An Iranian kebab van in the Arctic circle (Or: The Global Village that would love a bit of Global Warming)
Here’s a strange but rather heart-warming story.
A few years ago everybody was talking about the global village – and how the world would become smaller and smaller – and how that was a very good thing.
That was before the eleventh of September, anno dominis 2001, of course. Since that day the idea that the world is getting smaller comes with a fair bit of paranoia, political profiteering and loads of bullshit & bullets, of course.
Even so, not every story comes with War on Terror storm clouds (or Al Qaeda’s sulphurous linings.)
And talking about that global village: it’s alive and well and inside the Arctic circle - and though it doesn’t quite have Elvis working in a chip shop, it comes damn close:
An Iranian has opened the world’s most northerly kebab outlet in the freezing wastelands of the Arctic circle. The Red Polar Bear, owned by Kazem Ariaiwand, is providing kebabs on the island of Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago 300 miles off the northern tip of Norway.
Mr Ariaiwand fled Iran five years ago but while his wife and son were granted asylum in Norway, he was refused. His only recourse, he said, was Spitsbergen in the archipelago of Svalbard - which does not require residence permits.
Despite the harsh environment and months of permanent darkness, the island’s “open borders” policy has created a diverse community representing 35 nations, including a group of 60 Thais.
The danger of attack by polar bears is ever-present: signs outside most shops ask you to kindly leave your rifle outside. Mr Ariaiwand moved to Spitsbergen after a failed asylum attempt in Norway, and set up his business in an old military van last year in Longyearbyen.
His venture has been such a success among the settlement’s 2,000 population that it is challenging the more traditional fare of seal and minke whale meat. “I’ve made a fair amount of money but the problem is that I don’t know how to spend it,” said the 48-year-old. “I came here without knowing anyone. I had nothing. I came on a plane with my backpack. Now I have many friends, almost the whole town.”
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