The food: Chokoladesnitte

Where to find it: Lagkagehuset, Copenhagen, Denmark

Note: Longa Travels Productions is now filming its food & travel TV show in Spain & Portugal for the next month.

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I strolled down Strøget, Copenhagen’s main street, when the local bageri window caught my eye. The Danes have a knack for marketing when it comes to their sweets. The quality of their products practically sell themselves, but the majority of the bakeries display their confections in the front shop window so that passersby can smell and salivate over their creations.¹

I ambled into the bageri with a few kroners jingling in my pocket, which the baker was more than happy to take from me. I tried out a bit of my Danish on him, and, of course, it came out like mummblish dribble. However, the overall reception I get from the Danes when I try to speak their über-complicated language is the type of adorable pity you see when a child falls bottom-first in the sand and attempts to get back up again.

The baker—complete with flour doused on his apron—declared, “After eating this your stomach will feel full for quite some time.” He then proceeded to go out of his way to find me the largest piece in the bunch. After not eating anything since breakfast, his words tamed this weary traveler’s stomach rumbles.

Underneath the chokoladesnitte’s (literally translated to “chocolate slices”) glazed curves hides some of the most moist—and rich—chocolate you’ll ever taste. When the glaze is a bit dewy from the outdoor summer heat, you know you’re in for something refreshing.

That’s Copenhagen—and Europe—for you: refreshing.

Oh, how I missed Europe.

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“American Danish can be doughy, heavy, sticky, tasting of prunes and usually wrapped in cellophane. Danish Danish is light, crisp, buttery and often tastes of marzipan or raisins; it is seldom wrapped in anything but loving care.”
– R.W. Apple Jr., ‘The Danish Worth an Ocean Voyage,’ The New York Times, 22 November, 1998

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¹Why the hell US merchants (the creators of super marketing and Dunkin’ Donuts) don’t utilize this bakery window marketing strategy more, I don’t know.