Cross-Cultural Adventures

When I left for Denmark in August, there were only a few things I was fully expecting. One of these was that, this year, folks, there would be no Thanksgiving. I was more than ok with that. As a holiday, Thanksgiving is really just time set aside to spend with family before the Christmas rush, and since I knew I wouldn't be seeing family for 4 months anyway, it wasn't a big deal that I'd miss it. But after Kirsten approached me about joining forces with her to make Thanksgiving dinner if I was in Denmark over Thanksgiving break (which was also two extra free days I didn't expect to have), I realized that this was a wonderful opportunity to share some of my culture with those who I've been learning from the past three months.

And so it was set: I decided what dishes were most essential, asked my mother to send recipes from home, and then Kirsten and I went through the ingredients and worked out what we needed to buy and what could actually be found in Danish stores. We pretty much knew from the start that there wouldn't be any frozen turkeys in the grocery stores of Solrød Strand, but turkey breast was a fine substitute. Cranberries, sweet potatoes, and green beans were all fairly easy to pick up as well, while explaining and finding chicken broth was a bit of a challenge. The thing that gave me the most trouble, though, was my insistence on having pumpkin pie. Rumors of canned pumpkin in an imported American food aisle at a Super Best in Frederiksberg had been circling through the students at DIS, but attempts at finding this mythical place failed miserably. And there were some people who ended up buying pickled pumpkin in a jar without realizing that it's not what they wanted. So, while I come from a family that always buys pie from the store at home, I was now faced with making it from an actual pumpkin.

Of course, all the Danes had to work or go to school, so I gave myself the task of waking up early enough to get started. Kirsten had set out for me things I would need, but, nevertheless, if anyone had been watching me cook the whole time, I imagine they would have thought it quite comical. There was one scale for measuring things in grams, but I ended up using it only a few times. Mostly, I would just search for a container that looked like a cup, fill it to what I thought was the correct place, and ran with it. Luckily, they actually have proper tablespoons and teaspoons here, so I think those measurements turned out rather well. It ended up being me on the pumpkin pie (and seeds!), sweet potato casserole, and the stuffing, while Kirsten came in later to make the turkey, cranberry sauce, and green beans, and Nanna (my host-sister) baked some bread.

The result? Success! I wasn't sure how much of the Thanksgiving spirit was going to go into the meal, but the table was set with the nice plates, the extra pumpkin I bought served as a centerpiece, red wine was set out, and two family friends who had been at the house for the advent crafts came over to join us. It was definitely Thanksgiving--chatting away and eating more food than our stomachs could handle (though I think the Danes participated less in that factor, which isn't a bad thing). Though, a word to the wise if you plan to try this on your own: leave out the sweet potato casserole. While the marshmallows on top were a novelty, the Danes generally consider it too sweet for a side-dish. Stuffing, on the other hand, is a big hit (even with the people who don't like celery!).

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The rest of my break I spent relaxing, working very slowly towards my final psychology of happiness synthesis, and catching up on a few sights in Copenhagen. On Friday, I went to the Nationalmuseet, which is a completely free museum that includes a permanent collection on Danish history (pre-historic to present), as well as a portion of the oddities collections from former kings (Kongens Kunstkammer). To be honest, I was unimpressed with the museum as a whole. They had nice facilities, but the presentation was cluttered and confusing, and it was often so dark that my eyes were straining, so I couldn't absorb what I was reading. However, I am glad I went, as the museum helped me see history in the western world at a larger level than I am used to.  While artifacts from the viking age were something new for me to see, once I had progressed through the exhibits into the late 1800's, everything seemed rather familiar.  Granted, the recent political patterns in Denmark are much different than in the US, the Danes was affected much more by the world wars, and there was no western expansion in Denmark.  But the artifacts themselves--clothing styles, furniture, technology, propaganda from social movements--are very similar in each era across the continents of the western world.  One of the most bizarre things was to watch Danish people and music in propaganda-type films on farming from the 1930's, and then there was a display about how big Elvis and The Beatles were in the in the 50s and 60s.  Once I think back on it, these realizations should have been obvious beforehand:  I know what globalization is!  This just puts it into perspective; it's been a long time coming.

On the contrary, America is way behind on globalizing the goodness of Danish beer culture, as I learned from both a microbrewery tasting on Wednesday night and a visit to Carlsberg (which included tastes of some specialty brews) on Saturday.