The other day I found everything that I had ever been looking for since stepping foot in Copenhagen: food, friends, and good weather. It was the Grand Opening for Copenhagen Street Food! Besides weird hot dogs and perhaps shwarma, the concept of street food has not been explored in Copenhagen quite fully. Where is the delicious grilled cheese food truck in Miami's artwalk, or the Korean taco truck I would eat lunch from in D.C, no ice cream truck delivering refreshing shredded ice and popsicles like I had in El Salvador all the time, or the bubble tea truck I would tirelessly stalk in Miami, in Pittsburgh seeing the Thai food truck right at the bottom of the steps into my apartment was normal, and sometimes I dream about the french fries truck me and the summer interns would check for everyday at lunch time. And let's not even go that far, in Miami there are street side windows to cafes so that street food really becomes that. Copenhagen is catching up, one baby step at a time.
The minute I heard about this event I messaged my friends and pretty much dropped everything I had to do to head to the location! The position that New Nordic cuisine has as number one in the world has transformed Danish food tendencies and Copenhagen as the gastronomic capital of the planet. Finding a good restaurant here is hardly a difficult task. Everyone asks about the 'have you tried this?' or the 'have you tried that?' and being that I'm poor and the least picky I resort to the inexpensive shwarma, falafels, and home-cooked meals. But when I read about street food coming to Copenhagen featuring (wait for it) a Cuban Food Truck (!!!!!!!) I had to forget all about the kroners and get my spice on!
The place was in an old market in Christianshvn, next to the Science Center and masterfully placed so that it overlooks the harbor and the beautiful Nyhvn that everyone knows Copenhagen for. This big warehouse had been transformed into a center of interesting international street food. There is much to say about how cute it was, and from a sustainable architecture standpoint they also hit my very very soft spot. Some of the places were in actual trucks, decorated to outmost cuteness in a hip and cool way. Other establishments were retrofitted shipping containers: cut up, transformed, and morphed into cool kitchens and street food amazingness. Some years back I had done a project in one of my architecture studios about the architecture of the shipping container and I had actively researched the pop-up movement which has taken the container so far and so outside it's box. Now-a-days everything can be made into a container and a container can be made into anything. I'm not sure if it's the aesthetic of utilitarian turned cool, or the fact that one can see something else change purposes in cool creative ways, but I dig the containers.
The minute I heard about this event I messaged my friends and pretty much dropped everything I had to do to head to the location! The position that New Nordic cuisine has as number one in the world has transformed Danish food tendencies and Copenhagen as the gastronomic capital of the planet. Finding a good restaurant here is hardly a difficult task. Everyone asks about the 'have you tried this?' or the 'have you tried that?' and being that I'm poor and the least picky I resort to the inexpensive shwarma, falafels, and home-cooked meals. But when I read about street food coming to Copenhagen featuring (wait for it) a Cuban Food Truck (!!!!!!!) I had to forget all about the kroners and get my spice on!
The place was in an old market in Christianshvn, next to the Science Center and masterfully placed so that it overlooks the harbor and the beautiful Nyhvn that everyone knows Copenhagen for. This big warehouse had been transformed into a center of interesting international street food. There is much to say about how cute it was, and from a sustainable architecture standpoint they also hit my very very soft spot. Some of the places were in actual trucks, decorated to outmost cuteness in a hip and cool way. Other establishments were retrofitted shipping containers: cut up, transformed, and morphed into cool kitchens and street food amazingness. Some years back I had done a project in one of my architecture studios about the architecture of the shipping container and I had actively researched the pop-up movement which has taken the container so far and so outside it's box. Now-a-days everything can be made into a container and a container can be made into anything. I'm not sure if it's the aesthetic of utilitarian turned cool, or the fact that one can see something else change purposes in cool creative ways, but I dig the containers.
We got there and there was live music, a lot of excitable conversations, many places to sit, and the overall wonder of street food in Copenhagen. Sure, it wasn't so cheap as in the end, we were still in Copenhagen, but the effort was commendable. There was a heat in effect to 'Noma,' the restaurant here in Copenhagen proclaimed number one in the world, which was just around the corner from the event. At Noma all the food is foraged and made gourmet by the most talented chefs in the world. Some of that sentiment was pursued in Copenhagen Street Food as there have surged initiatives in Denmark to bring food to the streets. It was a creative atmosphere at worst and as soon as we felt the nice breeze and saw the sunset pour in we put two and two together, bought food, and sat on the harbor edge dangling our feet above the water. How wonderful. We gave in to a cheap tomato soup to satisfy the vegetarians in the group, and low and behold it was delicious. Sitting outside was full of so many good vibes I just couldn't help but smile smile and smile. The waves were moving up and down and the sunset setting a sensual view to the city. Everyone was cuddled up against each other, under a blanket and sharing a beer. Even a little beer bath tub drifted by full with a bunch of dudes having a good time (um what?). When we found an open spot by the bonfire we sat around the flames feeling cozy. But I couldn't leave without trying the Cuban food, you thought wrong. I made a line with my friend Chase and ordered. the lady was everything I miss about Miami: sassy, colorful, and on her feet. She smiled at me when I told her I was from Miami and gave us a big plate of rice with all the love and coolness she is representing. Yum yum in my tum tum. I felt so nice and so in tune.
We were ready to leave and call it a day when BOOM we bumped into a party whose beats I just couldn't possibly had just passed by. It was at some warehouse; a make-shift DJ had set up camp with a beautiful laser set and beats to kill a whole entire body and soul. She was truly fantastic, and when a band started playing sultry dance songs I was even more into it. I danced, I laughed, I wanted it more. When I was ready to call it quits she played my new favorite mix in the entire planet featuring 'This Charming Man' by the Smiths. There is nothing more perfect than This Charming Man on any type of day to make you feel good, nothing better than Morresey, or the underground scene it explores, or nothing more perfect than the lyric work. But then this DJ showed me wrong: