Get your skates on and organise your festive fodder now

Dave Smith

Nov 24, 2015

Information is key in the battle to secure the best possible food options for the festive period, and the fight starts here with two amazing options that many internationals are completely unaware of.

The first is Abigail’s. For so long a salvation of the international community – most particularly Brits, South Africans and Americans – at its shop on Peder Hvitfeldts Stræde near Nørreport station, it is now strictly a home delivery service.

Christmas puddings and brandy butter, frozen turkeys and sausage meat for your stuffing, mince pies and crackers – you name it and they can source it!
And they also have a fantastic range of confectionary, crisps, beer and soft drinks. Many a Copenhagen hangover has been cured by a can of Irn Bru over the years

Needs its community
But in 2013, they shut up shop. The combination of a death in the family that led to a period of “idleness for a couple of months” and the Danish government’s ban on 50 of its most popular products in 2011, including Marmite, sounded the death knell.

READ MORE: Farewell Abigail’s

The store was also increasingly torn between stocking childhood favourites, the kinds of products that many customers like to reminisce about, and foodstuffs that reflect current trends.

Co-owner Roddy Gray recalled to the Weekly Post in 2013 that an investment in one of Britain’s best-selling products – the minimum order was three pallets – led to them “selling almost nothing”.

And of course, it needs you, the international community in Denmark, to support their business. If you don’t you’ll only have yourselves to blame if you need that vital component to complete your Anglo experience and there’s nowhere to buy it.

He sleeps with the fishes
The same could be said about Fisk & Færdigt on HC Ørsteds Vej, a fishmongers owned by gourmet extraordinaire Simon Longhurst, who many of our readers might know as ‘The Codfather’.

For a decade now, Longhurst has been delighting fish lovers, foodies and fans of traditionally-made tucker with amazing produce, from fish and chip evenings for Weekly Post readers to fine dining catering to the diplomatic corps, InterNations, and the crowd at Cafe Cadeau.

But despite his credentials as a former London restaurant owner and Michelin star chef, surprisingly few people know of this shop, which is handily located just a few blocks from the Lakes.

Longhurst sources reasonably priced turkeys, and while it might be too late for Thanksgiving, it’s strongly advised you order one for Christmas. The deadline is December 11.

The taste difference compared to a frozen variety – well, it doesn’t come close.