The Danish Embassy is organizing a series of cooking events to introduce the country’s home cuisine and recipes to culinary explorers in Korea.

The event is part of the program “Delicious Denmark,” designed to showcase Danish open sandwiches, smorrebrod and smushi, to consumers here, who are increasingly searching for different gastronomies.

On Wednesday at Mad og Hygge studio in Sinchon in Seoul, journalists and food bloggers participated in a cooking session for the smorrebrod, joined by Danish Ambassador Thomas Lehmann. 

“Danish and Nordic food has been gaining growing popularity around the world, as people increasingly care about health and well-being,” Lehmann said. “In Denmark, we produce and consume ingredients directly from our natural surroundings. Danes really care about what goes into our mouths.”

Smorrebrod is a traditional Danish dish made of buttered rye bread, which uses whole grains, topped by layers of toppings ranging from liver pate and raw herring to cocktail shrimp and salami. Other toppings such as cooked eggs, tomato, cucumber, cheese, onions and lettuce are used creatively depending on one’s personal taste.

As people mix different toppings, some open sandwich restaurants in Denmark have menus that extend as long as 1.5 meters, the ambassador noted. Also, there is regional variety, with the seaside localities using more seafood, such as salmon or herring, and the inland areas bordering Germany using sausages, a Germanic food.

Mad og Hygge owner Anne Katrine Salling, an ethnic Korean who lived in Denmark for many years, said that the open sandwich was an old tradition celebrated everywhere in the Scandinavian nation, from family gatherings to casual business meetings.

“It’s more of an old Nordic thing,” she said, adding that her grandmothers liked to prepare it. The dish is enjoyed in an atmosphere favorable to friendly association, in a “hygge” setting, meaning a place of friendliness, coziness and cheer.

The event also featured a traditional Danish dessert, an apple cake made of macaroons, mashed apples, berry jelly and whipped cream. On Oct. 31, the embassy will organize a cooking session at Daelim Museum in Seoul, introducing an open sandwich variety involving raw fish, smushi, with the help of a Danish chef.

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)