The Dutch food thread, because Dutch food isn't so bad as its reputation.

Did you try Dutch food before?

  • Yes and I liked it

    Votes: 7 46.7%

  • Yes and I did not like it

    Votes: 1 6.7%

  • No but I have an opinion anyway (describe below)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No I did not

    Votes: 4 26.7%

  • Maybe (describe below)

    Votes: 3 20.0%
  • Total voters
    15
My husband and I came back to the same shop for raw herrings and fried fish twice, they were very good, except we had to stand and eat.
We ate an Indonesian meal once, but I think they are not as spicy as I had fear.
The food at the tulip garden KeuKenhof was a bit bland. What surprise to me was they made me pay for ketchup, lol.
 
SoCalZone10 said:
My husband and I came back to the same shop for raw herrings and fried fish twice, they were very good, except we had to stand and eat.
We ate an Indonesian meal once, but i think they are not as spicy as I had fear.
The food at the tulip garden was a bit bland. What surprise to me was they made me pay for ketchup, lol.
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The tulip garden ( The keukenhof I suppose?) only serves food at a museum café, in the Netherlands food at museums is always going to be office canteen level. It's not a place Dutch people expect to eat well at, unfortunately.

And yeah, being ungracious hosts charging money for everything is unfortunately rampant in the Netherlands. McDonald's charges 1 euro per ketchup pack these days..
 
Herring can be an aquired taste, but I have aquired it (not surprisingly, since I am Dutch :) )
Indonesian food can be spicy, can be mild. I figure The Hague is probably the best place to go. Sometimes it is toned down.
AFAIK, Windigo is partly Indonesian. I am not, but my dad was born and raised there.
To me, Indonesian food is one of the most underrated in most parts of the world.
Some Dutch food can be a bit bland, but the Surinam (50 years independent today) and Indonesian versions will be anything but
 
I may have tried Dutch food, but it was such a long time ago (1982) that I honestly can't remember:hyper:
I have prepared Rijsttafel for dinner parties ( and food courses) however. No idea how authentic my dishes are, but the Rijsttafel is a culinary delight!
 
badjak said:
Herring can be an aquired taste, but I have aquired it (not surprisingly, since I am Dutch :) )
Indonesian food can be spicy, can be mild. I figure The Hague is probably the best place to go. Sometimes it is toned down.
AFAIK, Windigo is partly Indonesian. I am not, but my dad was born and raised there.
To me, Indonesian food is one of the most underrated in most parts of the world.
Some Dutch food can be a bit bland, but the Surinam (50 years independent today) and Indonesian versions will be anything but
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Yeah Indonesian food is amazing and the Dutch do it very well due to the large and ongoing cultural exchange . I think the Indonesian food culture has definitely helped Dutch food culture improve to it's current state.
 
For some reason, we don’t have a lot of Indonesian restaurants here, nor Filipino restaurants. Same for the Bay area in NorCal, another place I have lived for years. I wonder why.
 
Windigo said:
Yeah Indonesian food is amazing and the Dutch do it very well due to the large and ongoing cultural exchange . I think the Indonesian food culture has definitely helped Dutch food culture improve to it's current state.
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Edited to add: Is this about Regional Dutch food or ...

Is Indonesian food considered Dutch food in this thread?

Although obviously it has regional origins, I think of Indonesian food in Holland as belonging to present day Dutch food in the same way that I consider South Asian food in the UK belongs to the everyday British food repertoire which actually highlights difficulties with the whole idea of 'national foods' as they're often chosen or designated for so many disparate and illogical reasons. Interestingly I don't have the same problem with regional food, as it's quite broad and pertains a lot to what is grown and produced in a particular climatic area.

My favourite Dutch foods are raw herring, drop (c'mon they're a food group 😅) and Indonesian food in interchangeable order 😁
 
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Z-Cook said:
Edited to add: Is this about Regional Dutch food or ...

Is Indonesian food considered Dutch food in this thread?

