Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2023, Side 25

— that’s one mathöll for every 35,555
Icelanders!
Video stores met their demise
pretty swiftly. Mathölls aren’t tracing
a different trajectory either — Grandi
has struggled but sluggishly chugs
on thanks to the mercy of its inves-
tors, as does Höfði. Vera Groska, not
even a year old, consistently smells
of a mystery spice and has none of
the chutzpah of its interior design in
its food offerings. Barring the novelty
of the initial days of opening, every
mathöll is a jigsaw puzzle of the usual
suspects — both in ownership and
restaurant choices. A smashed burger-
pizza-some token Asian joint with an
emphasis on deep fried food seems to
be the magic mantra. And if you are
worried that the cracks are showing,
there is always mayo — so much mayo
— to the rescue.
Diners are repeatedly subjected to
cut from the same cloth monotonicity
— if they haven’t fled already thanks to
beepers that vibrate on every tabletop.
It's a free for all buffet of mediocrity
marketed as a unique dining experi-
ence, when in fact it is a cost cutting
business model at the expense of qual-
ity. One that poor planning by local
authorities exacerbates (there are three
food halls in a 600m radius).
“In my mind, there is a lack of
understanding and support from the
government, investors in the business
and often, restaurant owners them-
selves,” chef Ólafur Águstsson is frank
on the subject. “It adds to the lack of
understanding of the opportunities
that come with extremely high quality
and diversity in the restaurant world,”
he adds, thoroughly capturing the
despair of what can only be described
as mathöll madness.
In 2023 please spare us more mind-
less food halls. Let's work on a food
market in one of the already existing
ones. Grandi, I reckon, is ready for
such a fitting overhaul.
MS and its reign of
mediocrity
MS (Iceland’s dairy organisation)
continues to contribute to the collec-
tive dumbing down of culinary appre-
ciation in the country by introducing
brand new flavour fails practically
every month. Cream cheese spread,
that beloved lazy sauce shortcut is now
available in a ‘camembert’ flavour, you
know, for those I-don’t-want-camem-
bert-just-its-flavour moments that
so often confronts us. There is also a
brand new ‘Italian’ flavour. To go with
your ‘Mexican’ cheese. When they drop
an Indian flavour, we riot. MS, you’ve
literally got the country by its udders,
don’t we deserve better?
Romanticising
colonialism
The Gróðurhús Mathöll (yes, another
one) and hotel combo in Hveragerði,
backed by Kormakur og Skjaldur,
is bookended by Sambó on shelves
(amidst other curated gourmet good-
ies, this addition stands out), and
‘Colonial Bar’ on the other; the other-
wise beautiful space is marred by the
insensitivity on display.
While easy to dismiss this as lazy
copywriting or lack thereof, the impact
of language and how we engage with
food is deeply intertwined. As policy
analyst and inclusion advocate Achola
Otiene stirringly asks, ‘’Can you really
say you’re offering ‘Colonial Classics’
when there is no genocide, enslave-
ment or plundering on the list?’’
Just a few years ago, it took Twitter
outrage for a cocktail named Apartheid
to be taken down. The only indication
that Nýlendubar (“colonial bar”) are
aware this is problematic is the tactic
they have borrowed from Sambó —
changing their Instagram handle to
Nýlundubar while resolutely ignor-
ing requests to engage since day one
of their operations. Hiding behind
an Icelandic word does not legiti-
mise suffering, not when the stuffed
peacock tells you otherwise.
Alcohol taxes
In somewhat of a small win earlier in
the year, ATVR had to concede to Santé
and Björland in their tussle for the
legitimacy of online alcohol sales. But
hopes for alcohol sales reform were
short lived as the State yet again raised
alcohol taxes by 7,7%.
This time around, even the duty
free hasn’t been spared and those taxes
are now raised from 10% last year to
an astronomical 25% hike. Despite
repeated calls for revision by the
industry, the State holds to its stead-
fast belligerent belief that we simply
cannot be trusted with liquor.
Closures
Family run business Coocoo’s Nest
closed its doors on NYE after having
served us the country’s best sour-
dough, Cali-style pizzas and the most
sought after brunches, for 10 long
years. Makake too, another family run
venture just down the street, shuttered
after only a few years of operation.
With covid relief measure paybacks
now kicking in (interest rates went
from 1 to 9%) this first quarter will be
a long-drawn turning point until the
summer tourists can bail out those still
left standing.
Iceland, a dining
destination: an
overlooked opportunity
Research shows that 95% of global trav-
ellers today consider themselves ‘food
travellers,’ with 70% of them picking
a destination based on food and drink
choices. Interestingly, 59% believe that
food choices are more important now
than they were five years ago.
The 2022 report by the Nordic
Ministers under Icelandic presidency,
‘Nordic Food in Future Tourism,’ high-
lights the intersection of restaurants,
food producers, farmers and animal
husbandry as essential to attaining its
common goal of being an attractive
destination where “eating and travel-
ling in harmony with nature and local
culture is a desirable lifestyle.”
The same report outlines the chal-
lenges they studied over a three-year
period: an absence of strategic plan-
ning for the role of food in tourism
and glaringly limited food tourism
services when compared to our Nordic
neighbours. The report called out the
government’s lack of flexibility and its
reluctance to adapt to changing expec-
tations of the industry. Simplifying
licence applications for small produc-
ers, making it easier for small boat
fishermen to directly sell their catch
to local communities, restaurants and
shops would vastly change the culinary
landscape for everyone. As chef Gísli
Matthías puts it, “fish and lamb aren’t
commodities, they are our culture.”
Undeterred by shackling restric-
tions the Icelandic restaurant industry
is a tale of making the most out of very
little. An impressive 100 billion ISK
industry, it is also a sector riddled with
labour challenges. For one, the indus-
try is not recognised as a standalone
player but is vaguely splintered across
tourism and food production without a
seat at the table to negotiate ably.
When governments are invested,
the results speak for themselves. In
2019, the Danish government launched
a public-private partnership, Gastro
2025, an initiative to attract gastro-
nomic tourists to raise the country’s
status as a destination. At its launch,
Denmark had 35 Michelin stars over
28 restaurants. In 2022, the country
boasted 39 stars for 28 restaurants.
Iceland, by comparison, has the least
culinary recognition amongst Nordic
countries. Five places are recom-
mended here, compared to 48 in
Norway, 73 in Sweden and 100 places
in Denmark. And all these efforts don’t
just cater to hungry, well heeled tour-
ists. Planned frameworks like these
improve the standard of life for local
communities and businesses.
The impact of lack of policies has
been felt for a while in the form of
shortened operating hours, dipping
customer service, lack of competitive
quality and variety and, more seriously,
family run businesses being edged out
by bottomline focussed investors.
Food isn't just a physical necessity,
it is also a psychological one. “Sure
tourists may come here for the water-
falls and the horses, but it is that hot
chocolate later, that bowl of kjötsúpa
after that they remember too,” says
Erna Petúrsdóttir of Makake. “People
may come for the scenery, but on each
day of those visits, it is the restaurants
big and small that make for memories.”
A vibrant nation is not a happen-
stance. Iceland holds promise as an
attractive culinary destination but
without sustained efforts to nurture
our food culture, it may as well remain
a pipedream.
25The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1— 2023
H
ve
rfisgata 12
Happy hour / 4–7pm
Beer / Wine / Cocktails
RÖNTGEN
“There is also a brand new
‘Italian’ flavour. To go with
your ‘Mexican’ cheese.
When they drop an Indian
flavour, we riot.”