Potatoes and Danish National Identity

Carol Gold University of Alaska Fairbanks

These are potato sandwiches being served at a nursing home in Vanløse,

Denmark, in honor of Valdemar’s Day, June 15, 2010.1

Valdemar’s Day is thus on its way to being a memorial day both for Dannebrog and for our last, true national seasonal food. … the serious background for this initiative is that new eating habits have recently driven out the potato as the Danish national dish. Especially young people have turned their backs on potatoes.2 [emphasis added]

This quote is from the website of the Danish National Potato Council.

“Valdemar’s Day,” June 15th, commemorates the day in 1219 when the Danish national

flag, Dannebrog, fluttered down from the heavens to support King Valdemar the

Victorious in the midst of a battle in Estonia.3 June 15th is also genforeningsdag

(Reunification Day), the day in 1920 on which the northern part of north Schleswig was

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returned to Denmark after its loss to Prussia in 1864. The day obviously has very heavy

national overtones. Not coincidentally, this is the day which was chosen by the Danish

Potato Council to promote the use of the potato.

Twice in a single paragraph, the Potato Council refers to potatoes as a “national”

food, despite the fact that there is nothing indigenous to Denmark about potatoes. They

are a “new world” transplant, part of the Columbian exchange, yet here they are referred

to as a “true national seasonal food.” It is as though they have become so assimilated, so

Danish, that their new world origins have been forgotten. Of course, non-indigenous

foods can become part of a national cuisine, but this seems to go further and to imply that

the potatoes themselves are Danish.

First an open sandwich with freshly peeled fjord shrimps, next open potato sandwiches: pieces of dark rye bread, buttered with first class butter, covered with slices of [cold] boiled potatoes, sprinkled with a little salt and decorated with chives. With this a cold beer and, in honor of the day, a cold snaps. Lastly, a slice of bread with cheese and red & white radishes. Beautiful and Danish.4

Else-Marie Boyhus, a well-known Danish food historian, wrote this article in

honor of the Danish Constitution Day, June 5th. The first, and very democratic,5 Danish

constitution was promulgated on June 5, 1849. All subsequent constitutions, with one

exception, have also been promulgated on June 5th. Boyhus’s article outlined a lunch to

be eaten in honor of this national day. Looked at closely, everything she suggests is

indigenous to Denmark – except the potatoes, and perhaps the snaps, since it too is made

from potatoes. Red and white (radishes) are also the Danish national colors, the colors of

the Dannebrog. Boyhus actually states that her potato lunch is “Danish.”

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Danes are raised on potatoes. Without potatoes our hardworking forefathers would not have had a healthy vegetable to live on here in the cold north. There probably also would not have been anything called AALBORG AKVAVIT, since potatoes have been one of the most important ingredients in the Danish production of aquavit. … [Y]es, what would be left of Denmark without potatoes? Cheers!6

The Aalborg Aquavit website has an obvious interest in promoting Danish snaps,

but their explanation clearly ties potatoes in with a Danish agricultural past (“our

hardworking forefathers,”) and indeed, even with the existence of Denmark itself (“what

would be left of Denmark without potatoes?”). One is rather tempted to ask what would

be left of Aalborg Aquavit without potatoes, but the conflation of the two is telling.

Aquavit is a kind of a national Danish drink, an integral part of Danish festive meals,

often consumed with a beer chaser, and served with potato sandwiches during the

aforementioned Valdemar’s Day luncheon at Danish nursing homes.7

The point I am trying to make is that there is a perceived connection between

Denmark, Danishness and potatoes. Potatoes in Denmark were never as tied to the idea

of famine and bad times as they were in Ireland.8 Danes eventually embraced potatoes,

not as poor food, but rather as food of which to be proud, as part of a quintessentially

Danish diet.

In the summer, when new potatoes are ready to be harvested, signs spring up

across the Danish farmland advertising “new Danish potatoes!” (nye danske kartofler)

signs frequently accompanied with the Dannebrog.

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Indeed, the intensity with which “new potatoes” are greeted can easily be

compared with the arrival of “nouveau Beaujolais,” in France, or “Copper River Red

Salmon” from Alaska. There is an underlying sense of terroir at work in these cases.

