In the blogsphere of fellow Dutch expats, there's a current food meme (tagging) of seven food that you like and dislike in Holland. I though it would be fun to share them with you.

I got mine from H of LifeAbroad and Anita of Greetingsfrom Holland. The original came from Isabella of TouchofDutch It was fun listing down Dutch food and I found out that most expats dont like herring.

Anyway here is the intro to my post, hope you'll click on the link to read more because its quite too long to post the whole article here.

please continue reading

Hope you enjoy it.

In your quote you assume that "national (Dutch) food is junk food". To prove your point, you mention some junk foods, like frikandel, kroket, bitterballen, etc. That's right, no question about it!
However, you take great care not to mention any "normal" Dutch dish, not even Stamppot (2 "t"'s) or Hutspot! That's not fair!If you open any Dutch cookery book (did you ever?), you will find among the hundreds of recipes, at least 100 purely national Dutch dishes. Even I, a 100% expat foodie, have to admit that Dutch food is more than just junk food for those willing to experiment with culinary pleasure.
Btw, you are perfectly right that the origin of many many dishes are lost in the mists of time and that all ethnicities borrowed/exchanged recipes...and ingredients!

A lot of modern food is "borrowed" from somewhere I think. Just the result of migration. Then modified according to available ingredients and local tastes. So-called Chinese food would be a typical example.

Occasionally the modifications make the borrowed food local though...I think perogies would be one example (borrowed from Polish immigrants, but by using cheddar cheese, is considered typically Canadian). And aren't there European roots to both hamburgers and hotdogs?

Both the Irish and the Dutch mash veggies into their potatoes. But I think the veggie of choice in Ireland makes their's Colcannon. For example, as my Dutchie has Irish roots on his mom's side going back six generations, and his last name originated in the English southwest, who knows exactly in what country green stuff accidentally fell into the pot of tatties and the cook just said, "meh" and kept mashing...

Hello my friends

I have to confess that I am rather partial to those things you can get out of those little windows. It is a bit like a guaranteed win at the slot machines if you see what I mean.
There can be a very unpleasent drawback to these snacks however, and that is that the ones that are a bit like half-sized sausages all covered in dark brown breadcrumbs can be EXTREMELY hot. On at least one occasion I have embarresed myself by having to hurriedly spit out the gloopy greyish meaty stuff inside them to avoid possible damage to my mouth.

Another of my favourites [which the Dutch also seem to love] are these very spicy nuts called ketchang paydees [ I don't know if that is the right spelling].
My goodness!! I love them!

Anyway my good friends,

Have a good evening everyone!

Les


ps if there is one Dutch delicacy that I am not overly fond of, it would have to be the xmas/Easter/ Pinkser brood. Especially that sugary blob.

Yeah, I was careful not to mention them because I haven't really cook or taste them unless Mom tell me its this and that. I have only been here for four months my knowledge of Dutch food is limited to what I've written that I chose my words carefully.

I appreciate your comment, I will have to try those things you said. Ive tasted stampot before, (I think I mentioned it in the blog) but nah, Ill pass from that one. The thing is, in my country, mashed potato is served with gravy which is a bit sweet so my cultural background has a lot of things to do with that. I think I should put that in the disclaimer below the post. Thanks.

hahahaha, you mean "katjang pedis"!
And the "sugary blob" is almond paste, just that!

Good night my friend!

Hello again all my friends!

I should like to tell you all about the most delicous thing I have had since I arrived here last year. Oh my goodness! It was so lekker that my mouth is beginning to water even as I think about it!
I do not know if they are typically Dutch or not, but one of the women at work has a sister who has just had a baby. She bought in these little round toasty type things to treat us with [apparently it is a tradition]. On the toasty thing were all these little balls of pink and white sugary balls. They were sweet and very crunchy, and [to be honest] quite hard to eat without spilling the balls everywhere, but goodness!! I LOVE them!!
Apparently this treat is called bershoutmet myshers!
I shall have to look out for them in my local supermarket later, but I hope they don't prove to be addictive!!

A very pleasent evening to you all my friends!

