Iceland News

It’s the first demo podcast for Iceland News. Jim talks with Icelanders Heidur and Marta about McDonald’s leaving Iceland. Recorded 30-10-2009.

I almost spat out the mouthful of Tim Horton’s coffee that was in my mouth as my eyes glanced across A1 of Canada’s Globe & Mail newspaper this morning. Iceland on the front page. I kid you not.

Then throughout the day more media began to appear, all regarding the decision of Iceland’s McDonald’s franchise owner to shut up shop. And that’s an important difference. As Alda Sigmundsdóttir writes in the Guardian newspaper:

They are right that the McDonald’s closure is related to the country’s economic meltdown. The rest is a slight misrepresentation. Thing is, McDonald’s isn’t actually packing up and going home. The Icelandic owners of the McDonald’s franchise have decided to drop it. They will still run a burger joint in the same location, but under a different name – and using only domestic ingredients.

The BBC were next up with a video report entitled: No more Happy Meals for Iceland (har har headline writer, would you like a prize for being so witty! It’s almost as good as the Globe’s “The big whack”).

Rhiannon and Sam, two British ex-pats living in the country, chimed in with these anecdotal tidbits to round out the picture:

I have only ever been to McDonald’s once in Iceland; it was the most expensive burger I have ever eaten. The average cost for a MaccyD´s in England is roughly 4 pounds. Here I paid nearly 10 pounds!

I really want to say this is the last post on the issue, but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this just yet.

This seems to have been the biggest news out of Iceland yesterday thanks to a Bloomberg story which reported:

Iceland’s McDonald’s Corp. restaurants will be closed at the end of the month after the collapse of the krona eroded profits at the fast-food chain, McDonald’s franchise holder Lyst ehf said.

McDonald’s in Iceland, which imports most of the ingredients it uses in its meals, will shut after costs doubled over the past year, Lyst said in an e-mailed statement today. The franchise holder said it doesn’t expect the situation to change in the short term.

“We would have to raise our prices by 20 percent to get the margin needed on our products,” Magnus Ogmundsson, Lyst chief executive officer, said in a phone interview. “That would have sent a Big Mac to 780 kronur” ($6.36), compared with the 650 kronur it costs today, he said.

The story also got over 700 upvotes on Reddit, taking it to the front page with 600 plus comments.

As one commentator pointed out:

If I wanted to put this bluntly, I would say: Who gives a frag? There is no news value to this really.

The BBC’s World Service, however, would beg to differ. Iceland’s top bloggers received a call from them and had this to say on Twitter after:

“Just interviewed by BBC World Service. They wanted to know if we were terribly distraught about McDonald’s leaving… I said we were weeping uncontrollably into our McShakes, choking on our McFries… we thought we’d at last held civilization in our hands, and to have it so cruelly snatched away **SOB**

“Also – check out the http://www.icelandgourmetguide.com for traditional recipes and restaurant guides for all of Iceland – plus a who’s who of top chefs!”

So I went on over to Gourmet Iceland which led me on a link chasing adventure. Next came chef Volundur Volundarson’s web site.

Here’s a video of him doing a segment for the Today Program at the Blue Lagoon (by someone standing nearby).

Heading off to an Icelandic gathering soon? Well, I hope to be. So I put a message out on the Iceland Weather Report forum. What do Icelanders bring to such events? Here’s what forum member, Elin, wrote:

Here is the English language website (and blog) for Icelandic cuisine: – maybe something will catch your eye.

Also, there is a very good cookbook by Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir called Icelandic Food & Cookery, should you want a great book for your own collection.

Some of the things I’ve seen at gatherings like this are kleinur, jólakaka, vínarterta, pönnukökur filled with whipped cream and jam for sweets and rækjusalat, rúllupylsa and herring salad for savories. Also an assortment of little open faced sandwiches on different types of bread. Some of these items are more Western-Icelandic than Icelandic, I think, (esp. vínarterta). It would be fun to know what you end up bringing!

So that web site is http://icecook.blogspot.com/. What does pönnukökur mean? Pancakes! Har.

Kleinur = Twisted doughnuts
Jólakaka = Icelandic Christmas Loaf
Vínarterta = Icelandic Vienna cake
Pönnukökur = Pancakes
Rúllupylsa = Roller sausage