Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

Denmark and sweden are the two Nordic countries which have been most influenced in culinary matters by germany. Denmark shares with the neighbouring parts of the netherlands, especially Friesland, traditions of dairy farming and of a certain simplicity of food. france had some effect on the eating habits of the wealthier classes.

Danes have always had a fine supply of seafood. They are well known for their eels and shrimp (often called Tivoli prawns, after the pleasure gardens), and rare delicacies such as green-salted (grønsaltet) fish, found on the island of Bornholm. They are devotees of plaice, which Danish housewives like to buy alive. The old fish market in Copenhagen was on the Gammelstrand, where a stocky statue of a lady fishmonger stands on the canal bank, impassively eyeing a pair of famous fish restaurants.