Les

There can be a very unpleasent drawback to these snacks however, and that is that the ones that are a bit like half-sized sausages all covered in dark brown breadcrumbs can be EXTREMELY hot. On at least one occasion I have embarresed myself by having to hurriedly spit out the gloopy greyish meaty stuff inside them to avoid possible damage to my mouth.

dog food! mwahaha....

i think it's vleeskroket.

'Beschuit met muisjes' - http://www.deruijter.nl/assortiment.asp?catid=3

I can handle bitterballen, but then I can drown the dog food in mustard...

Dear friend,

Yup we seem to get them twice a month and the worst is that they insist that you eat them immediately at work, which I hate as I don't eat sweets unless there is an opportunity to brush my tusks right after

I have been and always shall be your friend,

Cloggieking

vleeskroket = fried gravy (for all intents and purposes)

...with chunks.

too much gehakt
too many powdered food flavourings
too much deep fat frying
not enough parsnips, but salsify does a quite good 2nd

the onions are crap this year
the spuds are crap this year

why does the bread go rotten so quick?????
buy it on saturday so can make food for work on monday, but by monday it is green?????

I have heard there is a natural form of LSD in some bread moulds, but it realy doesnt look that apetizing enough to try it. Is one slice of bread equal to 1 tab? if so i'd need a bigger mouth

Hello once again my brothers and sisters!

I have to let you all know that eating too many beshuit met meishers is not a clever idea. Not only this but it can also make you feel very sick.
I got through a whole packet yesterday evening and have not been feeling myself at all today. from now on I shall stick to ketchang paydees or just plain old crips when I feel a bit peckish in the evening.

Your [still a bit queasy] friend

Les

Dutch food definately isnt known for being anything special, and the special Dutch foods are generally fatty foods or just horrible tasting foods!

The worst thing for me in this country about food is the quality and lack of choice you get from supermarkets! The supermarkets in Amsterdam are awful! I do like eating fresh foods instead of packaged or tinned foods, but atleast 2 or 3 times a month I find the food I bought is off even though the use by date isnt expired. The lack of choice of foods is also bad

When I go back to the UK and go to a big Tesco or Sainsbury I feel like a 5 year old kid running through Harrods toystore in London So much choice and so many nice things to buy.. I miss those supermarkets. I know Tesco's have tried many times to get licensing and property to buy in the Netherlands, but they always get refused

I had no idea Tesco actually tried to open in The Netherlands. Why would they be refused?

Personally, I think it is one of these regularly circulating "rumors" without any real ground. At least, I have never found a shred of truth in it. The same goes for Sainsbury's...
We all know (and if WE know, surely "marketing professionals" do!) that the Dutch are pennypinching consumers. They even go (in their cars, spending costly petrol!) from supermarket 1, where bread is "in de aanbieding" to supermarket 2, in which vegetable oil is on offer!
In such a climate it's simply not profitable to organise a very large selection of goods: the Dutch simply will not buy the somewhat more expensive items. That's why the Dutch grocers like AH, C1000, Plus, Super DeBoer, Jumbo, etc., do not expand their asortment. Imo it's also the reason why British grocers do not start in the Swamp and why Habitat and Marks & Spencer quitted after a few years.

Keep the bread in the fridge, will last longer. Works for me.

I put the loaf in the freezer as soon as I get home and take slices out as and when... lasts weeks.

Ditto. The way I look at it, it's probably a good thing...fewer chemicals keeping it alive longer artificially...

I've been saying that since I first moved here over 6 years ago... Probably hard to believe, but it has actually got a bit better here, though still far behind that of the supermarkets in the UK. In fact, I don't know why they call them supermarkets here, there's nothing super about them really...

But do they? Or just "markt"?

http://www.foodtube.nl/video/239/Croquet-college-deel-1

http://www.foodtube.nl/video/239/Croquet-college-deel-2

http://www.foodtube.nl/video/239/Croquet-college-deel-3

English instructions can be found here:

http://www.expatica.com/nl/leisure/dining_...ttes_14259.html

And not a can of dogfood in sight!!

I guess I was thinking of Supercoop, Super de Boer, PLUS supermarkt or Jumbo Supermarkten

M&S pulled out of all of Continental Europe at around the same time, not just Clogland. Here's an example of a news story -> http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/17/business...parks_ed3_.html
There are *rumours* that they may have another go, with a food only store this time. That would suit me fine, as their clothes selection (in my opinion) leaves a lot to be desired - only good for socks and jocks.

