Saturday, February 18, 2006

When is a Danish not a Danish?

So the Muslim community is upset with Denmark for their Muhammad cartoon. I don't really have an opinion on that other than these three words: freedom of speech!
I know Americans renamed or tried to rename French fries to Freedom fries when we were pissed at France but honestly,I have always just called them fries. There are no other kind from which we need to distinguish,right? We don't have Italian fries or Israeli fries or Chinese fries,do we? So fries are just fries to me.

That being said,Danish pastry in the Muslim world has been renamed.It is now being called Roses of the Prophet Muhammad! "I'd like a Roses of the Prophet Muhammad and a large decaf please." It just doesn't have the same ring to it. If it were just one,would it be a Rose of the Prophet Muhammad or is it like the word fish: it's the singular and plural? This is very confusing to me.

When I was in Denmark in 1989 visiting my friend,Charlotte,I remember looking in the bakery window and seeing a delicious tray of Danish pastries.Curious,I asked,"What do the Danish call Danish pastries in Denmark?" She told me they were called snegle.

Knowing that I wanted to write about this and not wanting to get the word wrong,I emailed Charlotte and asked her to confirm this. Here is her response.


You have a very good memory.. Yes some are called snegle (snails) and some are called Bagerens darlige oje (the baker's bad eye)or Spandauer(just the name of the cake) and so on. But all the danish pastries are all together called wienerbrod. (I had to omit the Danish letters because blogger made a mess of them when it posted.So,if you know how to speak Danish and wonder why these words are spelled incorrectly,that's why.)

Hmm.....so the Danish don't even call Danish,Danish......hmmmmm.....that's interesting.
I used to love Danish pastries....so buttery and sweet. Damn this diabetes!......I miss those lovely breakfast treats.....*sigh*........I just lost my train of thought. What was this Muslim protest about and why am I suddenly so hungry?

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