Is this what you expect in Copenhagen on your first day? So we opted for the smørrebrød is an open face sandwich topped like an Arby’s roast beef sandwich. So many people told us to try Scandinavian cuisine so what is it? Now that is a good question!

I have no idea what to think when I eat herring brined with cloves, that kind of makes me wonder why. I know they bleed the blood from the flesh using salt, and then soak it with spices in a salty brine, but the taste of cloves turned me off. I couldn’t eat it.

During the Middle Ages, thin slabs of coarse bread called “trenches” (late 15th century English) or, in its French derivative, “trenchers”, were used as plates. The Scandinavian open sandwich smørrebrød consists of one piece of buttered bread, often whole-grain rye bread. I still reserve my judgement until I have another try of their trenchers.