October 23, 2026

"So with the first few BMOs I tried, I combined [the bread, butter, and cheese] into a sandwich, and ate quickly and efficiently with both hands."

"'That’s the burger method,' said Mr. Dyrholm, the Politiken critic. Two friends set me straight. 'It’s just, like, very, very important that you eat it like this,' said Emma Toft Kromann, holding it open-faced. 'If you see someone eating it like a burger, you know they’re not from here,' added Ophelia Ernland. A bolle med ost is the elevenses of a city caught between hustle and hygge...."

From a long NYT article that's just about how people in Copenhagen eat bread with butter and some cheese. The headline is "It’s Sliced Cheese on Bread. And It’s Rocking Copenhagen’s World. The Danish capital is obsessed with this stripped-down snack, and the city’s top bakeries won’t stop until they’ve perfected it."

I haven't seen "elevenses" for so long, I almost thought I didn't know the word. I do know it, but I looked it up anyway. Here:
Ha ha. "Fourzes." "Fourzes" does not, like "elevenses," have its own OED entry. (I do think "elevenses" is plural, so that's a quibble with "A bolle med ost is the elevenses.") 

Anyway, bread and butter and cheese. Perfect. Why do we even need to be reminded that it's a thing? There's a particular way that it's a thing — in Copenhagen.

ADDED: Wikipedia has an entry for "Elevenses." You've probably encountered the word in classic children's literature:
In A.A. Milne’s "Winnie-the-Pooh’’, Pooh arrives at Rabbit’s house for elevenses. When offered a choice between condensed milk or honey on his bread, Pooh responds “both – but never mind the bread.”

Paddington Bear often took elevenses at the antique shop on Portobello Road run by his friend Mr Gruber, for which Paddington would buy buns and Mr Gruber would make cocoa.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, elevenses is one of the many meals that is enjoyed by the Hobbits of the Shire, served daily between second breakfast and luncheon. In addition, a party is implied to be particularly lavish in that food was served "continuously from elevenses until six-thirty".

22 comments:

Lazarus said...

Are Danes really as juvenile as that, or is it just the NYT writer?

And are they really so happy as they keep saying?

Spiros said...

I prefer butter to mayo on my sandwiches as well.

Joe Bar said...

Throw it on a pan, and it's a grilled cheese sandwich!

Original Mike said...

I like bread & butter and I like bread & cheese, but I've never understood why you'd add butter to a bread & cheese pairing.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Sounds a lot like Texas Toast.

tcrosse said...

Elevenses are a common part of the British day.
The Czechs do a more sophisticated open-faced sandwich, the chlebicky, which can have any number of various ingredients arranged artistically.

Josephbleau said...

Surely one must consume his BMO with knife and fork.

Iman said...

Well, I like bread and butter
I like toast and jam
That's what my baby feeds me
I'm her lovin’ man

Anthony said...

The Brothers Horne and their brie and butter baguettes.

Aggie said...

When I was a starving student, I belonged to a food co-op. Every week we would make runs, then gather and divvy up. My favorite thing was to immediately take a fresh, soft roll, still warm, saw off a hunk of cheddar or provolone, slap on some butter and mayo, then devour it, usually in about 3 bites.

Ann Althouse said...

@Anthony

LOL

William said...

Danes know more about dairy that I do, but isn't putting butter on a cheese overkill. There are things like mustard or mayo, not to mention such gourmet touches as lettuce or tomato.

Old and slow said...

Sounds a bit dull, but I do believe that every sandwich should have butter.

R C Belaire said...

I remember eating this same concoction in the Netherlands years ago. Up north near Gronigen, so maybe there was some Danish influence via Germany?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

The butter helps everything slide down. A much better sandwich-grease than the vomitous mayonnaise.

We’ve been eating cheese and bread this way (usually with soup) since I was a child. With never a Dane in sight.

boatbuilder said...

Danish names are almost as amusing as upper-crust British names.

tcrosse said...

"Trześniewski at Dorotheergasse 1 is Vienna's most iconic spot for open-faced sandwiches (Brötchen), operating since 1902."
I tried a few recently, but prefer the Czech version.

Lazarus said...

Butterbrot is a common European word for sandwich. We left that behind when we discovered mustard and mayonnaise. Toast with jelly or jam and melted butter is still an option, and what are waffles without butter and syrup?

KellyM said...

Sounds like a good candidate for some Branston Pickle on top. I’m sure James May would approve.

https://www.bringoutthebranston.co.uk/range/pickle/original-pickle/

Leora said...

I was inspired to put butter on my ham and swiss sandwich today and it was delightful. Much better than mayonnaise.

Clyde said...

The Dutch eat buttered bread with chocolate sprinkles for breakfast, called hagelslag ("hailstorm"). You can also find the sprinkles for it at gift shops in Holland, Michigan. It has to be at least 32% cacao to be authentic. It's not just the little chocolate sprinkles you might find in the supermarket on the baking aisle.

RobinGoodfellow said...

“ boatbuilder said...
Danish names are almost as amusing as upper-crust British names.”

There is no upper crust on an open faced sandwich.

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