Is there a such thing as "100 % cranberry tea" around here. Recently I bought bag of cranberry tea, only to find it is "1 % cranberry tea"?

Growing up I heard culinary horror stories from my father about him regularly eating bread with sugar/fat/syrup/butter in all possible combinations, for example bread dipped in very fat gravy topped off with syrup. Apparently this was pretty normal food in the first half of the 20th century.

If you want a good genuine dutch food experience there is nothing I could recommend more then a good pea soup (snert/erwtensoep) with some rookworst during a nice cold winter (if we ever get one again).

Yes, they seem to throw around the word "super" in the same way they do "exotic" - exotic broodjes, indeed!!

I don't think there is. Also, on it's own, I don't think it's quite so nice...

Much like the 'Excellent' range in Albert Heijn.

I can help out on that one. I worked for UK company who had a product in AH. And the same principle applies as to opening non dutch companies in Holland. AH made it impossible to make a profit, demanding the most unreasonable terms in terms of profit margin. No matter how many ideas we came up with, they only wanted the product sold at a particular price and with their margin intact, leaving us with a hard loss.
I can only imagine what Tesco had to come up against to get the stores in to Holland and what hurdles they were asked to jump to get in.

I bought cranberry tea with ~25% cranberry (somewhere else) and tasted really good. I tried to make tea out of dry cranberries, but water got barely colour and taste. 1% cranberry tea was very bad Came from Terscheling island.

Yeah, probably because of the other ingredients...

No you could feel the aroma of cranberries. Dried cranberries also taste good.

Of course, but with the other ingredients it all adds to a better taste...

The only dutch stuff I liked was stroopwaffles and pannekoken which I have in a rare time. I have a hard time with dutch food, as im not really fond of them. I miss tesco and morrisons. Get a decent range of veg and fruit in those supermarkets. Also I have been to occasions with my girlsfriends family and I must say the food was not great. Rather stayed at home and made pasta for myself, which would be better.

Bread and dripping was pretty standard fair in the early 20th century. I have no idea how the dutch handled food in wartime (I'm aware many died in the famine), but in England there was rationing until 1954, long after the war finished. Your imported fruit and veg (eg. bananas, oranges) - which just wont grow in North Europe - was very scarce. People ate what they had to hand, in order to survive.

`Growing up I heard culinary horror stories from my father about him regularly eating bread with sugar/fat/syrup/butter in all possible combinations, for example bread dipped in very fat gravy topped off with syrup`

Good evening my friends!

Such a carbohydrate rich diet would make many people either very fat or easy victims to spottiness, so I for one would not recommend it. However, I have never yet been to a cafe or snack bar where they are offering such unhealthy combinations [although chips with mayonnaise,sate sauce and onions does perhaps come close, except for the onions which are usually raw].

This is all I wish to say on this my fiends

A finer avornd!

Les

Wow, I do not know what you guys are eating or considering real dutch food. I am not trying to be rude here..... There are so many great recipes to try or yourself make. Yea, Years ago, I thought gosh, all these skinny dutch do is eat friet the whole day.!!!!!! There are tons orf sorts of salads and soups and fish and etc..... maybe we should start a recipe link.
Kelly Ann

hehe yeah i remember when i first got here, standing in front of a freezer at AH and thinking: WTF.....everything is ORANGE.... i eat salads now, chicken, pasta....simple and unfried

Not in a cafe, and probably not all that common in homes nowadays. I remember as a kid using bread to sop up whatever, gravy, sauce, etc . . .off of a plate in the states. I don't eat bread anymore so I don't do that. I while ago on the cover of the local rag there was an article about the importance of sending your kid off to school with a healthy breakfast acoompanied by a picture of a kid eating white bread with butter and hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles) Um, hello, sugar overload.

And what makes me laugh is the Dutch idea of “home made” soup, a packet from the supermarket with pre-chopped veg, a chicken leg or two and a box of soup mix from Honig. On the other hand, it’s easy to impress people with your cooking skills.

I do like stamppot met rookworst. And their sweets, pannenkoeken, poffertjes, all the cookies and so on, although I don’t partake all that often. I even don’t mind the snack foods on occasion.

