“Oh how much you still have to learn!” He shakes his head and informs me I’m about to get another lesson in the cultural traditions of my adopted homeland.

“A very long time ago, say…sixteenth century or something,” he says, sounding not at all sure, “Danish spice salesmen were so busy travelling around, selling their wares, that they had very little time for dating…”

With no Tinder or OkCupid to fall back on, I learn, most of them never found a mate or settled down and so became known as Pebersvends, “which basically translates as ‘Pepper Dudes’,” The Viking tells me.

• Having a baby Scandi-style

Since then, apparently, young unmarried Danes have been taunted with the prospect of a life of singledom by being showered with spices on milestone birthdays. A single male is a Pebersvend while an unmarried woman is referred to as a Pebermø or a ‘pepper-maiden’.