Volunder Volundarson, otherwise known as, "Chef Worly" (in Bahamas) or "Chef Volli" (in Iceland) has been living in Grand Bahama for almost 10 years now and is the mastermind behind Sabor Restaurant and Bar at the Pelican Bay Hotel. He has his own cookbook called, Delicious Iceland which received the Gourmand Cookbook Award in Beijing, China and in 2008 it was chosen as one of the top 100 cookbooks published in the world for the past twelve years, and Volundarson also had his own cooking show for a season on the Icelandic TV 1 station called Skiarinn.
With his cooking show Volundarson wanted to share his Bahamian home and the island experience with his people back in Iceland and it was just after hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, in autumn of 2004 that he filmed the segments here in Grand Bahama, and included his Bahamian staff, Chefs Emmanuel Smith, Elizabeth Grant and Sigmund Hall, all of whom still work with him today at Sabor.
In this video, a trailer for Segment 1, you will see the chefs in Grand Bahama catching crabs, spearing lobster, climbing trees for coconuts, cooking in open pits on the beach, cooking in a private kitchen and cooking on a yacht in Florida.
When asked about the show Chef Volundur said, "It was very challenging to shoot because the island was badly damage after the two hurricanes, but we did our very best and made a beautiful show despite that."
"My focus was the Island and ingredient that you can get locally... We speared lobster and cooked it in many different ways, and caught land crabs and made crab soup, and crab and rice. We made fresh Gully Wash, fresh Tuna Carpaccio and other Island delicacies," said Volundarson.
The cooking show was filmed on the beach where he cooks in an open pit, in the kitchen of a local residence, in native restaurants, and one show was also filmed on board a yacht in Florida.
The show was such a great success and received such great revues that Icelandair.com made two trips to Boston and at the time there was a direct flight from Boston to Grand Bahama, and two large groups came down from Iceland and stayed at Pelican Bay Hotel in Grand Bahama.
Volundarson has become one of Iceland's most celebrated TV-chefs. In 2008 the chef was featured on the Today Show with NBC TV personality Al Roker. His vibrant and colorful personality earned him both the admiration and respect of his viewers and colleagues. The Bahamas is blessed to have such a create mind in and out of the kitchen.
