Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.11.2016, Page 54

Prikið, Reykjavík. Sunday morn-
ing. My favourite hangover food
spot in the city. I am sitting at a
table with two Icelanders. Those
damn delicious sweet potato fries
have just arrived.
However, something is miss-
ing. The salt. The special salt.
I grimace as my tablemate be-
gins to unscrew the top of the up-
ended shaker over his fries. The
salt floods out until the fries are
completely drowned in a salty
malaise. The crimson salt flakes
gleam in the mid-morning light.
My lips wrinkle as he swallows
his fry whole.
The shaker clatters to the table
like the spent sword of Damocles,
the silence punctuated only by
salty chewing sounds before an-
other round of this flavour rou-
lette: who will be next to shake the
special salt?
The bringer
of heartache
Salt. It tastes good. Too sweet?
Add salt. Too sour? Add salt. Too
salty? Well, game over. Nobody
has ever fixed a problem like that.
Salt might send people to heav-
en—human people, on a flavour
holiday—but 100% of Icelanders
polled said they “liked” or “loved”
salt. Conclusive evidence? Who
knows?
If anyone apart from me does,
it’s probably the World Health Or-
ganisation. A 2013 report on nu-
trition in Iceland found that, from
2010-2011, the salt intake for the
average Icelander was 9.5 grams
per day for men and 6.5 grams per
day for women.
This places daily salt consump-
tion for Icelandic men at 4.5g
above the WHO’s recommended
5g per day, and women 1.5g above
the recommended level—which
would place Iceland at #26 in the
list of countries surveyed. On the
surface, then, it looks like Iceland-
ers don’t really like salt that much,
consuming less per day than Nor-
wegians, Danes, or Swedes, if still
in unhealthy amounts.
However, W HO’s research
looked mainly at salt content in
supermarket food and the health
initiatives taken to reduce salt
content. Rather than telling us
clearly that Icelanders don’t actu-
ally eat that much salt, all this re-
ally tells us is that the salt content
of most of our groceries is lower
than that of other countries'.
While there might be less salt
added to store-bought goods,
WHO clearly ignored the major
culprit of salt consumption in Ice-
land: the shaker.
So who’s behind it all?
The salt people move in mysteri-
ous ways. I had a hard tracking
down anyone from the salt indus-
try—until I finally managed to get
in touch with Søren Rosenkilde,
co-founder of gourmet Icelandic
sea salt start-up Norður & Co.
Norður produce flaky, fancy sea
salt using what they call a “tradi-
tional Icelandic / Danish method
dating back to 1753.” Their gour-
met product is something your
mum might buy, and is far re-
moved from the red-speckled
world of special salt.
“I think [salt’s popularity] has
a lot to do with Iceland’s history
and food culture,” Søren argues.
“Salted meat and fish have been
a big part of the Icelandic cuisine.
Our traditional smoked lamb has
a very salty taste. With rough con-
ditions and few possibilities of
growing fruit and vegetables, if we
hadn’t been able to salt our food,
we would have just had to eat a lot
more porridge than we already
did. Icelanders have got used to a
salty taste and that still impacts
what we think tastes good today.”
“You need salt to survive!”
Søren claims. “If you do not get
salt, you die. That’s a fact.” How-
ever, he’s no salt apologist: “Many
people eat more than twice as
much salt as they are supposed
to from so many sources they are
not aware of. Rather than think-
ing about how much salt you add
to your dinner, you should rather
consider the things you do not
cook yourself.”
Even if it does somewhat skirt
the large volumes of scientific re-
search which suggest that salt is
as chemically addictive as nico-
tine or alcohol, Søren’s historical
thesis clearly links salt to food
culture here. Is everyone in Ice-
land addicted to salt, or do they
just choose to like it because it’s
kickass and delicious? You decide.
Me? I’m left with more questions
than ever before—but I was always
more of a pepper guy anyway.
New Taste
54The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 17 — 2016
Salt Of The Earth
An investigative look into the world
of Icelandic salt-love
Words CIARÁN DALY
Awards For Best Thai Food Every Years
w w w . b a n t h a i . i s
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BanThai
N E W A W A R D
B E S T T H A I F O O D 2 0 1 6
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ATTENTION :
Th
e
fo
od
an
d
se
rv
ice
w
ill
b
e
slo
w
er
w
he
n
th
er
e‘s
a
fu
ll h
ou
se

O
ur
fo
od
is
m
ad
e
fre
sh
fr
om
sc
ra
tc
h,
it
‘s
no
t p
re
-m
ad
e
All food is gently cooked from fresh ingredients
and that keeps its nutritional value and original avors well.
it takes time to cook all the food, nothing is ready
Please prepare your time before you come to enjoy your meal
R E S T A U R A N T
Ban Thai is not a “fast food” restaurant
every meal take some time to cook, we cook after receiving the order
Food
PAN–FRIED FISH
FISH STEW
Onion, garlic, potatoes, celery, lime,
white wine, cream and butter
1.850 isk
PLAICE
Tomatoes, capers, parsley,
lemon and butter
2.100 isk
ARCTIC CHAR
Honey, almonds, cherry tomatoes,
lemon and butter
2.100 isk
salmon (lactose–free)
Parsley root, broccoli, cashew nuts,
coconut oil, chili and lemon
2.100 isk
Our pan–fried fish is always
served with butter–fried
Icelandic potatoes & fresh salad
desserts
DATE CAKE
Walnuts, coconut,
cream cheese coffee cream,
blueberries and whipped cream
1.400 isk
any
pans
for
lunch?
lækjargata 6b, 101 rvk · 546 0095 · messinn@messinn.com