Iceland review - 2015, Blaðsíða 58

56 ICELAND REVIEW
FROM ADDIS ABABA TO RURAL ICELAND
Azeb relocated to Iceland from Addis Ababa in mid-
2008 to join her sister who had moved here earlier
that year. After meeting Árni in Reykjavík, she spent
the following summer with him in Flúðir, his home-
town, where he returned each year to grow vege-
tables. Once the summer was over, they decided to
stay and in 2011, with the help of Azeb’s sister, open
Minilik in a former fast food joint.
Once she’s finished laying everything out, Azeb
presents us with the meal. The injera lines the tray on
which the stews are served, a sort of edible tablecloth,
soaking up their juices as the meal progresses. The
dining room has space for 25 people and is adorned
with various souvenirs and other curiosities from
Ethiopia. The tables are each decorated with colorful
table cloths and vases with fresh flowers—dandelions
from the surrounding area and roses from one of the
local greenhouses where Azeb works when she isn’t at
the restaurant, giving the place a summery feel. Árni
is on his way from his other job, where he works for
social services with the region’s elderly.
COFFEE AND POPCORN
Carrying out a traditional coffee ceremony, an inte-
gral part of Ethiopian social and cultural life, Azeb
heats the coffee beans, sourced from Ethiopia, on a
pan over the glowing embers. The room is quickly
filled with the pungent smell of coffee, incense and
myrrh, the aromatic resin of thorny tree species
native to Ethiopia often burned during coffee cere-
monies. The beans are then roughly ground with a
pestle and mortar and stirred in a traditional coffee
pot, after which the coffee is brewed, poured into
cups and served with popcorn.
While some of Minilik’s guests stop for the pure
curiosity factor, others are regulars or have eaten
Ethiopian food abroad, Árni tells me as he joins us
for coffee. “Some people are trying it for the first
time but others are returning—they come back again
and again, especially those who have summerhouses
here. One person, who stayed in town, came here
every day for a week!” The increase in tourists to the
country is visible here in Flúðir too, where visitors
continue to discover this little piece of Ethiopia in
South Iceland. *Restaurant owners
Árni Magnús Hannesson
and Azeb Kahssay.
Minilik Special: beef stew with onion, garlic, ginger, berbere, hot pepper and
spiced butter; lamb simmered in mild sauce and seasoned with ginger, garlic
and turmeric; chicken marinated in lemon juice, sautéed in spiced butter with
pepper, garlic, onions, ginger and spices, hard-boiled egg; and a range of
vegetarian dishes including ground chickpeas cooked with onion and garlic.
FOOD