"hyggelig" kobenhavn

what about the food?

the most important part of any excursion is the food! during the second week that i was here, we had a "buddy dinner" as part of our orientation. everyone in the exchange program was paired up with a danish buddy who answers questions and helps them get around town. every buddy makes a danish dinner for their exchange students so we can get a taste of danish culture (get it, a "taste"? haha). anyway, a few things that the danes looove (besides their beer):

• frikkadella - this is kind of a meatball. it's a mix of beef and pork and it's really good. but they don't eat it in a spaghetti sauce like we do, it's just served as an entree.
• sild - this is disgusting. well, actually, i haven't tried it, but it's salty fish (herring) in a jar. they eat it cold and on sandwiches...gross! but they love it. and interesting fact - the danes earned an enormous amount of wealth back in like the 14th century by selling and exporting this fish.
• smorrebrod - this is like an open faced sandwich. i haven't had an official smorrebrod yet, but i think it might be not too good. they pile dark rye break with all sorts of fishes, meats, sauces, etc. i'm gonna try this one, but no promises i'll like it.
• is - ice cream!!! the danes love ice cream! you can get it all over the place and they aren't afraid to eat it even in the freezing cold.
• polser - last, but certainly not least, a danish delight - polser! there are polser stands all over the city! you walk up to these stands (which are kind of like the food stands we have at a fair where you'd buy a funnel cake or something) and there are about 12 different kinds of sausage or hot dog to choose from. i had one and it was sooo gross! it was a bright red hot dog with like 6 different sauces on it and onions and sweet pickles...eww. but then i tried another, called a fransk polser, and it was much better. but you can't leave copenhagen without trying the polser!

other than these few things though, i'd have to say the danish cuisine is really nothing special. it's not like italian or mexican or something where anywhere you go, it's good and it's distinct. in fact, the danes eat a lot of "regular" food like pizza, spaghetti, hamburgers, etc. you can find all kinds of restaurants around town that are chinese, thai, mexican, american, etc. so if you don't happen to like the traditional danish food, don't worry, you can get practically anything else.

posted by kaddie @ 7:33 AM