From sea to fry-day, an Icelandic-British lunch. Seafood from Iceland, Icelandic Seafood and the Embassy of Iceland to the UK recently hosted a standing Fish and Chips Friday lunch reception which brought together the Icelandic seafood industry and local industry partners, at the White Rabbit in London’s Shoreditch.
Author, actor several times nominee for the Gríma Award and sometimes tour guide, Ragnar Ísleifur Bragason kicked off proceedings, with a witty introduction to the day’s event. Pointing out the photography on the walls by French national, Blanche Mortemard – Icelandair’s winner of world’s worst photographer, proving that it was impossible to take a bad photograph of beautiful Iceland.
H.E. Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir, the newly appointed Ambassador of Iceland to the United Kingdom, introduced herself and talked about the strong bonds between the Icelandic and UK seafood industries. She emphasised how important the relationship between Iceland and the UK fish and chip industry continues to be and that she was looking forward to working with the sector and the wider UK seafood industry.
We were all invited to a delicious lunch, courtesy of this year’s National Fish and Chip Awards’ Takeaway of the Year winners, The Scrap Box, York, owned and run by brothers Aman and Gavin Dhesi.
Ragnar Ísleifur Bragason then went on to introduce Andrew Crook – President of the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF).
Andrew talked about the quality of the fish supplied by Iceland to UK fish and chip shops. How important it had been to visit some of the Icelandic trawlers and to see first-hand how the fish was caught and frozen at sea and packaged ready for its trip to the UK. Of the strong ties and friendships that had been forged. He then went on to have a conversation with Aman Dhesi.
Aman said how winning this year’s prestigious award had impacted The Scrap Box. The shop is thriving, business is booming – so good that they intend to open a Scrap Box in London. He also reiterated Andrew’s sentiment on how the Iceland visit had made a huge difference to him and his brother, Gavin, letting them see the journey of their fish from sea to plate.
Icelandic comedian, Ari Eldjárn was up next. Any worries about Icelandic humour transferring to the UK were misplaced – Ari was hilarious!
We finished the day, chatting with our British and Icelandic friends, listening to Icelandic music, inspired by the sea from renowned Icelandic DJ, Hermigervill.
Image: H.E. Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir, Ambassador of Iceland to the UK. ©Fish Focus