Although obviously it has regional origins, I think of Indonesian food in Holland as belonging to present day Dutch food in the same way that I consider South Asian food in the UK belongs to the everyday British food repertoire which actually highlights difficulties with the whole idea of 'national foods' as they're often chosen or designated for so many disparate and illogical reasons. Interestingly I don't have the same problem with regional food, as it's quite broad and pertains a lot to what is grown and produced in a particular climatic area.

My favourite Dutch foods are raw herring, drop (c'mon they're a food group 😅) and Indonesian food in interchangeable order 😁
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Indonesian food is not ' considered Dutch food' by me, but disregarding the immense cultural influence and exchange would also be disregarding the way Dutch food culture developed. Besides, the ' Chinese Indonesian restaurant culture ' is considered intangible cultural heritage by the same institution doing that for Parmesan cheese and Parma ham.

The Chinese-Indonesian restaurant culture - Immaterieel Erfgoed The Chinese-Indonesian restaurant culture

So mentioning Indonesian food in a Dutch food thread certainly makes sense.
 
Windigo said:
Indonesian food is not ' considered Dutch food' by me, but disregarding the immense cultural influence and exchange would also be disregarding the way Dutch food culture developed. Besides, the ' Chinese Indonesian restaurant culture ' is considered intangible cultural heritage by the same institution doing that for Parmesan cheese and Parma ham.

The Chinese-Indonesian restaurant culture - Immaterieel Erfgoed The Chinese-Indonesian restaurant culture

So mentioning Indonesian food in a Dutch food thread certainly makes sense.
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I agree,
I think some elements of Indonesian food have become (almost) Dutch, but not all.

Then there is a fusion style from before fusion was talked about, and it's the food that was prepared by people returning from Indonesia. They made do with ingredients that were available. This style is called "Indisch".
Then there is "Indonesian". And "Indiaas" (which is Indian, so nothing to do with Indonesia, but creating nice confusions)
 
👍Ok, thx for clarifying - we're talking about very specifically regional local Dutch food, rather than food made in Holland, however commonly found and notable ... would I take Indonesian food off my favourite Dutch food list for example? Getting the picture 😅
 
Z-Cook said:
would I take Indonesian food off my favourite Dutch food list for example?
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No... :)

We got the full on fusion like the nasi bal and the bami schijf (imagine nasi goreng, breaded and deep fried. Or bami goreng, breaded, but now in the shape of a burger and deep fried).
No, I am not a fan of those and I only mention them because they are not found in any other country.

But most people will at least know and regularly eat Indonesian (inspired) food.
I don't think there is anyone (in NL) that doesn't know nasi & bami goreng, satay, krupuk, sambal etc
 
Z-Cook said:
👍Ok, thx for clarifying - we're talking about very specifically regional local Dutch food, rather than food made in Holland, however commonly found and notable ... would I take Indonesian food off my favourite Dutch food list for example? Getting the picture 😅
Click to expand...
Well if you want to look at traditional Dutch food without the influence of Asia, then very little of interest remains, even more so when you remove the influence of the Americas. Who would imagine Dutch food these days without potatoes? Yet they are American and only arrived here from Peru in the 16th century.

Without Asian influence we would not have Speculaas ( traditional Dutch spice cookies) and lots of other foods that require spice. Not even Dutch apple pie, which requires cinnamon.

So what is ' traditional ' by your opinion? Dutch food before the 16th century was largely based around bread, bacon, smoked fish, dairy and beans. People didn't think vegetables or fruit were very healthy, so the poor mostly ate them.

These days most people consider a meal centered around meat, potatoes and vegetables typical Dutch food. And of course two bread based meals with cheese or meat as an important topping a day.
But that's only been the standard for the past 50 years, and before the 1980s people often still had a hot lunch with soup and meat or fish.

But there is much more to Dutch food than that, and that's why I highlight a Dutch specialty once in a while in this thread.
 
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