Thanks to everyone who attended Taste of Iceland in Toronto 2010! We’re looking forward to more successful events in the future!
One thousand years and counting, Icelandic culture is very much alive. Icelanders enjoy a sophisticated European lifestyle based on age-old traditions. They make their own food from fresh ingredients, design their own clothes, write their own books, make their own music and perform their own plays. Now, Torontonians can once again experience the Icelandic lifestyle during A Taste of Iceland, the country’s captivating cultural festival, from Wednesday, March 17 to Saturday, March 20.
Hosted by Iceland Naturally and in collaboration with Toronto’s Drake Hotel, this four-day event will offer Canadians a chance to learn more about this beautiful country and its people, with a variety of events including free live performances, film screenings, Icelandic food offerings and art.
Chef Thorarinn Eggertsson & Chef Anthony Rose Create Culinary Magic at The Drake Hotel
The Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street West) will offer an Icelandic-inspired menu from March 17 to 20, created in collaboration with Thorarinn Eggertsson (AKA Chef Thor), owner and head chef of Orange in downtown Reykjavik, and Anthony Rose, executive chef at the Drake Hotel. To book a reservation, please call 416.531.5042 ext.1.
Chef Thor is a culinary artist and innovator both in flavour combinations and futuristic presentation, and is known to feature ingredients such as gray duck, reindeer and salted cod. Orange made its way ontoCondé Nast Traveler’s 2009 prestigious Hot Tables List, which referred to Chef Thor as a “mad genius” and Orange as “packed with playful surprises” and “fun-through-dining.”
Icelandic Film Festival – Enjoy Free Screenings of “Reykjavik Rotterdam” and “Country Wedding” at Cumberland Four Theater
Enjoy free screenings of two recent Icelandic hit films. Country Wedding (6:30 pm) is a comedy of errors set in the beautiful Icelandic countryside. This will be followed by Reykjavik Rotterdam, (8:10 pm) an award winning crime thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Thursday, March 18 at Cumberland Four Theatre (159 Cumberland Avenue). FREE ADMISSION.
6:30pm – Country Wedding, directed by Valdís Óskarsdóttir
The course of nuptial love doesn’t run smoothly in this quirky comedy of errors. Two busloads of wedding-bound oddballs leave Reykjavik with barely a clue of how to find the far-flung chapel. As infighting, secrets and lies compound, the buses are soon seething with a hilarious tension that threatens to derail the happy couple’s big day. Country Wedding has been featured in eight international film festivals and nominated for The Sutherland Trophy. In Icelandic with English subtitles, 99 minute running time.
7:45 Reykjavik Rotterdam, directed by Óskar Jónasson
For Kristofer (Baltasar Kormakur) life has been little more than a never ending series of failures and disappointments. Among other things, he made the colossal mistake of smuggling alcohol during his tenure as a shipworker – a little stunt that promptly landed him behind bars. Now, following release, he struggles to pull his life together while working as a security guard and continually attempts to support his family. Then the opportunity arises for Kristofer to do one final tour on a freighter running from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Rotterdam, Holland. Kristofer initially embraces the opportunity to work with his old friends once again – little foreseeing the malestorm of crime into which this move will plunge him. In Icelandic with English subtitles, 88 minute running time.
Mugison Free Concert at the Drake Underground
Icelandic musician Mugison and his band will play at Drake Underground on Saturday, March 20th at 10 p.m. (Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen Street West). FREE ADMISSION.
When Tom Waits astutely pointed out that “no dog ever pissed on a moving car” Mugison must have been nodding in bemused agreement. Impulsively nomadic, creatively restless, Iceland’s Mugison is the kind of post-modern dude that flows with the flux – one of those ants-in-the-pants artists that naturally negates stagnation and actively seeks out new challenges. Recognized at the Icelandic Music Awards, Mugison’s album Mugimama Is This Monkey Music? was name best album and his song “Murr Murr” was named best song. CLASH MUSIC describes Mugison as, “An invigorating, electric listen…landing a devastating punch. Worth so much more than a fleeting investigation.”
Icelandic Artist Hrafnhildur Arnardottir aka Shoplifter Exhibits at The Drake March
Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardottir’s latest installation, Haunted, will be on display at Drake from March 17 to 20. Her work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, where she currently resides, along with other major cities across the United States and worldwide. This will be her first-ever show in Toronto. Also known as Shoplifter, Arnardottir adopted the name after attempting to introduce herself abroad. She discovered that people often mistook her first name, Hrafnhildur, for Shoplifter and it stuck! www.shoplifter.us/haunted.php
A Taste of Iceland,a multi-day cultural program, will include a variety of public events, such as live musical performances, Icelandic culinary promotions and a film festival. A Taste of Iceland is presented by Iceland Naturally, in cooperation with Icelandair, Icelandic USA, Inc., 66° North, The Blue Lagoon, Icelandic Glacial, and The Drake Hotel.
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