Totally Stockholm 1
Issue #30 Issue #36 MARCH 2015 / FREE MIPSTERZ MU
SLIM HIPSTERS AND HIJABISTAS OF STOCKHOLM TOTALLY DUBLIN TOTALLY DUBLIN 36 plus Eggs Arrivals Minna Palmqvist Wine, Women and Song Issue #30 – Something Fishy – Stockholm Fishmarket There had been a long struggle for a market for fish in Stockholm and at the time of issue 30, the Stockholm Fish Market project was slowly gathering steam thanks to Henrik C Andersson’s efforts. The supply was not in question it was said (but it is, we have since learned), Sturehof hosted a makeshift fish market that was garnering interest and Stockholmers, who had long devoured locally-produced ingredients from high-end restaurants were finally on the cusp of having an exciting fish market like those in Tokyo, Seattle, Hamburg where they could source their own local supply. “When one of the greenest larger cities in the world, situated by the water and with the world’s most breathtaking archipelagos doesn’t have a way of harvesting its own quite wealthy supply of fish for its people, the market is clearly dysfunctional. It’s not only odd, it’s mindboggling,” I wrote back then. The initiative was helpful to all, not only to the conscious consumer but also to that dying breed, the local fisherman. So Henrik, how did this project evolve? It went in two directions. One was that PG Nilsson, who is behind Svenska Brasserier, saw the potential in it and initiated Stockholms matmarknad in Sturegallerian. They have a deli and try to stock produce as locally sourced and of as high a quality as possible. Plus also a fish market. 12 The other part, which came to grow larger, was a fish auction, every weekday. This has been very good for the freshwater fishermen that source fish like zander from the Mälaren and Hjälmaren lakes. Not a lot of fish from the east coast and from the archipelago that ends up at the market. But the simple fact that we do have a market makes it easier to work with fishing. We have a platform. So what’s the issue with the saltwater fish and fishermen? The problem is that there is very little fishing remaining, it’s dying out. The only thing that exists is the large scale fishing industry. I guess the Baltic Herring could be a possibility but there are not that many Baltic Herring in the archipelago either, due to the large scale fishing further out in the sea. Fishing in the Baltic is fighting a long and steep uphill battle. There are only 21 fishermen left in the archipelago. It used to be hundreds. And more will disappear. None of those 21 are below 50 years of age. And five of them made a living from the Atlantic cod, and their problem is that the authorities have issued a stop to all cod fishing. That was for 2020 and 2021. The shrinking fish population is the result of overfishing, but mainly due to a lack of feed [for the fish] caused by the largescale fishing. Issue 36 – Mixing Fashion With Faith – Mipsters, the hijabistas of Stockholm We were not the only ones to react to a little video called Somewhere in America after it was shared with the world. Dubbing themselves Mipsters, the protagonists in the video set out to highlight the diversity of Muslim women by focusing on part of the young generation in America where fashion plays an important role. The young women were all wearing traditional hijabs, but they had embraced their own style. The clip drew criticism for an array of reasons. Depending on who you asked, it was bent too much towards Western notions of beauty, their catwalk attitude went against Islamic principles of modesty, and some pointed out that their intelligence and diverse personalities would have been a better focal point if one wanted to illustrate that young Muslim women in America are anything but monolithic. And sure, among the girls in the video, you could find an Olympic fencer, a Harvard student, an attorney and one particularly adept skateboarder. But it wasn’t about the individuals, it was meant to break stereotypes and create debate. So as a small magazine in a faraway outpost in Scandinavia, where there is a large Muslim community as well as a very style-conscious population, the relevance was huge. We quickly went about the task of finding our Stockholm equivalents to the stylish New Yorkers in the video. And fusing fashion with faith seemed to work a treat, as our select Stockholmian mipsters and hijabistas proved. I only wish we had spelled Mipsters with an s instead of a z on the cover. 10 11