Reykjavík Grapevine - mar 2020, Qupperneq 6

You may have noticed that city-owned
trash cans in downtown Reykjavík are
overflowing, in some cases with trash
piling up on top of and around them.
People have taken it upon themselves
to seal some trash cans with packing
tape to prevent others from stuffing
them any further.
No litter please
The reason for the putrid pile-up isn't
because the garbage collection fleet
has broken down, but rather due to the
ongoing strike of Reykjavík City work-
ers in the labour union Efling. So if you
have an empty bottle or food wrapper
on you while you're walking down-
town, be a doll and carry it back to your
hotel or Airbnb to recycle there.
As previously reported, the strike
has overwhelming support amongst
union members. There are approxi-
mately 1,800 Efling members work-
ing for the City of Reykjavík, including
some 1,000 playschool workers, 710
caregivers, and numerous sanitation
workers. These workers have been
without a collective bargaining agree-
ment since March 31st of last year, and
the union believes that its workers are
long overdue for a wage correction.
Impasse
Efling and representatives of the City
of Reykjavík have met to negotiate on
numerous occasions, most recently on
February 26th, without any progress.
While Mayor Dagur B. Eggerts-
son has revealed that the city offered
a significant pay rise to the strik-
ing Efling members, salary increases
were not the only matter of concern
for the union. In a statement posted
to Efling’s website, they revealed that
their demands also include additional
payments to workers depending on
“professional responsibilities, work-
load, work-related costs and other
factors,” which would be paid on top of
base salaries. The observant sightseer may notice
when travelling the country that
there are no ancient buildings to be
found. Iceland was founded in 874,
so it won’t have as storied an archi-
tectural history as, say, Rome, but we
can’t help but wonder why there isn’t
some sort of large structure that pre-
dates 1700. To get to the bottom of
this important issue, we asked archi-
tect Hrólfur Karl Cela.
The dearth of ancient structures
stems from our building heritage.
What settlers used as building ma-
terials was pretty much what was al-
ready available when they got here.
I’m sure you know about our history
of turf houses. They are essentially
made from a stone foundation, turf
walls, and dri'wood for the roof and
frame. Over time, these buildings sim-
ply decomposed into themselves and
there’s really nothing le' except the
stone barrier that drew the blueprint
of the house. So over the centuries
from settlement until the 1700s, most
of the buildings that Icelanders built
decomposed because they’re made
of the earth itself. It’s sort of cool, and
they’ve been romanticised quite a
bit. Some say: Wouldn’t it be great to
live in a turf house? They’re beauti-
ful to look at and it’s nice to visit the
ones that are still standing or have
been rebuilt. But I think it’s a bit of an
over-romanticisation of that kind of
structure. I think life in those build-
ings was really quite tough.
ASK AN
Architect
Q: Why Are There No Old
Buildings In Iceland?

Kjötsúpa, or
Icelandic meat
soup, is a meal that
Icelanders have
been eating for
centuries—in fact,
it’s one of the few
traditional dishes
still regularly eaten
today. And what's
more, even all
these years later,
we still love it.
Centuries ago,
in the early days
of Iceland, we
used fresh lamb
meat for the soup,
which was then
mixed with some
lactic acid to make
it richer in flavour.
How that works, to
be blunt, genuinely
beats us.
At the time,
there were no
vegetables in Ice-
land, and I mean
none, but we’d
try to kick the
soup up a notch
by adding grains,
most o'en barley.
Later, we used rice
and oats—pretty
glamorous, right?
If you wanted to
get even fan-
cier, you could stir
some sour skyr
into it. That was
just for fancy folk
though.
If farmers didn’t
have fresh lamb
meat, they could
also use salted
meat, o'en beef.
And if they wanted
to go full socio-
path, they’d just
slaughter a horse
and throw that in
the bowl. Yum.
In the olden
days, kjötsúpa
was a fancy meal
eaten on Sundays
or Christmas.
Nowadays, it’s a
pretty basic meal,
mostly consumed
by lonely middle-
aged men. Why?
It’s practical. You
cook it up, keep it
on the stove, and
heat it up again
and again for
days—weeks even
if you truly want
to remind yourself
just how sad your
life has become.
Let’s be real
though, kjötsúpa
is good, hearty,
and really gives
you not only
the energy you
need, but deserve.
So sip it up in the
darkest days of
Iceland. VG
Kjö
ts
úp
a
Strike Causes Trash Flood
Bins overflowin" while the strike is on"oin"
Words:
Andie Sophia
Fontaine

Photo:
RÚV &
Art Bicnick
First 6 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 03— 2020
FOOD OF
ICELAND
NEWS
Snapshot from the talks between the city and the union, yesterday
This is all your fault, you dirty boy. Now wash.
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80 min drive from Reykjavík
Photo: Eyjafjallajökull Eruption 2010