Reykjavík Grapevine - dec 2021, Qupperneq 28

NATIONAL MUSEUM
OF ICELAND
Opening Hours
Daily 10–17
Closed on
Mondays 16/9–30/4
The National Museum of Iceland
Su!urgata 41, 101 Reykjavík
www.nationalmuseum.is
+354 530 2200
@icelandnationalmuseum
@thjodminjasafn
WELCOME
TO THE
NATIONAL
MUSEUM
OF ICELAND
“Hello, I’m Gísli, I’m a chef from
Iceland and I would like to make
a book. Can we meet for coffee?”
This was the email Gísli sent to the
Phaidon publishing team in 2014 af-
ter the publishing house had shown
interest in working with the young
chef at a pop-up dinner celebrat-
ing Magnus Nilsson’s “The Nordic
Cookbook,” of which Gísli was part.
“My phone cover had been the
Phaidon logo for many years,” Gísli
confesses sheepishly. We are sit-
ting across computer screens; him
in Heimaey, and me, in Reykjavík.
“It was a reminder to myself that I
really wanted to make this happen,
and yeah, it worked out in the end.”
I look at the black hardbound
book with a scattering of neon green
moss and seaweed like strands
across the cover, the word SLIPPU-
RINN traced as if by a finger across
the field. I turn over to the spine,
and there it is, the distinctive logo,
the Greek symbol for phi. Preceding
it are the words Gísli Matt. Turns
out Gísli was manifesting long be-
fore TikTok influencers.
Chef Gísli Matthías Au!unsson’s
debut cookbook “Slippurinn: Reci-
pes and Stories from Iceland,” is
written by Nicholas Gill, and photo-
graphed by Gunnar Freyr Gunnars-
son and Karl Petersson and is now
available in bookstores and online
stores. Readers will now be able
to peek into the culinary universe
that Gísli and his family— mother
Katrín Gísladóttir, father Au!unn
Arnar Stefnisson, and his sister
Indiana Au!unsdóttir—have cre-
ated at Slippurinn, the family-run
restaurant on Vestmannaeyjar were
not only the food, but the restaurant
itself is seasonal.

Icelandic
In!redients, Fine
Dinin! Results
Chef Gísli Matt’s new book shares Iceland
with the world
Words: Shruthi Basappa
Photos: Karl Petersson & Gunnar Freyr Gunnarsson
Food
Laugavegi 28
537 99 00
sumac@sumac. is
sumac. is