Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Food Q&A: Where's the Danish?

Q: Why is it apparently impossible to find danish in Charlotte's supermarket bakeries (which are about the only bakeries around!) This is a breakfast staple for many of us transplanted people ...
Is it a "Southern" thing? Dave from Matthews

A: I don't know whether lack of danish is a Southern thing, but it certainly shouldn't be a Charlotte thing. The east side of the city has a long-time and well-established German-American population, and transplants from the Northeast have been coming to Charlotte for decades. And I do see a lot of Danish at Costco on Highway 51, so it's out there.

But I wonder if dwindling danish is more about changing eating habits. Most of the larger supermarkets do have more extensive in-house bakeries than they used to, so they certainly have the means. But usually when supermarkets make less, it's because they're selling less. So lack of danish might not be a function of region, but a reflection of the trend toward whole-grain breakfasts for health reasons. That message has been spreading for the last decade.

Maybe danish is down because granola is up.

Does anybody else have danish options to suggest for Dave?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Try Panera (there are several locations in and around Charlotte).

Anonymous said...

Amelie's bakery on North Davidson

Anonymous said...

Nova's on Central:
http://www.novasbakery.com/retail.asp

Kim Pittman said...

BJ's in Pineville has them almost all the time. If all else fails... here's an extremely easy recipe and they are delicious!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Cream-Cheese-Danish/Detail.aspx

Anonymous said...

Dean & Deluca also has delicious danish.

Anonymous said...

I've never had trouble finding Danish in ANY supermarket. How hard are they looking and have they tried simply asking someone at the store?