VLVL Danish

[Arne Herl�v Petersen]

I guess I as the lists' resident lurking Dane should do that rather than
Heikki who is Finnish.
In 1958 I and another boy won an essay competition about the photo
exhibition called "Family of Man". The prize was a trip to the US,
arranged by our tourist organization.
In Idlewild we were met by a barrage of journlists, wearing those
wonderful film noir hats, wedging cigars in their mouths, taking in a
snarling drawl around the cigars and taking photos with huge flashbulbs
popping.
The Danish tourist association thought it was a wonderful idea to feed
the journalists with Danish pastry, fresh from the pantry of the
trans-ocean PanAm clipper (where we had enjoyed a five course meal on
real china, with a red plush menu card with tassels, and afterwards
slept in real beds pulled down from the luggage rack).
The hardened journalists cringed, when we mentioned Danish pastry, and
tried to excuse themselves, but then we opened the boxes, and one
whiff... and it was just like the old Mickey Mouse cartoon where Minnie
has left the pies in the open window and he drifts like a cloud.
They ate it all and wiped the crumbs off their greasy faces, and the
next day they wrote the most wonderful things about Denmark in all the
NY newspapers.
Later I tasted American Danish and found it had been made in a cement
mixer. Real Danish is light and cloudy, with just a hint of raspberry or
thick luscuous cream.
..
In Germany it's called Kopenhagener Brot, but in Denmark it's Vienna
pastry.
The reason that it's called Danish elsewhere is that a Danish baker in
the late 19th Century travelled all over the world making pastries to
the finest cafes. I have his autobiography - Around the World with
Morning Bread - somewhere but can't find it at the moment. (It will
appear miraculously when I'm trying to find something else).

Arne Herlov Petersen

davemarc wrote:
> 
> Well, now that the very important subject of Danish has finally arisen on
> this listserv, I wonder if Heikki would like to compare Danish in its native
> lands versus Danish in different regions of the States (according to
> quality, price, availability, etc.).
> 
> d. (still self-flagellating over that subway fiasco)