Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.04.2018, Page 6

Iceland’s food
culture has been
blossoming over
the past few years.
Fine restaurants
have moved be-
yond churning out
the same “Nordic
fusion” plates, and
the varieties of
street food have
also expanded. Un-
fortunately, there
is still one glaring
omission: corned
beef.
For the unfamil-
iar, there is no corn
in corned beef.
It’s a salt-cured
beef brisket, so
named because it
is packed inside
large-grain “corns”
of salt, which
tends to turn
the meat pink.
It became wildly
popular in Europe
after the Indus-
trial Revolution
because of its
tendency to stay
unspoiled for a
very long time.
Since those
olden days, it has
become a staple
of delicatessens
across North Amer-
ica and Europe;
so much so, that
certain sand-
wiches cannot be
made without it.
The Reuben, for
example, is com-
prised of corned
beef, sauerkraut,
Swiss cheese and
Thousand Island
dressing on rye.
Any other kind of
meat and it’s not a
Reuben, it’s some
lesser, inferior
sandwich.
The absence of
corned beef is es-
pecially perplexing
when one consid-
ers traditional
Icelandic cuisine.
Like corned beef,
foods such as
saltfish, or any part
of the lamb, cow or
pig soaked in whey
(súrmatur) were
also created so as
to last a long time
without spoiling.
Unlike súrmatur,
corned beef actu-
ally tastes good.
Comedian and
former Reykjavík
Mayor Jón Gnarr
once speculated
that the reason
why Icelanders
love junk food is
that colonial times
culturally condi-
tioned us to enjoy
eating garbage.
The culture has
been shifting for a
long time now, but
corned beef still
remains some-
thing else missing
in Iceland. PF
Corned
Beef
After a two-year break, whale hunting
conducted by Hvalur hf. will resume
again this summer.
MBL reports that the company has
been granted a quota of 161 fin whales to
hunt this summer, up from the 155 fin
whales they were allowed to hunt the
last time they went whaling, in 2015.
“Medical purposes”
The aim of the hunt is to develop nutri-
tional supplements for the anaemic
from the meat, to make gelatin from
the bones, and to use the whale blubber
for unspecified medical purposes.
As reported, Hvalur hf. had taken a
break from whale hunting both last year
and the year before. Kristján Loftsson,
the head of the company, told reporters
that this pause
w a s d u e t o
largely bureau-
cratic reasons,
but that has
not been the
only obstacle
he has faced.
The hacktiv-
ist movement
A n o n y m o u s
has also gotten
involved, with
a persistent
c a m p a i g n
a g a i n s t t h e
hunting of fin whales which has shut
down government websites for hours
at a time. Anonymous has pledged that
the cyber attacks will continue until
whaling ends.
Whales are getting smarter
The domestic market for whale meat is
so minuscule as to be non-existent, and
public opinion has been increasingly
against whaling as well. Today, most
Icelanders are
against the hunt-
ing of endan-
gered fin whales,
and only about
50% support the
hunting of the
more abundant
minke whales.
Furthermore,
w h i l e w h a l e
h u n t e r s h a v e
been having a
hard time find-
ing whales in
F a x a f l ó i B a y,
whale watching groups have been find-
ing a plethora of whales, leading one to
wonder if the whales are savvy enough
to avoid hunting ships, and to instead
swim near whale watching boats.
Whale Hunting
To Begin Again In
Iceland
Just when you thought this
story was over.
Words:
Paul Fontaine
Photo:
Skari
First
T EMPL A R A SUND 3 , 101 RE Y K JAV ÍK , T EL : 5711822, W W W.BERGSSON. IS
BREAKFAST FROM 7
LUNCH FROM 12
The seas aren't safe for whales around Iceland
“The aim of the hunt
is to develop nutri-
tional supplements for
the anaemic from the
meat, to make gelatin
from the bones, and to
use whale blubber for
unspecified medical
purposes. ”
Words: Phil Uwe
Widiger
A : Did you ever
wonder why, after
hiking in Iceland,
you wake up the
next day with a red nose, shoulder or
other body parts? Somehow, these
nasty sunburns seem to occur faster
than in other European countries and
often carry an unpleasant itch with
them. We asked Helgi Rafn Hróðmars-
son, aka The Cosmic Chemist, why the
sun in Iceland seems to be so fatal.
Briefly, this can vary greatly
from person to person because
your skin type plays a major role.
Whether the skin is oily, dry, fine,
or if you're touched by fire, your
proneness to sunburns varies .
The second point you need to con-
sider is the climate. In colder cli-
mates where the air is drier, the
skin is more easily dehumidified
which in case of sunburn could
lead to more itchy burn effects.
But is the impact of the sun stronger
in Iceland than in mainland Europe?
In humid climates, you feel hotter
because water is a very effective
vessel for transporting heat be-
cause of its high heat capacity. So,
for an island surrounded by water
often ensconced in winds, feel-
ing hotter in comparison with the
mainland of Europe can make sense.
I would be careful about direct com-
parisons with individual countries
though. The ozone layer evolves
over each hemisphere in different
ways so on particular days, it can
be slightly thinner or thicker. But
generally, it won't kill you to cough
up the extra bucks and additional 5
minutes and apply the sunscreen.
ASK AN
Astrochemist
Q: What is it with
all the sunburns in
Iceland?
6 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 06 — 2018
MISSING IN ICELAND