Sure, one can get potatoes, wine and salmon from other places, but that which comes

from Denmark, France or Alaska is obviously better and preferable. And, of course,

there is an element of nationalism (or regionalism) underlying all terroir claims.

Potatoes arrived in Denmark in the early to mid-18th century, probably brought by

French Huguenots who settled near Fredericia, in Jutland, in 1719. They were spread

further by the so-called “potato Germans,” who arrived mid-century, encouraged to

immigrate in an attempt to colonize the heaths of west Jutland. Both groups were funded

by the Danish state as projects to promote the arable use of otherwise unusable land.

Potatoes grow well in the sandy soil of Denmark, on heaths and in ditches along the

roads.10

By the late 18th century, the absolutist Danish state was controlled by Crown

Prince Frederik (to be the VI), in the name of his father, Christian VII, who was

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certifiably insane. The young crown prince, who was only 16 when he took over power

from his father in a palace coup, was surrounded by reforming landlords and ministers.

The nobles of the crown prince’s inner circle were interested in aggressive agricultural

reforms, which resulted in buying out noble land and transferring it in compact,

contiguous plots to the peasants who worked it. Count Christian Ditlev Frederik

Reventlow, Privy Councillor, president of the Finance Ministry (Rentekammer) and thus

overseer of these agricultural reforms, gave a “Talk,” in 1788, reprinted in Minerva, a

radical Copenhagen periodical, describing his vision for the reforms:

I see a time ahead in which the outlying fields will resemble the well-fertilized villages, the sour meadows and marshes will be changed into productive fields … a time in which the cultivation of clover, potatoes and other useful roots will no longer be a rarity.11

This is interesting not only because of Reventlow’s vision of using new crops,

including potatoes, to fertilize previously unusable parts of the land, but also because of

the public nature of Reventlow’s “Talk.” The Crown Prince’s government, well aware of

the value of advertising, made use of the media to help generate support for its reforms.

All of which means that potatoes came into Denmark in a very public way and with

definite and visible government support.

The reforms were an undeniable success. By 1830, 40% of Danish peasants had

title to their own land (up from 3% before the reforms), and 60% of the former peasant-

worked land had been bought by peasants, now known as farmers, or “self-owners”

(selvejere). Between 1788 and 1805, grain prices rose by 50% and butter and beef by 35-

40%.12 Danish neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars, together with the extensive

Danish merchant marine, undoubtedly helped in the success of the reforms; there is not

doubt that times were good. But the good times also made it possible for the reforms to

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weather the very bad times, including the national bankruptcy, which followed the

wars.13

Potato cultivation, though, was not an equal immediate success. Peasant-farmers

resisted their introduction, loath, in the manner of centuries of peasants, to experiment

with new and unknown crops. One of Reventlow’s stewards wrote of how he and the

Count demonstrably ate potatoes in public view in one of the villages, in an attempt to

encourage peasants to follow suit – to no avail.

How then, do potatoes so successfully take over, not only the Danish diet, but the

Danish ethos as well?

This is a relatively rapid story. Danish cookbooks through the 18th century can

not agree on a common term for these new root vegetables. One sees recipes for

potatoer, jordæbler and kartoffler. And yet, an unknown source, writing in 1887, is

quoted by potato historian Hans Kyrre, as claiming that in order to get some variety into

their diet, peasants, “ate kartoffler in the morning, jordæbler at noon, and poteter in the

evening.”14 The source, whoever he was, was obviously being ironic, as these are three

words for potatoes – from German (which eventually took over as the Danish word),

French (a direct Danish translation of pommes de terre, or “earth apples”) and English.

One can understand this comment as reflecting the ubiquity of potatoes in the Danish diet

by the late 19th century, a stranglehold, if you will, on the Danish kitchen which was to

continue through to the late twentieth century.

