In These New Times

Stricken Nation Turns to Haggis

Icelanders Turn To Haggis
5:48am UK, Sunday October 12, 2008
Rachel Younger, Sky News reporter
Sales of haggis are not a commonly used indicator of economic health but in Iceland the spiralling demand for sheep intestines reflects how an entire country is tightening its belt.

Nothing wasted: a sheep’s head is boiled tom ake the haggis, or slatur
In the grip of a financial crisis, Icelanders are reviving the centuries-old ritual of making Slatur.
Traditionally families would gather together following the slaughter of a sheep to prepare and preserve every part of it.
Over two days spent together in the kitchen, the sheep’s head is boiled, the intestines finely chopped and wrapped in stomach lining and even the blood is collected and turned into sausages.
Nothing is wasted, instead everything is cooked and stored to provide food for the winter.
In a fourth-floor apartment in the suburbs of Reykjavik, Halldor Bjornsson has roped his entire family in.

Making slatur is a job for the family
His teenage daughter sews up the stuffed intestines while his elderly father – the only one to have done this before – chops liver and issues the odd instruction to his son.
Halldor tells Sky News: “We have been talking about doing this for years but have never got round to it.
“But now it is crippling. We have high interest rates, our mortgages are going up but our salaries aren’t and higher prices mean their value is decreasing.
“So it’s no longer a matter of doing it for fun – we need to do this to have something to eat.”
Along with the bags of rice they have bought in bulk and stored in their attic, the Bjornssons reckon the haggis will keep them and their extended family fed until spring.
By then they, and thousands of other Icelanders like them, hope the tide will have turned and their country will be back on its feet.