The fedtemad
Literally fat-food could be translated as: grease sandwich. The thing is that a rye bread one side sandwich in Danish is called 'a food.' Mention any sort of topping, potato, salami, tomato, add the word -food to the end and it means a piece of rye bread with that topping (potato, salami or tomato) on top. This one is with melted pork fat!
One hundred years ago Copenhagen working class children was brought up on this fare. Not exactly unhealthy. Rye bread is very healthy and a bit of fat in a hungry child never harmed anyone. But they did often suffer from malnutrition and later, in the thirties, forties and fifties, there was a program that sent those pale and skinny children on summer holidays in the countryside with friendly farming families who took their social responsibility serious. Here they could benefit from clean air, sun, seawater and that healthy and varied farm diet.
Below is a small film of Copenhagen children leaving from the Central Station in 1940.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLvyewi4aOg
My mother who grew up in central Copenhagen's riff-raff quarter has told me how the children shouted to their mothers who were all stay-at-home moms, to throw down the grease-sandwich wrapped in newspaper.
It is not bad actually with a pinch of salt (the brown bits are crunchy pieces made when you melt the fat.) The pork fat is also used instead of butter on traditional Danish smørrebrød when you eat pickled herring or old cheese.
And keeping with the fat topic, I just saw this introduction to Danish pastry as it is made in Denmark (should be something completely different from what is called Danish pastry in the USA I've heard). Another grand way of consuming large amounts of fat... in this case butter.
#Food #fat #grease #crunchy #bits #Denmark #Rye #history #Copenhagen
