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I’ve been on a gluten free travel holiday the last 2 and a half weeks celebrating Christmas and New Years with my sister and her Beau in Copenhagen, Denmark. It’s been a colorful experience, not having too high of expectations of the city I came here ready for anything and anything was what I got.
Copenhagen has a similar climate to Seattle, i.e. cloudy, rainy, but considerably more windy. It also gets dark around 3 pm, so daylight is a sacred resource. They actually prescribe Vitamin D to people here during the winter, in my opinion they should prescribe one month vacation to a tropical, sunny place, where it’s warm and the sand toasts your feet.
The people are tall, white fossil-like models with cold blue eyes and sculpted faces. Some of them are light brown in coloring as well, but most tower above my husband and I in cool observation. You’d think Danes would follow-up their mysterious appearance with even more icy personalities, but they don’t. In fact, they are some of the most warm-hearted and friendly people I have met (aside from Spaniards). 99% of Danes also speak VERY GOOD English and don’t hate Americans, but are more curious about us than stand-offish. Who knew?
Gluten is a main staple in the Danish diet, like many other countries in Europe (sucks to be eating gluten free), the most common being rye bread used in smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches). I, like many others gluten free folks cannot feast on curried herring (oh darn) and other pickled fishies nestled atop hard-boiled eggs, dill, and mayo. But I could if I really wanted to because the local natural food chain (Irma) carries a gluten free bread that resembles and even smells like rye. They also carry Schar gluten free cookies, rice cakes, and cereals. So eating gluten free wasn’t too hard.
Gluten free in Danish is Glutenfrit and if you go to any restaurants most are very aware of the allergy and what contains gluten, to the point where you will probably get no sauce or flavoring at all, but it will be free of gluten. økologisk means organic, so any store that claims to have organic food, most likely has gluten free foods as well.
Irma (Natural Food Grocery Store)
– Grocery chain that carries a gluten free rye bread substitute, gluten free cereals, gluten free cookies, and other organic grocery items. $$$
Naturbageriet (Bakery that makes gluten free baked goods – not dedicated)
– Not the best gluten free baked goods I have had, but I do live in Seattle, which is one of the best cities to live in for this allergy. They were decent though and if you catch them earlier in the day they will have more options. $$$
Urtehuset (Natural supplement, grains, beauty product stores)
– Carry supplements, gluten free grains, gluten free baked goods, gluten free raw treats, cookies, and more. Check out their site as well, it’s interesting. $$$
Natur Poteket (Natural supplement, grains, beauty product stores)
– Another natural food store, gluten free grains, gluten free baked goods, gluten free raw treats, cookies, and more. $$$
Hvidovre Kommune (Very good hospital, long wait though)
– If you get sick, go here. It’s FREE.
If you think the city you live in is expensive, you will think Copenhagen is exorbitant. I paid $20 for a cup of chilli at a cafe in a shopping mall called Magasin Du Nord (think Nordstrom). A sandwich for my non-allergic husband was also $20. The grocery store is a little more reasonable, so we opted to eat at home with my sister most meals.
I will add that while it is expensive to travel (and probably live) to Denmark, healthcare is free. I came down with a particularly virulent flu I caught from my friend here, who sat next to someone on the plane who was coughing excessively. We all were sick in a matter of days. My fever was so high, I was partially responsive and I also happen to get a severely painful ovarian cyst, so to the hospital I was rushed by my dear husband and sister. Hvidovre Kommune (very good hospital just outside of Copenhagen) set up a temporary social security card for me and admitted me over night for observation…something I DID NOT want to do.
Medicine here (at least at the state run hospital) is thorough and careful and reminiscent of American 1950’s military medicine, i.e. it’s simple. The hospital rooms aren’t retrofitted with televisions, radios, or any new equipment whatsoever like American hospitals, so you just lay in bed with your I.V. listening to the person next to you hack up a lung. I saw probably 5 different doctors and 5 different nurses in a span of 12 hours. All were very kind and clearly in it to help people. One of the doctors had me convinced he was a legitimate healer, he could read my mind by just staring into my eyes for about 5 minutes. The amount of empathy this man had for being a surgeon surprised me. The last nurse I saw checked on me every five minutes. She was very pleasant and super friendly. So I felt taken care of, despite the slowness of their diagnosis (they thought I might have appendicitis). It wasn’t pleasant, nor was it an experience I wanted, but it was free and left me unharmed. In fact, I probably recovered faster due to their antibiotics and salt water I.V.s than I would have on Ibuprofen at home.
During my time in Scandinavia, my family and I also took a trip up to Norway which was even more surprising and beautiful. That gluten free travel blog is coming up next!
Guide to Gluten Free Blog 