Dried fish receives a facelift
The traditional food of "harðfiskur" - Icelandic dried fish- is about to marketed as a protein-rich health food internationally. Icelandic company Breki aims to reinvent the image of the product which once was a staple of an Icelandic diet and market it using new packaging and using production methods to lessen its distinctive fishy smell.
The first product from Breki will be harðfiskur flakes containing 80% protein, marketed as a healthy, protein-rich snack. These fish flakes will hit stores in the next few months.
According to Kristinn Jón Ólafsson, managing director of Breki, harðfiskur which was once eaten almost on a daily basis in Iceland has now become pricey and considered a bit of a luxury for Icelanders. "Even so, the development of the product and packaging has remained the same for years, and does not reflect at all the fact that this is a high-quality product."
The company conducted market research which showed that tourists visiting Iceland find the product a curiosity but are deterred by the smell. The packaging, usually a transparent plastic bag with blue typography was also considered unappealing. Jónsson also says that nowhere on the packaging are instructions to be found on how the product should be eaten.
In Iceland, harðfiskur is eaten like a snack, straight out of the bag, a bit like beef jerky and sometimes people like spread butter on it. Chefs of late have become more inventive, creating tasty dips to go with the harðfiskur snack.
Breki are also developing "fish jerky", a product they hope to sell abroad.