Dutch snacks

I was tempted to entitle this post "Dutch food" but I think many Nederlanders would quickly point out that what I'm about to talk about is not a true representation of their "food", so I'll stick to what I know best from living here...  their snacks!

I've been living here for 8 months now and there are loads of foods I would definitely miss if I come back to the UK.

Firstly, they make the best pancakes in the world here (not really a snack but considered an actual meal here, and they are certainly the price of an evening meal back in the UK at approx. 9EUR for 1 pancake)... they taste like nowhere else in the world and I love them.  Back when I visited Radboud University in Nijmegen for a week, I found the canteen there served pancakes once a week... here in Leiden I've been here for 8 months and they've only served pancakes twice in that time... maybe I should be grateful for the sake of my waistline.  What a shame they don't celebrate pancake day here like in the UK... but I suppose you could argue that any day could be pancake day with the numerous pancake houses in each city.

Secondly, FOOD FROM THE WALL... yes, how can you possibly resist food when they put it in the WALLS?!  It looks at you as you walk along the street or the train station or the shopping malls... just begging you through the little glass doors, to eat them!  They're kinda like giant vending machines full of deep-fried meat.  Items range from huge elongated chicken-nuggets to frikandels (elongated meat thing in a sausage shape), crockets (kroketten) deep-fried bread-crumbed mashed up bits of meat (MUCH tastier than I'm describing, believe me), something when directly translated is called a "Meat staff" (you couldn't get away with that name in the UK) and other deep-fried items such as cheese, rice and even balls of noodles!


If you go to a pub for after work drinks or networking events etc, all drink occasions include plates of these crazy deep-fried snacks plus spring rolls etc... forget two pints of larger and a packet of crisps, here it's a heineken and a plate of bittenballen (deep-friend breadcrumbed balls of meat-goo!) - heavenly!

But what I can't understand, is that back in the UK for lunch, most people I know might have a sandwich, soup OR salad.  Here, people have sandwiches, soup AND salad.  And when I say sandwiches, I failed to mention that this would usually consist of half a loaf of bread in one day and often (but not always) contain smushed up versions on the deep-fried snacks I've just mentioned.  Not to mention then washing it all down with two pints of milk and some yogurt!

So why is it that the UK is a much more obese nation than the Netherlands?  Can it really just be the cycling they do here?

Right, all this talk about snacks is making me hungry.... gotta go look in the walls....

How English am I?

So, in one of my last posts I was busy wondering how Dutch I was after my time in the Netherlands.

Well, after a week back in the UK in June, I found all this stuff I'd been missing without even realising it... stuff like bread and butter with my meals, cheap pub grub, faggots and mushy peas, blackpudding, bacon and sausage sarnies, orange squash, cider, indian takeaways, hills and nice landscape, carpeted floors and big supermarkets.

There were other things I just felt really out of touch with... my boyfriend driving on the left constantly freaked me out as I thought we were going the wrong way... and having to walk up hill occasionally gave my calves something to moan about.

As an aside, earlier this year a new Scott exhibition opened up in the Natural History Museum in London to celebrate the centenary of his expedition to the South Pole.  I read at the time that “a shopping list on display conveys the very British character of the mission. One can't imagine Amundsen's team taking along 320 kilograms of marmalade, 225 kilograms of tea, 72 bottles of port or 540 kilograms of suet.”

So, that got me wondering what makes me English?

Let's start with what's not very English about me:

1)  People keep thinking I'm australian since I arrived... wonder why?

2)  I don't drink tea (unless I'm not feeling well)

3)  I don't eat jam or marmalade or scones

4)  I don't know what the hell "high tea" is but they seem to think it's very English over here!  People pay a lot of money to go for high tea.

5)  I don't drink beer and I'm not a larger lout!

6)  I know the difference between the "Netherlands" and "Holland"

My "English" traits:

1)  Cider drinker and proud

2)  I put milk in my tea (if and when I drink it)

3)  I cycle everywhere on a 21 gear mountain bike (despite the distinct lack of hills in the Netherlands!)

4)  Brown sauce eater

5)  I eat cereal for breakfast

6)  The things I have to import from home to live:  Brown sauce, cereal and crumpets

7)  Unlike the Dutch who quickly get off their bikes, flip a switch to lock it and walk away within seconds, it takes me 10mins to untangle my UK-style bike lock, wrap it around something, fiddle with the keys, get it all jammed up, unjam it all and then finally lock it and walk away with oily and dirty hands

8)  The ignorance of only speaking one language

How Dutch am I?

So, the other day I found myself cycling in the rain with a bunch of flowers in my hand and I've never felt so "Dutch" since I've been here.  And I got thinking, just how Dutch am I after 4 months living in the Netherlands?

Okay, so this is my list of things that I think make me more Dutch:

• I have my Dutch name "van Carroll" :-)
• I have an addiction to HagelSlag
• I love the pea soup and the Dutch snacks (kroketten, bitterballen and frikendals!)
• I cycle everywhere
• Lovin' the Dutch cheese
• I now know more Dutch (in 3 months) than I knew of French after 5 years of studying for GCSE French!
• I like the fresh fish especially in sarnies from the fish sellers at the market (rather than chucked down my throat bread-less)
• I can cycle non-handed for 6 pedals - I've been practicing on my way to squash but that's a bit lame compared to the Dutch who seem to go for miles non-handed while texting or something else, but then my bike isn't one of these sitting up straight "grandma bikes"
• I have now cycled while taking a phone call, reading a text message and carrying flowers (not all at the same time tho).

But, the things I make me very "un-Dutch" are:

• I really like wishy-washy BIG English/American-style coffees (lots of coffee, lots of water, lots of milk), not these tiny senseo things that I feel like I could inhale within a few seconds
• I WILL NOT eat bread and cheese/meat for breakfast (aren't they sick of bread with cheese and meat by lunchtime?) and I really can't live without cereal
• I don't see the point in flowers
• I do not have to drink milk or yogurt with every meal (but I do like it)
• I use lights when I cycle and I have a 21 speed mountain bike
• I serve beer without an enormous head and everyone complains!
• I really miss cider while living out here
• ...and I'm still working on my pronunciation of Scheveningen!!