Eating off a board

Someone suggested I write more about food. I think maybe she wants to eat vicariously through me. Well, here you go.

Last week in Sweden we went out to dinner at one of the local restaurants. One of the guys pointed out the restaurant’s specialty, something called a “plank steak”.

Now it clearly said “plank” but somehow my brain registered it as “flank”. So I was picturing, without really thinking about it, a marinated and grilled flank steak.

When it came, it was a steak that had literally been cooked on a plank – as in, a rectangular piece of charred wood. The guy who recommended it said, “Hmm, that one looks like it’s been used a bit.”

The border of the plank was trimmed with a huge amount of mashed potatoes, decoratively placed (using a pastry bag I presume).

As odd as it may sound, it was quite delicious.

We each ordered beer – a brand they said was brewed locally. I had heard that beer was expensive in Sweden and Denmark, but I was not prepared to pay something like a million Swedish Kronor. Actually it was only 60 SEK, which came to around $8 for a single beer. That would be cause for mass protest in Germany.

We talked about this, and the guys said that alcohol is heavily taxed in Sweden and Denmark, partly as a way to discourage people from drinking. The unintended consequence is that people drive over the border to Germany and literally fill up their cars with beer. Because of the EU they can bring the beer across the border without paying any additional tax (provided it is for “personal use”). Sure, I can personally drink a car load.

The further unintended consequence is that people tend to drink even more because they have mass quantities of beer conveniently on hand. I didn’t doubt this because Friday night back in Copenhagen, the amount of public intoxication was impressive. I saw groups of people hanging around the various public squares with plastic cases filled with beer bottles. It all seemed quite friendly though, and I think I could have walked up and joined them.

The guys told me there is a similar phenomenon with sugar and sugar products. But no, I didn’t see groups of people hanging around eating mass quantities of candy bars.

I had an early flight from Copenhagen back to Germany, too early for the hotel breakfast. After the 5-mile, 200 DKK ($34), cab ride to the airport (there must be tax on that too), I bought a surprisingly good Danish pastry for my breakfast. I realized there is a benefit to paying $10 for a piece of pastry: I did not hesitate in using my (company) credit card to pay for it.