Like:

1. fresh Dutch bread
2. rookworst
3. haring (of any kind)
4. oliebollen
5. kroketten
6. properly prepared bami
7. pannekoeken

Dislike:

1. fricandel
2. foods labelled merely by colour (eg "red soup", "orange soup", "green soup")
3. the Dutch version of hot dog wieners
4. Dutch mayonnaise
5. salty Dutch shrimp
6. babi panang
7. most Indonesian meat dishes

I wouldn't say that particularly Dutch food sets the culinary world on fire or anything, but I haven't been too disappointed - simply because I cook what I want and my boyfriend loves most food.

I am, however, pretty surprised to hear all the comments about the lack of variety and such in grocery stores. The AH near me is pretty well stocked and aside from the stuff-you-just-can't-get, I have found everything I needed. Markt is more expensive, but better for herbs and vegetable and animal proteins.

I did want to buy some canned chicken stock though, and noticed that there wasn't any - just bouillon. I thought that was a little odd.

As far as Dutch things I really enjoy - I like pepernoten A LOT!, the mashed potatoes with leeks from the stampot and pretty much all of the bread, even the ordinary ones. They just taste better to me.

I do, however, think the butter is weird. It is very yellow and melts differently. It makes my cookies flat and crispier though, which is normally pretty good - but my shortbread is disastrous.

As far as things I don't like - I am not a huge fan of croquetten - at least the variety I have had. I think the crunch to filling ratio skews too much in favor of goo. That's just me though.

I noticed someone had mentioned a recipe exchange on here - perhaps someone has ideas regarding the butter situation as it pertains to cookies?

As far as butter is concerned: you're right, most of Dutch butter ( from the cheapest 69 cents to the 1,25 cents per 250 g) does not perform well in the skewer like it used to (explosive melting). I have tried them all, about 20 brands! The only one I can recommend is BOERENBOTER made at the farm. Unfortunately, it is also the most expensive.. However, your shortbread might be yummi yummi!

I have to say the winter food is filling and makes you feel all warm and cosy when it's crappy outside.

I don't know. I'm kind of disappointed. It's half my Dutchie and half the selections.

Since we're in the red from paying my damn IND fee, we have to buy pretty cheap food. But even when we didn't have to, it's all my Dutchie wanted to eat!

Macaroni (but NEVER without spaghetti sauce)
Sausage
Gehakt Vlees
Rijst
Kip Tandoori
Speklaapjes
Pork Chops
Spaghetti met champignons en rode paprika

Rarely do we eat anything else! Sometimes we get Chineese Groenten to go with rice and meat. But wow. The lack of salad or any fresh fruits or vegetables is killing me! Also my Dutchie really hates seafood of any kind, which is expensive anyway.

It's not that he wouldn't buy cheap things if I asked. But we always go grocery together, and I feel since he is paying for it, he should have what he wants. Or when he does ask me what I want, like, for bread, I don't know! What else is there to put on bread besides butter, jam, or hagelslag/chocolaade vlakken? I feel put on the spot a lot, not really knowing what the choices ARE.

I love stamppot with rode kool, or kale, or fresh endive oniony things mixed in. But it just gets so boring to eat such starch rich food all the time. I also agree with anything that is exotic or out of the ordinary to Dutch people is just deep fried and greasy. The deli counter at Jumbo is nice though, with the hamkaasbroodjes/croissants. It makes a nice Saturday brunch.

Oh, I guess one of my biggest issues is that we do not have a proper kitchen. We have a two burner counter top stove. And we have a Microwave/Convection oven. But the Convection part is broken, because everytime we try to cook something on the Convection setting, it doesn't come out cooked completely. You have to put it in almost twice as long.

/rant about food.

I would recommend making some soups - split pea or lentil. It's super inexpensive to make and you can put many more vegetables in those soups than your Dutchie would notice.

Also, if you can get your hands on a slow cooker...do they exist there? Cook your soup in there and then there is zero work. The slow cooker is also great for dried beans.

Anyone know if a slow cooker is attainable in the Netherlands?

I've never seen one. I always make my soups in a big pot on the stove. Also, for ingredients, this website is invaluable in the beginning when you don't know Dutch. http://www.foodlexicon.net/