When I first lived in Denmark, in the early 1960’s, boiled potatoes made up the

major portion of the noon dinner (which was still the main meal of the day). Any

potatoes left over from this meal, reappeared cold, sliced on the equally ubiquitous heavy,

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dark rye bread, as the cold potato sandwiches referred to earlier. French fries and potato

chips were just beginning to enter Denmark, and I have a vivid memory of a meal eaten

at a rural kro (inn) with my parents. It was to be a “typical” Danish meal of roast pork,

red cabbage, cucumber salad and potatoes. But to show off their continental elegance,

the restaurant served four kinds of potatoes – there were French fries and potato chips on

the platter, which was decorated with an edging of mashed potatoes. And, just to be sure,

there was a separate bowl with a mound of boiled potatoes.

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The fact that this potato cuisine is losing ground, among “youth,” to the easier –

and more exotic – carbohydrates, pasta and rice, is what spurred the Danish Potato

Council to declare a national “potato day.”

So what happened? This is, I believe, a two step process – first the spread of

potato cultivation, and then the linkage of potatoes with Danishness (danskhed, a word

which sounds better in Danish than in English). Potatoes did not get off to an

enthusiastic start in Denmark. Neither of the early groups of French or German colonists

were successful and both groups broke up fairly quickly; some of the Germans were

expelled as “rebellious elements.” And despite the fact that potatoes were pushed by

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government forces including local parish clergy, peasants resisted this new member of

the deadly nightshade family. They didn’t like the taste, like “candles” they said.16

However, potatoes do grow well in the sandy Danish soil, and flourished in the

rainy Danish climate. They are an excellent source of nutrients and one acre of potatoes

can supply ten people with their annual nutritive needs.17 So gradually, they were

adopted as human food, in addition to their original use as animal fodder. Cultivation of

potatoes was helped by their early use in institutions for the poor and the sick; these

provided a market. Christina Ax also feels that,

status was connected with cultivating potatoes. It showed that one had education and enough economic and cultural capital to experiment with new forms of cultivation, such as potatoes. It could be a way of raising one’s self over one’s neighbors.18

People could cultivate that which they would not dream of eating themselves, but

that spread the cultivation – and eventually also the use. The late 18th century

agricultural reforms, which gave peasants title to their own land, also gave them enough

land on which to live and support a family – unlike the English enclosure movement

which forced peasants off their lands or the land transfers of the French Revolution which

resulted in small plots, which were continually subdivided into even smaller plots. “Self-

owning” Danish farmers were able to support themselves and their families, as well as

generate enough extra produce for the growing capitalist market. There was enough of a

cushion to enable farmers to experiment with new crops. As these flourished, and were

sold, potato cultivation spread around the country.19

One can follow potatoes’ reputation through cookbook recipes. At the end of the

18th century there is still confusion over names. By the 19th century’s end, authors are

writing recipes which presuppose full familiarity with potatoes, and the name has settled

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on kartoffler. In 1883, Dr. Charles Emil Hagdahl goes so far as to connect potatoes with

a housewife’s moral qualities.

An excellent connoisseur maintains in full seriousness, that he can determine a housewife’s moral character according to the quality of the potatoes which she serves.20

Even if he’s being ironic, it’s an irony which is based on the ubiquity of the potato.

There is general agreement that these tubers had become an integral part of the Danish

diet by the end of the 19th century.

The next step is to decipher the connection between potatoes and Danish national

identity. Boyhus’ article on a Constitution Day lunch sees an obvious correlation. “The

history of the potato in Denmark is just about as old as the history of the constitution,”

she writes.21 As we’ve seen, this is not strictly accurate. Potatoes’ entry into Denmark

predates the 1849 constitution by at least a century. Even if one stretches the timing to

start with a widespread usage of potatoes, there is still several decades between the two

events. But, somehow, in Boyhus’ preception, the two go together – Denmark and

potatoes.

This of course a more difficult “proof." So bear with me as I conduct a thought

experiment containing several strands, among which are an acculturation process, based

on the growing importance of the independent farmers, and the need for and desire to

create a national identity in a country recently democratized and newly truncated. In

1814, Denmark lost Norway to Sweden as a result of ending up on the losing side in the

Napoleonic Wars. Half a century later, in 1864, Denmark lost the duchies of Schleswig

and Holstein to Prussia and Austria. What was left was the “kingdom of Denmark,” but

what was “Denmark”? What did it mean to be Danish? Over time, national identities

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became connected with languages, in a kind of linguistic shorthand – so was Denmark

then, the area in which people spoke Danish? Eventually, the Danish language turned out

to be a fairly accurate marker of Danishness; in 1920, the Danes refused to accept

additional territory from Germany after the First World War, drawing the national

boundary approximately where the linguistic boundary ran.

