Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.10.2019, Blaðsíða 6

Liquorice gets a bad rap in-
ternationally, thanks to black
jellybeans being the worst
candy ever made, as well as
Twizzlers completely missing
the mark. (For reference:
It’s not supposed to have so
much damn anise!)

Beloved throughout the
Nordics, the candy is
made from the root of
Glycyrrhiza glabra—the
liquorice plant—which
is 30-50 times sweeter
than sugar. Because
of this, most Icelan-
dic liquorice is tem-
pered with salt, or
coated in chocolate.
Due to a history of em-
bargoes and restrictions on
foreign candies, liquorice
was pretty much the only
candy available to Icelanders
for hundreds of years, so the
locals had to get
creative. As
a result,
a love of liquorice is practi-
cally ingrained in the genes
of Icelanders. Grocery stores
and candy stalls sell the con-
fection in all forms, whether
it’s covered in chocolate,
wrapped around marzipan,
dusted in fine pepper, or
sold by itself. And, of course,
you can go to any ice cream
shop in Iceland and
have your
so!-serve
dipped in
lava-
like
liquorice and covered in
whatever candy you like.
Then there are the healing
properties of the root. It has
historically been prescribed
to treat coughing, constipa-
tion and congestion, and
to this day the pharmacy
in Iceland sells a blend of
liquid liquorice as a cough
suppressant. It’s one of the
few things in the world that
can both cause a stomach
ache and cure it. That said,
science has recently found
out that too much liquorice
can cause high blood pres-
sure and heart attacks—so
perhaps moderation is best.
SPO Liq
uo
ric
e
The Laundromat, a new Netflix movie
about the 2015 Panama Papers leak, has
been receiving a lot of buzz lately, but
not everyone is a fan—some are down-
right fuming. In particular, Sigur!ur Ingi
Jóhannsson, the chair of the Progres-
sive Party and the man who replaced
Sigmundur Daví! Gunnlaugsson as
prime minister after he resigned in
disgrace in the wake of the leak.
Taking to Facebook, Sigur!ur said
it was “hurtful and intolerable to be
mixed up with this corruption case
in The Laundromat … Fake news is
becoming a problem in the technical
and information age. This is a challenge
to the media world and the producers to
always have the truth as a guiding light.”
Just how valid are
his complaints?
Sigur!ur’s role in The Laundromat is
very brief. During a scene in which the
Panama Papers leak begins to break
across the global media, as newscasters
are reporting the story, one broadcast
uses a screenshot of a Time maga-
zine article, “Iceland Appoints New
Prime Minister In Wake Of Panama
Papers Leak,” that uses a photo of
Sigur!ur Ingi. At the same time, the
newscaster in question is speaking,
saying, “Iceland’s Prime Minister has
stepped down after being named in the
papers.”
This brief moment, Sigur!ur Ingi
believes, puts him within “the wrong
context.” Which is strange, consider-
ing it is 100% factual. He was, indeed,
appointed the new prime minis-
ter after Sigmundur Daví! resigned.
Perhaps he believes the newscaster
in The Laundromat was talking about
him?
Could’ve been worse!
The irony is, if Netflix really wanted
to paint Sigur!ur Ingi in a bad light,
they could have mentioned that in the
wake of the revelation that Sigmundur
Daví!’s wife owned offshore company
Wintris, Sigur!ur Ingi had been very
diligent about defending not just
Sigmundur Daví! but also offshore
accounts themselves, telling reporters
that “it is complicated to have money
in Iceland.” According to a poll taken
the month before his prime minister-
ship, only 3% of respondents had any
confidence in the man at all.
Sigur!ur Ingi might not like that a
photo of him with a factual headline
was shown for half a second in a movie
about the Panama Papers, but that
doesn’t make it “fake news.”
Icelandic Politician Upset
With Netflix
Pro"ressive Party chair hurt by The Laundromat
Words:
Andie Fontaine

Photo:
Art Bicnick
First
One of the most infamous events in
Icelandic history is the Tyrkjaráni!
(The Turkish Raid) of 1627. Although
it‘s commonly associated with mod-
ern-day Turkey, the raiders in ques-
tion were in reality from Algiers, part
of the Ottoman empire. We reached
out to historian Bragi "orgrímur Ólaf-
sson to gain insight on those days
of horror.
In 1627, a fleet of 12 pirate ships le!
Algiers, with four of them heading
to Iceland. On the 20th of June, one
made landfall at Grindavík, taking
12 Icelanders and three Danes pris-
oner, along with two Danish vessels.
Three days later, the same ship sailed
towards Bessasta#ir. The locals pre-
pared for a conflict, fortifying Bessas-
ta#ir with cannons. However, the ship
never made it there as it stranded for
a few days and then sailed back to
Algiers.
Two ships from the convoy then
attacked the eastern fjords on the
4th of July, taking 100 Icelanders and
12-13 Danes prisoner before finally
making their way to Vestmannaeyjar,
now with the third ship in their convoy.
They made landfall on July 16th, killing
30-40 people, looting, and taking 242
people prisoner. These people were
eventually sold as slaves in Algiers.
Ten years later, 27 of them made
their way back to Iceland after au-
thorities paid a ransom for their re-
lease gathered by taxation and do-
nations. One of them, the Reverend
Ólafur Egilsson, wrote a book about
his experience, which was recently
translated into English. For the next
300 years a!er the attack, Icelanders
o!en referred to the Turkish Raid as
a testament to the state of the coun-
try’s defence and were alarmed when
any unknown ship approached.
ASK AN
Expert
Q: What's the truth
behind the Turkish
invasion of Iceland?

6 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 19— 2019
FOOD OF ICELAND
NEWS
Imagine appearing in a Netflix movie for half a second and getting mad about it
Words: Bragi !orgrímur Ólafsson
Photo: Provided by Subject
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