If asked to name a foodstuff Denmark is famous for, it's most likely you'd turn into Homer Simpson and say: “Hmmmm, bacon.” However, Charlotte Madsen, a Danish chef, is trying to change perceptions about her homeland’s food with her London-based Danish catering company, Madsen Food.

Madsen, 30, trained at the prestigious catering school Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, in Switzerland, before moving to London to work for Baxter Storey, a large catering firm. “I worked at the Barclays HQ at Canary Wharf,” she says. “It was very different to what I am doing now. There were 100 catering staff on site servicing 5,000 employees. It gave me some excellent experience though, because I did everything from breakfasts to canapé parties for the executives.”

A combination of wanting to work for herself and missing the food of her homeland gave Madsen the inspiration to set up her own catering company specialising in Danish food. She left Baxter Storey and returned to Copenhagen to train at the renowned Restaurant Ida Davidsen for three months where she learnt to prepare their famous speciality smørrebrød, which is a Danish open sandwich. She then returned to London and started her company in 2006 from a friend’s kitchen. “Most of my original customers were Scandinavian businesses who booked me for lunches and parties,” she says. “We offer both the smørrebrød as well as hot dishes such as traditional Danish fish cakes, and as a result can cater for almost anything.”

Madsen’s company now has its own kitchen in Park Royal, northwest London, and has taken on a full-time employee with freelance staff coming in for bigger jobs. Her client list has also diversified, with more British clients after something different. Madsen’s plans to branch out by opening a Danish café and delicatessen. “Danish food is very good for you, with lots of fish and vegetables,” she says. “It fits in well with today’s preference for healthy food that tastes nice too.”

www.madsenfood.com

www.makeyourmark.org.uk

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