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

[badjak]

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.

I imagine thats true for lots of countries.
Imagine Italy without tomatoes
Thailand & Indonesia without chili pepper

 

[badjak]

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.

I imagine thats true for lots of countries.
Imagine Italy without tomatoes
Thailand & Indonesia without chili pepper

before the 1980s people often still had a hot lunch with soup and meat or fish.

K, I'm a 1966 special...
But if the lunch was soup , meat, fish, then dinner was bread again or somethhing very simple.
For us, as dad worked at a factory, bread, bread, dinner (at the table, all together and the time to talk about your day)
For a lot of farmers, bread, hot meal, bread

BUT things changed enormously. Varsity days (mid 80's), youngsters, it was much more pasta and rice than potatoes (no need to peel rice & pasta and it stays good forever)
But 70's.. friends staying for dinner had sometimes never had pasta or rice

 

[Z-Cook]

That's why I asked

Very similar question to asking what is British food or American food. Doesn't have many clear boundaries, other than what is habitually eaten in a particular place in any given period of time

 

[Windigo]

I imagine thats true for lots of countries.
Imagine Italy without tomatoes
Thailand & Indonesia without chili pepper


K, I'm a 1966 special...
But if the lunch was soup , meat, fish, then dinner was bread again or somethhing very simple.
For us, as dad worked at a factory, bread, bread, dinner (at the table, all together and the time to talk about your day)
For a lot of farmers, bread, hot meal, bread

BUT things changed enormously. Varsity days (mid 80's), youngsters, it was much more pasta and rice than potatoes (no need to peel rice & pasta and it stays good forever)
But 70's.. friends staying for dinner had sometimes never had pasta or rice

I mostly meant bread ( or porridge), bread with soup and maybe bacon or smoked fish, and a Hot dinner as the standard. Also it depends on the region, for instance the Northern regions like Friesland would eat pancakes or rye bread with soup for lunch while the western regions ate more soft rolls or loaves of bread with cheese and soup for lunch, and the more close to Belgium ( the South) it got the more elaborate.
The more Southern regions would eat more sausage rolls and croquettes.