With the loss of Schleswig-Holstein, the Danes lost about two-fifths of their

population and a huge chunk of very valuable land. It was a shock to their collective

system. In 1872, H.P. Holst, poet, author and newspaper editor, wrote an inscription for

tokens to be used at the Great Nordic Art and Industry Exhibition. This has since come

to symbolize Danish feeling at the time and was to become the motto for the newly

founded Heath Society, to help in its promotion of draining the heaths in west Jutland in

an attempt literally to create more farmland.

“For every loss a replacement will be found/ What was outwardly lost shall be inwardly gained.” How to make a Dane? The absolutist Danish monarchy turned itself into a

democracy in 1848; promulgating a new constitution on June 5, 1849, which granted

universal manhood suffrage for the lower house of parliament. There was also a property

qualified upper house and the king still retained significant power in terms of appointing

his own cabinet. Much of the politics of the 19th century centered around a struggle for

control of the cabinet, demands for responsible parliamentary government. This battle

was finally won in 1902, with the introduction of what the Danes refer to as “the change

of system” (systemskift).

But that was after almost a century of struggle. Danes started organizing political

groups in the early 19th century when Denmark was still an absolutist monarchy.

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National Liberals agitated for a policy which would include Schleswig, but not Holstein,

in the Danish state – “Denmark to the Ejder River.” To do so, they wanted control of the

government. It was this push which resulted in the new constitution (which probably

went farther then they had anticipated). In 1870, independent farmers organized a formal

political party – the Venstre, or “Left” Party, made up of a shifting coalition of left-

oriented groups.22 They were the motive force behind the push for responsible

parliamentary government as they quickly achieved and maintained a majority in the

lower house of parliament.

Venstre was only one manifestation of the organizing that was going on in the

agricultural areas of Denmark throughout the nineteenth century. In addition to political

parties and lobbying pressure, farmers created cooperative stores, dairies and

slaughterhouses, built community halls (forsamlingshuse) across the country side, and

established “folk high schools” (folkehøjskoler), a kind of live-in community college

system. When the agrarian crisis reached Europe in 1873 (as American grain was

cheaper to buy in the European market than European grain), Denmark successfully

weathered the crisis by shifting away from grain to animal farming. The point of all this

is that farmers were organized, connected and educated. They were a potent pressure

group, aware of their needs and desires, and capable of acting on them.

There’s one other factor to throw into this mix, industrialization in Denmark took

place first in the countryside in the agricultural sector. As part of the response to the

1873 agricultural crisis, Danes reacted by modernizing, and industrializing, their

agricultural sector. This has often been missed, since industrialization in Denmark did

not follow the “standard” (English) model of textile industrialization. So the agrarian

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population in Denmark had motive, means and opportunity – that is, they had money and

political clout. They were the up-and-coming group; they were the new entrepreneurs,

with new money.

As they move into Copenhagen, into the political system, press for more power,

they bring their material culture, and food, with them. And by now, they are eating

potatoes. Eugen Weber, in Peasants into Frenchmen, describes an acculturation process

which starts in the capital city of Paris and reaches out into the countryside.23 I am

suggesting that the process went the other way in Denmark, from the countryside into the

towns, cities and capital of Copenhagen, that the new class brought their cuisine with

them.

Denmark has few national symbols. There is, of course, the flag, Dannebrog,

and the royal house. June 5th, Constitution Day, is not a true holiday; some people get it

off, others don’t, some get a half day off. There are two national anthems. There is no

national dress, such as the bunad of the Norwegians. What says “Denmark” to Danes?

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Mostly the red and white colors of the flag. I am not suggesting that potatoes filled that

void, but I am suggesting that there was, and indeed still is, a void.

