Reykjavík Grapevine - feb. 2020, Síða 34

Cookin! for Gold
The national culinary team is intent on brin!in!
the Culinary Olympics 2020 crown home
Words: Shruthi Basappa Photos: Art Bicnick
Once every four years, kitchen fires
burn hotter and brighter in the Ice-
landic training kitchens as the Cu-
linary Olympics draws closer. With
over 2,000 chefs, teams from 59
countries, and 7,000 menus, to say
that it is a whopper of a gastronomic
event is putting it mildly. It is set to
take place in Stuttgart, Germany,
from February 15th to 18th.
Chef Sigurjón Bragi Geirsson is
at the helm of the 2020 Icelandic
National Team and as a coach, he
runs a tight ship. With eight pro-
fessional chefs training around the
clock, “The team has been training
since early last year,” he confirms.
This year, they have their sights
set on bringing home the gold in
as many categories as possible and
the titular National Team award.
National Culinary Team
aka Kokkalandsli"i"
The Icelandic culinary team has
been a steady participant bringing
home awards. They did so for the
first time in 2008—two gold med-
als and a silver for their first course
and cold buffet respectively. They
repeated their impressive perfor-
mance in 2016 with chef !ráinn
Freyr Sigfusson as the coach, bring-
ing home gold for pastry and silver
for other courses.
Model led l ike the Oly mpic
games, the competition is a battle-
field of professional chefs measur-
ing their skills against each other
across several categories: Chef’s
Table, Restaurant of Nations and
Live Carving.
“We compete in two categories—
Chef’s Table and Restaurant of the
Nations,” explains Sigurjón. “At
Chef‘s Table, we cook seven differ-
ent dishes for twelve people, and in
the latter, we cook a three-course
meal for 110.” That is an incredible
amount of food and in the past, the
Icelandic culinary team has report-
edly shipped about a whopping
tonne of ingredients with them.
Team effort
To best a gruelling competition, you
are only as good as your team, as
Chef Sigujón explains. “The chefs
apply to be on the team and I go
through the applications, and try
to pick individuals that will form
a strong unity with team values in
mind.”
Sigurjón admits the training
is extremely intense. “At first, the
training was four days a month—
that was in April, and the closer to
the competition we get, the more
intensely we train. A few months
ago we started training eight days
a month and now, in the last month
we trained four days a week.” He
goes on to add, “We’re competing
against 27 other teams and are
judged for various parts, such as
hygiene, food safety, flavour and
presentation of the food. And, last
but not least, consistency.”
Local traditions
and skills
Cooking traditions of the home
country and individual skills need
to be perfectly tempered with the
teams’ collective values.
Naturally, the Icelandic team
is showcasing local ingredients.
Without giving away much, Sigur-
jón says, “I can tell you that in the
restaurant of a nation we use arctic
char in our first course, Icelandic
lamb in our main course and Icelan-
dic skyr in our dessert.”
Besides the judges evaluating the
teams, ticketed visitors also get to
savour the undoubtedly delicious
fare from each of the teams. This
is as good a time as any to travel to
Stuttgart and cheer the national
team on. As Sigurjón signs off, ‘’We
have competed many times and
achieved good results. However, we
are keen on doing better now than
ever!’’
The national culinary team is com-
prised of Chefs Björn Bragi Bragason,
Fanney Dóra Sigurjónsdóttir, Sigur-
jón Bragi Geirsson, Ísak Aron Jónsson,
Ísak Darri !orsteinsson, Jakob Zarioh S
Baldvinsson, Kristin Gísli Jónsson, Sin-
dri Gu"brandur Sigur"sson, Snorri Vic-
tor Gylfasson and Snæ"ís Jónsdóttir.
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