Dutch food – the overlooked cuisine

I lived in The Netherlands about 10 years ago and, during that time, I developed a fondness for certain Dutch foods. Because of this, you will sometimes find me posting recipes and narrative posts about Dutch food, which is an overlooked cuisine here in Australia.

In general, Dutch food can be considered to be quite boring – most of the recipes I publish will be my personal “cream of the crop”. Dutch cuisine does use spices such as cinnamon, cloves, or bay leaves but if you write the word “chili” on a piece of paper and post it to the house next door they will think their own food is too spicy.

The Dutch love rules, and they have many rules about food. Foods are categorised based upon at which meal they are permitted to be eaten. Don’t suggest a lunch food for dinner, or you will get very curious looks, perhaps scolded. Seasonal availability led to the categorisation of foods into Summer/Winter/Spring/Autumn foods, and obviously it would be unthinkable to eat a Winter food in Summer.

I don’t obey any of these rules. I will eat erwtensoep (Dutch pea soup) for every meal, until the batch runs out. In Summer!

The best place in Sydney to get Dutch foods is at ‘t winkeltje in Smithfield (map below). Woolworths supermarkets do tend to have a small Dutch section (next to the Kosher section). A specialty Dutch food, boerenkool, has always been very difficult to find in Sydney but luckily it (kale) is now fashionable and readily available.

As I add Dutch-related things to the Newlyfeds blog, I will link to them here. Look out for:

• rookworst
• erwtensoep
• oude kaas
• oom honds speciaale lekkerste stamppot
• hachée
• boerenkoolstamppot
• stroopwafels
• kroketten / febo
• drop