Danes still see themselves as somehow only about one generation removed from

the land, despite the fact that close to one-quarter of them live in Copenhagen alone.

Their vision of their past history is an agrarian one. This is not completely inaccurate, as

agricultural exports made up the majority of Danish exports until after the Second World

War. Until very recently, the majority of historical research done in Denmark on the 18th

century was focused on agriculture, despite the fact that Copenhagen was a wealthy and

flourishing seaport and administrative center through the eighteenth century.

Small summer garden plots (kolonihaver)24 surround each of the major cities in

Denmark; there are an estimated 62,000 plots in Denmark.25 Danes with city apartments

move out to these plots for the summer and spend week-ends there the rest of the year, in

order to be able to spend time outdoors and to cultivate plants. There are nationalist

overtones, or undertones, to these groups. Danes think there is something inherently

“Danish” about these plots, although similar groups do exist elsewhere and there is even

an international webpage.26

“Kolonihaver are for everyone,” a member of the Danish People’s Party

commented, in response to a recent Danish Supreme Court decision that puts a ceiling on

plot prices. Despite market values, the Supreme Court said, plots and houses may not be

sold for more than the value assigned by Kolonihaverforbundet. “We maintain the

historic vision of kolonihaver,” said a member of today’s Venstre Party. “Families that

can not afford to buy a house, who live in apartments, should have the possibility to come

out and get a little fresh air as a kind of a poor man’s summerhouse.”27

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Some years ago, a frequent writer of letters to the editor of Jyllands- Posten28 sent

in the following contribution, “Are Danish Social Democrats globalists?” The article

ended this way,

If a kolonihave Dane has an Afghan on one side of the fence and a Pakistani on the other side, this means that the Dane will have no one to talk with, no one to drink a beer with, no one with whom to share the events of his youth. The feeling of sharing one’s experiences with one’s neighbors, the experience of a connection between the past and the present will disappear. Yes, yes, one or two Pakistanis in a kolonihave can fit into the whole. But not thirty.29

So now we’ve stepped back from kolonihaver as breathing holes for fresh-air

deprived city dwellers, “for everyone,” to a space in which a shared Danish past and

culture can flourish. I hasten to add that all Danes do not feel this way, nor even all

kolonihave-owning Danes. I mention it as an example of the space in which some Danes

dwell. There is a connection between kolonihaver rhetoric, Danish nationalism (even in

more neutral forms), and a Danish agricultural past. Potatoes are an integral part of that

past. In its newsletter, the kolonihave association regularly lists “flag days” (holidays on

which one is supposed to fly Dannebrog), as well as competitions and recipes for

potatoes.

The trick is to weave all this together. I do not believe that there is a one-to-one

correlation – that because Danes grow potatoes in their kolonihave plots they somehow

see this as essentially Danish, or because Danes can not agree on a single national

anthem, they have elevated potatoes to fulfill that void. But I do think all the elements

play together in some non-quantifiable way. As Danes traversed the 19th century, looking

for ways to identify themselves, to differentiate themselves from others (such as

Germans), as the politics of the century was played out (successfully) by independent

farmers, and as these same farmers became the successful economic motor of the new

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country – it was the farmers’ material culture which embedded itself in Danes’

consciousness as “Danish.”

In today’s world of the European Union, with demands on member countries’

sovereignties, with unfettered movement of people across the continent, and growing

numbers of non-Europeans immigrating into and settling in Europe, it should not be

surprising to find various nationalities struggling to “protect” themselves against

“others.”30 It should not be surprising to find Danes trying to hold on to that which they

perceive/d of as “Danish” against the inroads of institutions as seemingly benign as

“pasta.”

