About Netherlands

Dutch Culture, food, and diets

The Netherlands. This Europe’s most densely populated country, home to 16+ million people, occupies an area of 41,160 square kilometres. The country is rich in history and culture, where food of course being undetached part of them :)

During the 17th century, due to their strong merchant marine, people of Netherlands had access to food from around the world. Spices were imported from India and the Spice Islands. Raisins, dates, figs and nuts supplied by the Mediterranean. Cereal grains from Poland and Prussia…and in the same time, fish, butter, cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables were produced domestically.

One noticeable thing about Holland is its extremely high consumption of dairy products. The fact is...Holland is the world's largest exporter of dairy products! You must have been heard of their cheese, right? It's been said that Holland is truly the 'land of cheese.' :) Especially cities like Edam, Alkmaar, and Gouda. Cattle were kept in Netherlands even from pre-historic times!

The Dutch generally eat three meals a day, consists of two cold meals and one hot meal. For breakfast and lunch, people usually have bread. There are many varieties of breakfast bread. It can be sandwich with hagelslag( chocolate-snippers sprinkled on the bread ), muisjes(similar to hagelslag, but made from anise with a sugar coating. Muisjes are used to celebrate birth of a child. Blue & white muisjes for a boy, pink and white for a girl), jam, or cheese. There is also a popular breakfast cake called "ontbijkoek".

Lunch usually consists of another variation of bread. The Dutch love bread, aren't they? :) Included in the popular list is uitsmijter(open sandwiches) topped with ham, cheese, and egg. Rolls with a herring or tuna salad is favorite too.

Dinner, usually around 6 pm, is the hot meal of the day and is the main meal for most people. If you ever looked at the aardappeleters, a famous painting by Vincent van Gogh, you should have guessed what is the main ingredient in old-fashioned Dutch dinners...Yes, the aardappeleters literally means "potato eaters". Potato is popular and usually accompanied by cooked meat or fish and boiled vegetables. Soup is preferred as a midday or evening meal or as an entree. Pea, tomato, or curry soup is everybody's favorite. Dutch pea soup is full of fresh winter vegetables and chunks of bacon and sausage. And do you know? The Dutch have a unique way to know is a pea soup good or not...Try to stand a spoon in it, if the spoon stand upright, then yours is a good soup! :)

It is important to wash hands before eating, be on time to the table, and start to eat at the same moment, because it is considered impolite to begin eating before others. A parent or host traditionally announces when to eat by saying 'eet smakelijk' (literally means 'eat delightfully’ but its use is similar to “Bon Appétit”). One thing you should also note, never leave the table until all have finished eating.

If you have the chance to visit Holland, you should not miss…their wonderful vla! The thick sweet milk pudding, made mainly from milk, is available in various tastes: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry...or combination of them! And don't forget to try hopjes-vla and bitterkoekjes-vla…they have unexplainable tastes which will always remind you of the uniqueness of the country :)

And poffertjes! These tiny pancakes are traditionally served warm with lots of powdered sugar spread as the topping. You can go to a poffertjeskraam( poffertjes market stall/ eating house ) to have them ready made, or you can make it at your home using special pan. Sites like www.typicaldutchstuff.com, beside offering various Dutch recipes, also providing special Dutch-cooking equipment such as poffertjespan. There are also drop, which is a kind of liquorice, available in various forms and tastes…(salt and soft or sweet and hard? You just mention it!) It is very popular, but be careful, it can get you addicted! :), stamppot, which is mashed potatoes with diverse ingredients such as carrot, kale or endive and served with juicy and mild sausage, kroket and frikandel, which are fried rolls containing meat, stroopwafel--- unique snack made from two thin wafle-type wafers with special caramel filling, vlaai---a pastry or a sweet pie with fruit filling…and patat --- thick french fries that is habitually eaten with mayonaise and sometimes raw onions. Maybe this is unfamiliar for a non-Dutch, but it is really common in Holland…so we guess this is what do people call “so Dutch” :) You can also find lots of traditional recipes at www.godutch.com/discover_traditional_dutch_food.htm, www.pellatuliptime.com/recipes.html.

Another “so Dutch” thing is haring…or eating haring, exactly. Have you ever eaten a raw herring fish with raw onions, by picking the fish up by its tail and let it slip it into your mouth little by little? Eating herring can be traced back to 3000 B.C. It was first eaten in Scandinavia. Now there is even herring season in Holland! Every year, on a Saturday in late May, there is a festival called "Vlaggetjesdag" (Flag Day). At the day the harbor at Scheveningen is filled with decorated ships; large and small, all is decorated with colourful flags.

More about Dutch Culture Other Regional Links:
 * More about this country on WikiPedia.com
 * Netherlands Travel Guide - Travelguidewiki.com


 * Dutch Fashion - Wikichic.com

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