What a German misses while living in Denmark – Part 2

As an expat in Copenhagen, you have so many advantages and on top, you are able to have joyful new discoveries of Danish culture and food. But still, you will always miss your home and the things that you are used to..
Over a year ago I wrote about all the little and big things that I missed since I moved away from my beloved country. After the post, a lot of female readers agreed and shared the deep loss of the incredible Rossman, DM and Müller drug store chains in Germany, since moving away. Even some of my Danish friends expresses a sincere wish for such a chain store in Denmark – “Normal” is as close as it gets price-wise, but there aren’t enough conditioners or body lotions to choose from in my opinion.

Anyway, today I felt like beating the dead horse and list up a few things that I would love to have in Denmark 😀 This is written from my perspective as a German but I hope lot of you might agree on some things.

A short disclaimer beforehand: Even if I miss things from home, I wouldn’t choose to give up what I have in Denmark and I really love to live in Copenhagen. There is always a bright side, I got to know the typical Danish things and I love the flæskesteg sandwich so much, I am going to miss it if I move elsewhere. Maybe I should write the series “What a German took for granted while living in Denmark because she missed things that she couldn’t have – the never ending story!” next 😉
Anyway, let’s start:

Food-Section

◯ Döner
Seriously, this is such a huuuuge, huge market niche in Denmark. I don’t want to brag, but you can find the best Döner Kebab in Germany – with crunchy, roasted pita bread, delicious juicy meat, fresh salad and red cabbage and a combination of refreshing tzatziki and a spicy sauce! In Bremen Nord we even had a Dönertag, a day where the deliciousness is sold even cheaper than usual. Argh I would kill for a Döner like this here in Copenhagen. Someone in Germany wants to come here and open a little Dönerbude please?

◯ Sausage (and cold cuts)
What I crave deeply sometimes are a real Currywurst, Weißwurst or Bratwurst. I have tried all possible kinds of sausages and brands in the Danish supermarket in the past years. The brands Steff Houlberg or Tulip are just not cutting it and the sausages at local pølsevogn don’t fulfil my German standards either. So here I am, waiting for my next trip to Germany to get a real Currywurst with Pommesschranke. And the long waiting – It’s the wurst!

Another culinary that Danish supermarket lack are the choices for more than just three different cold cuts. I am still looking for a really good Putenbrust-Belag (if anyone knows about anything, leave a comment and let me know where to get some) 😀 Even though Lidl and Aldi have some cold cut products I know from home, it’s still very limited choice of topping for your beloved breakfast bread.

◯ Bread, brezels and sweet pastries
Speaking of bread – the classic Brötchen from the bakery is missing here too. I feel like the bread in Germany “smells” better, if that doesn’t sound too weird. And the frozen brezels you can buy and make at home in oven is not the same either. Sadly, I couldn’t find anything close to “Franzbrötchen” here as well. For everyone who never heard of it, Franzbrötchen are small, sweet pastry, baked with butter and covered in cinnamon. It is a quite popular pastry from Northern Germany and it taste like pure heaven.

◯ Gelato
Last but not least in the food part of what I miss here: (Italian) ice cream. I made the experience that the ice cream in Denmark has an artificial taste and the consistent is not that great either. Plus: There is not that much choice in flavours as in other countries. Most Italian Gelato places in Germany also make their traditional ice cream themselves with fruits in it and you can just taste the difference.
Edit: I found out shortly after I published this blog post that there is no “Spaghetti ice cream” in Denmark (vanilla ice cream formed to look like pasta, with cherry or strawberry sauce). This is so sad, Spaghetti ice cream was always a highlight for me when I was a child 🙂

Non-Food section:

Of course it is not only food that I miss from Germany, and when I moved here, I knew that a different country will have a different food culture and traditional dishes. There are a few things I don’t miss in daily life, but only when it is relevant.

◯ Regional and national holidays
The German Unity Day. The Labour Day. Annual city and regional festivals (Schützenfeste). On these days I realize that no one in Denmark cares and you go to work or university as always – while your friends and family have party back in Germany.
The 1^st May was quite a big day for celebration and parties, back when I was living in Germany. We would dance into the May – and then have the following day (Labour Day) off, and stay at home with a major hangover. I wasn’t expecting at all, that Denmark will be working on 1^st May here. At least there is an event in Fælledparken in Copenhagen on that day, where people meet with friends and listen to political speeches and get drunk.

And last but not least, what I miss the most right now:

Public viewing, being surrounded by people wearing “Black-Red-Gold” shirts, hats, wigs and having face paint. Yelling out things like: Müller!!! Deutschlaaaaaand. Or Super Mario! Being with fans that can pronounce the name Schweinsteiger without batting an eye. All these accompanied with a good old German beer and cheering for “unsere deutsche Nationalmannschaft” – you know where I am going right? At the moment, during the EURO 2016 I miss this feeling the most:

◯ Being in Germany during the cup to watch the German matches.
There is a public viewing in Islands Brygge where I went with my friend a few days ago, but it was more a pick nick feeling, where everyone is sitting and tanning. It wasn’t bad or such – it is just not the same. I miss the feeling of hundreds, no, thousands of people standing in crowds in front of a big screen and being all invested for their team, singing and cheering with the weirdest songs.
And if we won the match, everyone gets in their car and starts a convoy, honking non stop, with (probably drunk) fans sitting on the top of the car celebrating. The atmosphere in Germany when we are winning a game is amazing. Sadly, I am missing out on this while living in Denmark – and most people here (who study) actually don’t have a car.. and I guess a “bike convoy” wouldn’t be as fun.

What I don’t miss it the debate whether or not Germany should have and be proud to wave the national flag during  EURO 2016 – yes it was a real debate. It’s a flag, we are cheering for our team, nothing more – drop the past already (it’s not even the same flag). I am looking forward to the time where we can have flags in Germany without the newspaper and some politicians making a big deal out of it. But that is another topic 😉

Anyway, I am cheering and hoping that Germany will win and we will be able to say “EUROPAMEISTER samma, den Pott hamma! 😉

Thank you so much for reading 🙂 Which are the things you miss about your country? 🙂 You can read Part 1 of What a German misses while living in Denmark here.

Tuni

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