With the introduction of the freezing technology in Iceland and Norway the fishing industry was revolutionized and became in Iceland the most important sector of food production in the postwar period. The fish finger and other products of the new freezing technology are the main focus of the article.  The authors compare the different development paths of the frozen fish industry in those two countries and offers explanations as to how Iceland became the first of the North-Atlantic fishing nation to enter the vast and challenging American consumer market.

This article by Guðmundur Jónsson and Örn D. Jónsson is published as a chapter in Til hnífs og skeiðar. Um íslenska matarmenningu, edited by Örn D. Jónsson and Brynhildur Ingvarsdóttir (Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 2021).