In this episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kay Xander Mellish explores the multifaceted role of pigs in Danish society. He begins by explaining Danish slang that uses pig‑related words (svin, svinestreg, svinhund) as insults, then highlights the astonishing pig‑to‑person ratio—about 20 million pigs versus 5 million people—making Denmark the world leader in this metric. Mellish describes how most pigs are raised on large factory farms and generate billions of Danish crowns in exports to Germany, the UK, and China. He moves on to the culinary prominence of pork, detailing popular dishes such as rullepølse and flæskesteg, and notes how pork dominates supermarket sandwich toppings and workplace canteens. The episode then examines social change: increasing immigration and the growing Muslim population have led Danish kindergartens to drop pork from menus, challenging the traditional pork‑centric food culture. Mellish contrasts Denmark’s handling of pig imagery with other countries—mentioning the Netherlands’ removal of piggy banks, America’s Porky Pig, and Finland’s Angry Birds pigs—while noting that Danish children’s favorite mascots are non‑pig animals. The podcast concludes with a sponsorship plug for the KXM Group and a reminder to download the accompanying How to Live in Denmark book.
Chapters
Welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast, episode number 2. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. Today we're going to talk about pigs. Now, calling someone a pig is an insult in most places, and it is in Denmark too. You can call your ex-lover or your political opponent a svin. That means pig in Danish. Now, if somebody does something really low or immoral, like cheating in a foosball game, it's called a svinestreg, or a pig stroke. And if you behave really badly, you're letting out your inner svinhund. Your inner pig dog. And so on. But pigs are loved in Denmark, too. First of all, there are more pigs in Denmark than people— about 20 million pigs to 5 million humans. That's the highest pig-to-person ratio of any country in the world. Now, most of the pigs are invisible to your average Copenhagen sophisticate. They live out on big factory farms in the countryside. But they bring in billions of crowns per year in exports, mostly to Germany and the UK and China now. But pigs are not just big business in Denmark. They're what's for dinner. Despite what you may have read in glossy magazines about the new Nordic cuisine featuring exotic berries and reindeer, most Danish supermarkets feature a great deal of pig. A lot of it is in the sandwich section, with dozens of different pig-related sandwich toppings. My favorite is rullepølse, which is made up of pink and white swirls, sort of like a Persian carpet of pork. That's just to look at; I don't actually eat it. I also don't eat flæskesteg, which is sort of a crunchy fried roast pork, basically fat plus bone. It's sometimes called the national dish and very popular among Danes. When I used to work at a large Danish company, it would be served for lunch in the canteen sometimes. There'd always be long lines of Danes waiting to fill their plates. All the foreigners would have soup for lunch that day. But there are more foreigners in Denmark now, and that's threatening the pig's power base. Muslims, of course, do not eat pork, and many Danish kindergartens are now not serving pork at all, so they don't have to make a separate dish for the Muslim kids, or serve them soup for lunch that day. Now, Denmark has not gone as far as the Netherlands, which has eliminated piggy banks for children in order to avoid offending Muslim customers. That's because children in Denmark put their extra change into a penguin, the plastic mascot of the biggest local bank. Penguins don't offend anyone. There are also no cartoon pigs to worry about in Denmark. Now, America may have Porky Pig, and Finland may have those green pigs that the Angry Birds are always trying to kill, but Danish children's favorite cuddly characters are a bear, a chicken, and a duck. That's how to live in Denmark for this week. This podcast is sponsored by the KXM Group. If you're a Danish company looking to do business outside of Denmark, we make you look good in English. Learn more at kxmgroup.dk. Music arranged by George Garvis. See you next time. Remember, the How to Live in Denmark book is available for download on amazon.com. You can read it on any phone or tablet. All you need is the Kindle app, and the Kindle app is free. The book's not free, but it's not very expensive either. If you read the book and enjoy it, please leave a review on your local version of amazon.com. It helps other people find the book and find the podcast.
