Scan Magazine

By Ben Kersley

There are so many wonderful things about Scandinavia: there’s Norway, with its fjords and mountains, Finland with lakes and wilderness, Sweden, with forests and archipelagos…. and then there’s Denmark, known primarily for its bacon.

It might seem disingenuous to suggest that an entire country’s reputation is based on supplying the world with the filling for a bacon butty and I’m willing to admit that there is more to Denmark than just bacon. There are sausages too.

‘What about Danish pastries?’ I hear you cry!
‘A fallacy!’ say I, for in Denmark they are known simply as ‘pastries’.

So we’re agreed. Bacon and sausages.

Where would England’s legions of lorry drivers be without the Danish contribution to the Great British All Day Breakfast? Eating Danish pastries, presumably?

While most of Denmark’s bacon finds its way onto the greasy, ketchup-smeared plates of Britain’s corner caffs, the Danes have kept their pride and joy on home soil. The bright red sausage called pølse is Denmark’s unofficial national dish. It is served on a paper plate with dried onions, pickled cucumber and remoulade and as convenience food goes, it’s a lot less effort than fish and chips.

Pølse stands have become so ubiquitous in Denmark’s cities, towns and village squares, that according to a recent scientific study, no matter where you find yourself in Denmark, and whatever the time of day, you are never further than 50 metres from a freshly cooked pølse.

There is little evidence pointing to why it is such a bright red, but one theory suggests that it is to make it easily spotted, and thus confiscated, if it is carried over the borders of another country. (Germans also love a sausage, but not one that reminds them of getting sunburnt on a nudist beach).

So next time you are in Scandinavia’s most southern land, see red and seek out the pølse! Take a bite, chew, and as you swallow, appreciate that this is no simple hot dog, but a Great Dane.