Northern Lights Supper

ICELAND: With his roots in the Westman Islands and a career that has taken him from Lyon to the Bahamas, Chef Sigurdur Gíslason has come back to Iceland to work with local produce in his gourmet restaurant. We are on a trip with him to Iceland’s edible nature.

Published in the 2009 winter issue of Iceland Review. Written by: Louise Windfeldt

“So you’ll come with me to the Westman Islands?”

It wasn’t really a question and the decision was made without having to think about it.

A couple of days later I found myself with my family and Chef Sigurdur Gíslason in a little propeller plane bound for Heimaey. We were on our way out to look at and taste the sea, fish and seabirds from the amazing bird cliffs—the natural habitat of Gíslason’s native area that inspires him in his work as chef at one of Reykjavík’s top restaurants.

“I come from Heimaey and it has definitely exerted great influence on me and my career as a chef,” says Gíslason. He is referring to the northern lights in the winter, the long, light summer evenings, the wind and the taste of fresh fish, langoustine and angelica. “For a food lover like me these small volcanic islands are a sea of inspiration.”

Gíslason is one of the young Icelandic cooks who take pride in serving local produce and indigenous Icelandic food in a modern interpretation. He is helping to put Iceland on the gastronomic world atlas as a representative of New Nordic Cuisine. Nordic food, based on local ingredients in a pure and simple style that is still complex in its expression of taste, is seriously beginning to catch on. The flagship is Noma, in Copenhagen, which was chosen as the world’s third best restaurant by Restaurant Magazine earlier this year.

Iceland has experienced a gastronomic boom in recent years and, despite its small size, Reykjavík now boasts over 100 restaurants. Several of them are top class international restaurants and some serve New Nordic Food made from the special Icelandic local produce.

The Westman Islands lie on the south coast of Iceland like little rocky crags flung into the vast Atlantic.

“People here have always lived primarily from nature: collected birds’ eggs, caught fish and various sea birds, gathered herbs and fished for seaweed”, says Gíslason. “Some of this knowledge has been lost by the younger generation, but there are now many people who would like to use local Icelandic produce again. The older people have incredible knowledge. We have to sit down with them and ask how they used the things we have forgotten. Angelica root and Iceland moss for example.”

You can read the remainder of this article in the 2009 winter issue of Iceland Review...