Cross-border food links: In search of the bøfsandwich

As the Crocus Project deals with cross-border cultural and creative tourism, we were intrigued by a recent letter to the Guardian newspaper headed: “On the gravy trail: cross-border food links.” This turned out to be a British reader who was inspired by an article on the “Chickpea trail” to write about the origins of “the classic Danish version of a hamburger” – the bøfsandwich.

Prize-winning bøfsandwich

This version of a steak sandwich  contains a cooked ground beef patty placed inside a sliced bread roll. Hardly high gastronomy, but certainly iconic.

The discovery of the bøfsandwich led our intrepid British explorer to discover that there are even annual awards for this humble dish, doled out by the de brune riddere (The Brown Knights). Their website gives instructions on how to build a bøfsandwich – with building being the operative verb. The ingredients can include the following:

·       Heel bun

·       Brown mustard

·       Pickled beetroots

·       Sliced dill pickles

·       Raw onions

·       Ketchup

·       Minced beef patty

·       Soft grilled onions

·       Remoulade or piccalilli

·       Crown bun

·       Brown gravy

·       Crispy fried onions

Given this list, it is somewhat surprising to discover that the average Danish life expectancy is 82 years, a fraction above the 81.5 years for the EU as a whole. But maybe the effort involved in constructing this gastronomic monster makes up for the calorie and grease intake? This might also explain why our Danish Crocus colleagues opted for the Seven Cakes experience as one of their cultural tourism business models.

In any case, the bøfsandwich is a source of national pride for the Danes, much needed in the face of Donald Trump’s onslaughts on Greenland. Maybe they should challenge him to a bøfsandwich eating contest – winner takes all?

But the cross-border link referred to in the Guardian letter was not the dish itself, but the gravy (a later addition in the Danish case). Of course the British would assume that gravy was uniquely theirs. We only find out what we have in common with others when we start travelling and encounter ‘our’ culture in other places too. What is certainly common in Europe is a love of food, whether it is the recently UNESCO-awarded Italian gastronomy, or the humble bøfsandwich. This also explains why the recent Crocus review of the cultural and creative tourism literature turned up ‘gastronomy’ and ‘food’ among the most frequent keywords. Even more frequent, however, was ‘cultural routes’ – which are also often linked to food and wine. One of these is the above-mentioned Chickpea trail, which “serves as a reminder of how food can connect people and traditions across borders.” The Crocus team will be looking forward to trying out cross-border food links in practice through the eight Cross-Border Living Labs now operating in the project. Hopefully this will also increase the life expectancy of the team, as well as keeping Trump at bay.