In Hertzsprung's Denmark and later the Netherlands, meals are not divided into starter-main-dessert but are organized around a table of open-faced sandwiches (smørrebrød) and a cold buffet (det kolde bord). Rye bread, butter, fish and pickled herring are placed on the table, and everyone composes their own bites. Sweets are not relegated to the end: yeast cakes, round doughnuts and spiced mulled wine accompany coffee at any hour, especially in winter and during holidays.

A dense, dark, slightly sour bread fermented with rye sourdough for days. It is the foundation of the entire Danish table: it goes under the fish, under the butter, under everything. Its fermented, earthy taste is the true gustatory signature of the bourgeois Nordic cuisine in which Hertzsprung grew up.