Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2018, Síða 6

One of Icelanders’
most beloved dish-
es is ‘plokkfiskur’—
a traditional
fish stew, which
roughly translates
as ‘plucked fish.’
It’s a go-to comfort
food you want to
dig in after a crazy
night out in 101.
Consisting of po-
tatoes, leek, milk,
flour, cheese and,
of course, fish, the
stew is traditionally
served with a slice
of rugbrauð on the
side, a typically
sweet Icelandic rye
bread. Yum!
While plokkfiskur is
popular through-
out Iceland,
and is served in
many cafés and
restaurants, there
are disagree-
ments over the
ideal ingredients.
Traditionalists
insist that the
fish used in the
fish stew should
be leftovers that
have been kept in
the fridge at least
overnight, if not
longer; whereas
the fish you will get
in most restaurant
versions is as fresh
as fish can be.
Others disagree on
the type of fish, as
some prefer had-
dock, while others
opt for cod or
even fancy-pants
salmon.
Plokkfiskur is not
only a favourite
dish of the hoi pol-
loi, even the presi-
dent himself, Guðni
Th. Jóhannesson,
calls plokkfiskur
his favourite dish.
Guðni’s mother,
Margrét Thorlacius,
told Fréttablaðið
that he always likes
to visit her to enjoy
a hearty helping
of her homemade
stew. If you want
to try plokkfiskur
à la Prez, you’re
in luck—Guðni’s
wife, Eliza Reid,
took a video of
her mother-in-law
demonstrating
how exactly to pre-
pare the best fish
stew in the world...
at least according
to the president.
NE
German non-profit Hard to Port and
Sea Shepherd UK reported that Icelan-
dic whaling company Hvalur hf. killed
a pregnant endangered fin whale on
Monday, 20th August. The photos
shared by the organisations show
employees removing the fetus from its
mother’s body.
According to Gísli Víkingsson, an
expert at the Icelandic Marine Research
Institute, it is not uncommon for preg-
nant whales with several months of
gestation ahead of them to be shot.
Only the killing of a nursing whale or
calves is banned by law, Vísir reports.
Unjustifiable
The animal welfare association fights
against the practise, as they say it’s
irresponsible. Chairman Hallgerður
Hauksdóttir told Vísir that, “these
animals have shown intelligence and
reason like other mammals. It’s not
possible to justify this hunt.” She added
that shooting pregnant reindeer, for
instance, is not allowed and thus kill-
ing pregnant whales shouldn’t be
accepted either.
International Outrage
Hard to Port’s post of the incident has
been widely shared online and has
sparked outrage both nationwide and
internationally.
The ongoing whaling doesn’t seem
to help Iceland’s reputation abroad, as
many tourists are reportedly having
second thoughts about travelling to
Iceland. “A significant amount of
people have informed us that, although
they would really like to visit Iceland,
they will refrain from doing so until
the whaling has stopped,” Clive Stacey,
director of the British travel agency
Discover The World, told Morgun-
blaðið.
Meanwhile, Hard to Port shared in
a Facebook post that they decided to
refrain from an international press
release about the pregnant fin whale as
they, “do not want to encourage further
criticism towards the entire country
and its population”.
Reykjavík Whale Save held a wake
yesterday evening to promote solidar-
ity with the cause and alert the public
to the problem of whaling in general,
Vísir reports..
Local Whalers Kill
Pregnant Endan-
gered Fin Whale
Activists outraged
Words:
Noemi Ehrat
Photo:
Provided by Hard
to Port
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

Spiders in Iceland seem, anecdotal-
ly, few and small. We asked Dr. Gísli
Már Gíslason, Professor of Biology at
the University Of Iceland, why there
are no large arachnids around.

This question is a bit misleading. All
really big spiders (and many other
terrestrial arthropods) are found in
the tropics and warmer regions of
the world, like Australia. Iceland, how-
ever, is an island in the lower Arctic
or higher Boreal region, where very
big spiders are not found naturally.
There are 91 species of spider in
Iceland—one of which is poisonous
to humans— plus the occasional vis-
itor or migrant. This is a small num-
ber, compared with 44,000 species
known worldwide. Iceland is an iso-
lated island in the mid-North Atlan-
tic, which has only been colonized
by terrestrial invertebrates from
the last Ice Age (11,000 years ago).
Occasional visitors like Tarantula
spiders (among the biggest in the
world) with a body size up to 20
cm have been found in Iceland.
However, these big spiders are
imported in goods or by humans
as pets from warmer countries.
The biggest native spider species
in Iceland is the Common Garden
Spider (“Krosskönguló” in Icelan-
dic, Araneus diadematus). The fe-
male body length can reach 20mm
(males are smaller, up to 13mm). It
is found on house walls and cliffs
facing the sun in all of Iceland’s
lowlands, with distribution around
the North Pole and south to the
Mediterranean and Mexico. This
species is among the largest na-
tive species in Northern Europe.
It is therefore a wrong assump-
tion that big spiders are not
found in Iceland, if one keeps in
mind its position and latitude.
ASK A
Biologist
Q: Why are there
no big spiders in
Iceland?
6 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 15— 2018
FOOD OF
ICELAND
Pl
ok
kf
is
ku
r
And you thought whaling couldn't get more tragic
Words: Christine Engel Snitkjær
& Gísli Már Gíslason
Photo: Kristinn Ingvarsson