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Notes

1 Politiken, Copenhagen, June 16, 2010, p. 2 2 Danish Potato Council website, www.kartoffelraad.landbrug.dk, accessed June 26, 2001. 3 The citizenship test given to immigrants who wish to become naturalized Danish citizens included a question in 2010 on the year which Dannebrog fell from heaven. Politiken.dk, June 4, 2010. 4 Else-Marie Boyhus, ”Nye kartofler,” Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen, June 6, 1999. 5 This constitution introduced universal manhood suffrage for the lower house of Parliament. 6 “Stik fingeren I jorden og hæve glasset,” Aalborg Akvavit webpage. aalborgakvavit.dk, accessed June 26, 2006. 7 ”Danmarks ældre fejre flagdag med snaps,” Politiken, June 16, 2010, http://politiken.dk/indland/article995928.ece, accessed June 16, 2010. It might also be mentioned that Denmark has one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption in Europe. 8 Although the potato plague did ravish Denmark between 1845 and 1848, it never had the same impact as it did in Ireland. Christina Axe speculates that this is because the potato did not make up as large a part of the rural diet in Denmark at that time; the rural population had other food to put on their tables. Indeed, Axe feels that the plague may have encouraged Danish farmers to diversify their product. Christina Folke Axe, “Kartoflen som folkeføde I Danmark I det 19. århundrede,” Kost og spisevaner i 1800-tallet, Ole Hyldtoft, ed. Museum Tusculanums Forlag, Copenhagen, 2009, pp. 98-103. 9 Picture taken by Kenneth Olwig, July 5, 2009, along the road in Sjælland, Denmark. 10 Ax, pp. 43-45. 11 C.D.F. Reventlow, “Tale,” Minerva, no. 2, (1788), pp. 1-7. 12 Jens Vibæk, Reform og Fallit, 1784-1830, vol. 10 in Danmarks Historie, John Danstrup & Hal Koch, eds. Politikens Forlag, Copenhagen, 1964, pp. 90-92. See also Carol Gold, ”The Danish Reform Era,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1975, for a discussion of the reforms in English. 13 Danish neutrality ended in 1807, when the English bombed Copenhagen and sailed off with the Danish fleet. Denmark remained steadfastly allied with Napoleon throughout the remaining wars and thus ended up on the losing side in 1814. 14 Hans Kyrre, Kartoffelens Krønike, Copenhagen, 1938, p. 15 A more recent version of this meal from The Best of Danish Heritage Cookbook, http://www.danishchurch.vancouver.bc.ca/Danish Lutheran Church in Vancouver, BC. This meal has both roast and boiled potatoes. http://www.danishchurch.vancouver.bc.ca/ , accessed June 16, 2010. 16 Ax, p. 44-45. 17 Larry Zuckerman, The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World. North Point Press, NY, 1998, p. 6. 18 Ax, p. 97; see her article for an extensive account of the introduction and history of potato usage in Denmark. 19 See Ax for maps showing the spread of potato cultivation, pp. 77-81. 20 Charles Emil Hagdahl, Illustreret Kogebog, p. 596. See also, Carol Gold, Danish Cookbooks, Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, 2007, for a discussion of potatoes in cookbooks. 21 Boyhus. Op. cit. 22 The party name is sometimes given as “Liberal” or “Agrarian,” as it is, and always was, a bourgeois and not a socialist party. But it was to the “left” of the other political grouping at the time, the “right” or Conservative Party. The party still exists today, but is, ironically, one of the most right-wing parties in the Danish political spectrum. 23 Eugen Weber. Peasants into Frenchmen. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1976. 24 These are sometimes referred to as “allotments” in English, but I hesitate to use the term as it has a completely different connotation in American Indian history. 25 Politiken, June 10, 2010. Kolonihaveforbundet, the umbrella organization for the garden plot organizations, lists about 420 associations with 42,000 members/gardens. Kolonihaveforbundet for Danmark, http://www.kolonihave.dk/, accessed June 8,2010.

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26 The British organization is The National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners Ltd. http://www.jardins-familiaux.org/frameset/englisch/eengl.htm, accessed June 8, 2010. 27 Politiken. June 10, 2010. 28 Perhaps best known for its publication of the ”Mohammed cartoons,” in 2005. 29 Ole Hyltoft. ”Er danske socialdemokrater globalister?” NOMOS. Bragt som kronik i Jyllands-Posten 18 oktober 2001. http://www.nomos-dk.dk/midgaard/ole_hyltoft3.htm, accessed June 10, 2010. 30 Cf the recent Dutch election, June 2010.