one of my friends (who also happens to be my neighbor) is vegetarian. a couple weeks ago she took me to feed some chickens and rabbits at a park between our apartment complexes. of course most people think rabbits are adorable, but i also thought the chickens were pretty cute too. watching them run around and make their little hen noises was pretty entertaining. sadly, one of my meat vices is roast chicken; i just enjoy the flavour and texture. but after seeing them up close, i haven't had a craving since. i think everyone who enjoys eating meat should be forced to come face to face with their food and skin/gut/etc. it themselves. no more of these anonymous slabs of meat sitting in the cooler of the supermarket. another friend of mine does eat meat, as long as she can't see the head. guilt, perhaps?
another obstacle to vegans, to my knowledge, is baked goods. how does one make the same decadent cake sans eggs and real butter? despite a rich history of baking, denmark is definitely the wrong place to look for the answer. london, however, has ms cupcake. this ferrero rocher-style cupcake came from the tea room of spitalfields market. it was divine, moist, and unbelievably vegan.
sweetcheeks is another bakery stand tucked away in the vintage area of spitalfields market, looking cute and surprising people with vegan AND gluten-free options. i tried a chocolate-chili cookie, which was perhaps a little too crumbly, but the deep chocolate flavour and the powerful kick of chili (even for me!) afterwards was impressive. WAKE UP, DENMARK. this kind of baking is possible!
though a raw sunfood burger may sound disgusting, inspiral knows what they're doing. the burger contains nuts, herbs, and vegetables, and comes topped with sun-dried tomatoes. i got to choose 3 salads to go along with it; here you can see zucchini, rocket, and cauliflower. it was delicious! it was also gluten-free, low-GI, and without sugar. i ended up coming back to this cafe in camden again for a rice milk latte and a vegan brownie. inspiral also offers low-GI and vegan ice cream. good thing this place doesn't exist in copenhagen, or else i would get even chubbier than i already am!
well, it was a lovely trip to london. coming back to danish supermarkets and cafes was just a little depressing. when are danish food companies and restaurants going to realize that there is life after dairy/wheat/meat?
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11 kommentarer:
The fact that the entire country of Denmark has only a fraction of the inhabitants of London might have something to do with the level of variety in available goods... ;)
Hey,
This is a question for the webmaster/admin here at atherosclerosis.blogspot.com.
Can I use some of the information from your post above if I provide a backlink back to your website?
Thanks,
William
@ea: that is a very good point... but i still think it would be wise to cater to serious dietary needs like lactose and gluten intolerance, no matter how small a percent these sufferers make up. ^^;
@william: yes, of course!
I think DK does pretty good with gluten allergies (compared to supermarkets I've been to in other countries) - there's often quite a lot of gluten free products in the organic section of super brugsen.
I know, I just said DK was good at something. I may need a vacation! LOL.
I'm not big on slaughtering my own meat, I feel bad when I buy herbs in a pot from the store and I have to lop their heads off, and those are just plants! But once it's dead I do not have a problem with it. I also didn't have a problem feeding the snakes at my work live prey. This did involve reaching into the tank sometimes and holding the mouse or rat down so the snake could get a better grip (yeah, I am SO HARDCORE). I don't know why I threw that in there, but if felt relevant. I've also helped with cows that were led off to slaughter and I've eaten cows who's names I knew. It didn't really bother me that much.
I actually thought about becoming a butcher the other day. I was butterflying chicken breasts and thoroughly enjoying myself. I think I could do everything but the slaughtering bit. I really like the texture and smell of raw meat, I like the taste once it's cooked, and I think that cows, chickens, and pigs are not really all that cute. Especially cows. Why do people think cows are cute? Have you seen the snot that drips out of their noses? The poop that sticks to their tails? The drool? Ugh, not cute.
@archaeogoddess: maybe i am just getting shafted at superbrugsen in nørrebro. i haven't seen any gluten-free flours, but maybe you meant finished products like dried pasta? those i have seen, but what about bread and cupcakes for people with celiac? ;_;
I'm pretty sure I've seen the gluten free flours in either the organic section or the flour section of my superbrugsen. I know the one in Aarhus on Vesterport Torv had it, because I made it all the way to the check out line before realizing my mistake. It probably would have been fine, but at the time I was all "gluten fri, what the hell does that mean?" But maybe they were just trying out the product to see if it would sell. It wouldn't be the first time I've been over joyed to find something in the supermarket one week that then vanishes, never to be seen again. Yes, I'm talking to you Jensen's Bofhus Ranch Dip! Now I'm going to have to trot all the way to the other side of the island to see if the SB really has gluten free flour or not (to find out if you're being shafted or I'm having delusions - it's all in the name of science).
Can I just add my 2 cents worth here? I'm not coeliac, but I am a vegetarian with a yeast and sugar intolerance. Aarhus was one of the easiest places I have found to eat out in Dk. Silkeborg was actual the easiest... closely followed by Stege (Møn) & Odense.
I am going to damn well cry when I leave the UK, It's so unbelievably nice to be able to just go somewhere and not have to spend hours looking up in advance somewhere to eat. I agree that eating out in DK is disgustingly poor for those with special dietary requirements - it's bad enough being a vegetarian!
In regards to gluten free flours you really should try Irma, they are really good at having 'speciality' goods. I know for a fact that they always stock rice flour, proper corn flour, potato flour and I think maybe buckwheat flour. The big 'cheaper' supermarkets aren't going to stock much.... and you live in Nørrebro, Mina! I live(d) on Amager and had no trouble finding alot of gluten free flours. You just have to get out into the 'ethnic' stores and healthfood shops (I know the latter are rather crap in DK though).
i think i stand corrected! but i haven't seen any gluten-free flours in ethnic stores here in nørrebro. and though i would never consider superbrugsen 'cheap,' i guess i would have to spend a bit more at irma for some gluten-free stuff. i also noticed irma has soy dogs on sale this week. wtf, where have i been. =_=
I've heard from reputable sources that ethnic shops in Nørrebro are probably the only place in Denmark that you can get gram/besan (chickpea) flour. Which is gluten free.
Last lot I got though was from Germany.. and I just bought a kg here in the UK the other day.
Mikkel's bandmate is a chef, She's only been able to find any type of chickpea flour in Nørrebro.
Have you considered the fact that this might work another way? I am wondering if anyone else has come across something
exactly the same in the past? Let me know your thoughts...
Thanks for sharing the link, but argg it seems to be down... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please answer to my message if you do!
I would appreciate if someone here at atherosclerosis.blogspot.com could post it.
Thanks,
Peter
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