Miso and yuzu marinated spotted ling
with zucchini, chorizo, apples
and Beurre Monté sauce
Rack of icelandic lamb
Onion purée, slow cooked leeks,
chimichurri, baked carrot
And to end on a high note ...
Icelandic Skyr
Skyr infused with birch,
berries, white chocolate
crumble, and sorrel granite
7.990 kr.

Sushi Samba
Þingholtsstræti 5 • 101 Reykjavík
Tel 568 6600 • sushisamba.is
Laugavegur
HverfisgataL
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lavö
rð
ust.
Amtmannsstígur
In
g
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lf
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tr
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ti
Lækjar-
torg
Our kitchen is open
17.00–23.00 sun.–thu.
17.00–24.00 fri.–sat.
Amazing
7 course menu
A unique
Icelandic
Feast
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2016
18
“We’re not grass doctors, but we like to read what
herbs have been used for hundreds of years—what
the folk medicine says.”
Everything Is Nice
That Is Green
The Urta Islandica herb company turns
common plants into a thriving business
Words JOHN ROGERS Photos ART BICNICK
On the corner of a residential
street in Hafnarfjörður sits a little
shop called Urta Islandica. Inside
the clean, white-tiled space stand
shelves upon shelves of colourful
oils, pungent teas in brown paper
packs, and flavoured salts. All of
them are made with ingredients
drawn from Icelandic nature.
It turns out that Urta Islandica
is a family business, based in the
ground floor of the family home.
“We started six years ago,” says
Guðbjörg Lára Sigurðardóttir,
who works in the office. “My mom
started studying herbs in 2008,
then in 2010 she started the store.
There were two unpaid employ-
ees to begin with. Now we have
sixteen employees, not including
our pickers. They’re all around the
country, picking blueberries, arc-
tic thyme, angelica, mushrooms,
and all the other things we use.”
Creative labour
Guðbjörg’s mother is Þóra Þóris-
dóttir, formerly a visual artist
and art historian. After the crash
of 2008 she found herself with
less work, and decided to get cre-
ative. “It was a question of creat-
ing value from unused materials,”
says Þóra. “I was using the same
thinking as in visual arts: that
everything is possible, that trying
new combinations is good, and to
think about colour, appearance,
and history.”
Some of Urta Islandica’s prod-
ucts are based on traditional
knowledge of the health benefits
of Icelandic plants. But part of the
appeal is also in the unusual fla-
vour combinations. “It’s tradition-
al to drink herbal tea,” says Þóra,
“but we tried a lot of new things.
We read a lot about the herbs—to
see if they do something good for
you, and aren’t harmful in any
way. Because herbs can be harm-
ful, like medicine.”
While Þóra doesn’t claim to
have medical expertise, she does
have a strong interest in how wild
plants can be used for health. “We
know a lot of things, and that’s a
part of it, but we’re not grass doc-
tors,” she explains. “Lots of plants
are well known in herbal medi-
cine as anti-inflammatories and
so on. But northern herbs are less
known. Icelandic herbs have simi-
lar properties, but they aren’t in
the books. So we like to read what
herbs have been used for hundreds
of years, and find out what the folk
medicine says.”
Expanding, preserving
The business continues to grow,
currently employing 40 pickers
to collect ingredients for over 200
products, with a new production
facility under construction in Ke-
flavík. And as it expands, it takes
on new aspects, such as the col-
lection and preservation of tradi-
tional knowledge.
“I’ve put together a book of
knowledge on what herb combi-
nations people find to work,” says
Guðbjörg. “We noticed that most
of our pickers were born between
1930-40. They were all old people!
So I thought, ‘Where will all that
knowledge go, when they are
gone?’ So, we’ve been putting it all
down, to teach the next generation
about the plants, and preserve
that knowledge for the future.”
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