Food in Denmark

Hej!

Pålægschokolade

One of the most important parts of living in another country is the food that is eaten there. Be it for one, three or twelve months, it's always odd to change your eating habits to another country's, where sometimes people can eat really different food.

I wouldn't say that the local cuisine is very different from Brazil's, but what's most different is how and when they eat.

Breakfast is different according to the day of the week: on weekdays, a faster meal is more common, like oats with some milk and sugar or bread with some butter or something else on top. On weekends there's more variety, like bread with some types of toppings, hard or soft boiled eggs, etc. One of those toppings is called pålægschokolade, which are thin slices of chocolate that are put on top of a buttered slice of bread, and it is only eaten in here!

Rugbrød: whole rye bread, one of those
foods you whether love or hate...

Lunch is the most different for us, because it's rarely made at home with the family, like it is in Brazil. Normally it's made of (once again) bread, most of times rugbrød, with meat, eggs, veggies, and some other things on top of it, and to drink there's juice, coffee, tea, milk, or some variation of that. It's worth telling that most people pass a layer of butter in the bread before topping it, both on lunch and breakfast.

Dinner is normally the only hot meal on the day and also the largest, and it can consist of both Danish dishes or worldwide food. Some examples of Danish dishes are:

• Hakkebøf - basically hamburgers that are not eaten between two buns, but in a plate with something else.

• Frikadeller - pork meatballs, that can be served with potatoes, rice, vegetables, pickes, etc.

• Flæskesteg - roast pork with crackling, served with boiled potatoes and red cabbage (rødkål). The sauce is called brun sovs, and it's made out of the meat's gravy thickened with flour and butter.

Hakkebøf

Flæskesteg

It's also noteworthy how the diet here can be healthy: most families eat vegetables like carrots, beets, peas, brocolli and cauliflower on the meals, bread made with whole flour (other than rugbrød), and also the large presence of organic food, with a strong control from the government to guarentee its procedence.  Those products are called "Økologisk", and are present in pratically every product category, and not all the time with a (very) higher price tag.

But, as no cuisine in the world has only savoury hot dishes, those are some sweets and desserts eaten here:

Koldskål

• Rødgrød med fløde - lots of Danes, at least once, ask the foreigners to say this name out loud, and normally we fail because it's REALLY complicated. It basically is a red berry pudding eaten with some cream and/or milk.

• Koldskål - small butter cookies in a plate with soured milk. It seems weird, and some other exchange students don't like the milk, but I guarantee that it is a welcome sour taste! It is normally served during summer and it's eaten cold.

• Risalamande - a rice pudding that is mixed with whipped cream and minced almonds, and then served with some red berry sauce. It's traditionally eaten at Christmas eve dinner.

Some more:

Drømmekage

Wienerbrød

Æbleskiver

• Drømmekage - white cake with a topping made with shredded coconut, brown sugar and butter to join it all; there's also a chocolate version. Fun fact: it literally means "dream cake", which is a suitable name for it!

• Æbleskiver - it means "apple slices" but they're actually batter balls cooked in a special pan and served with icing sugar and jam

• Wienerbrød - pastry made with multiple layers of dough with butter in between and filled with jam, cream or chocolate. Americans may know it as a "danish", but the ones in here are (of course) more authentic ;) 

There are lots of other facts about Danish food, and other plates that are not from here but were modified around here to please the locals! And while I write, I keep recalling some other food that could be added but this way, the post would be a tad too long, so if anyone is curious about it, feel free to write me :) 

Kan alle have en god uge!

(I wish that everyone has a good week!)