Dutch Cuisine, Netherlands

With the help of our Dutch friends, we sampled an abundance of new foods in the Netherlands! We wanted to share just a few of our favorites.

Snacks – not to be confused with ‘a snack,’ this is probably the most unique food to the Dutch mainly because of the way that you purchase a “snack.” It is even faster than fast food joints! The snacks are behind little windows and when you put enough money into the slot, you are allowed to open the window and retrieve your snack. It is like a vending machine for hot food. Snacks come in all different colors, shapes, sizes, and with different fillings – and all are deep fried. Our favorite snack was Bami – which was made of noodles.

Stroop Waffles – these are delicious mini waffle like cookies that were invented in the town of Gouda. A single waffle is cooked and then sliced in half while it’s still hot and then a caramel syrup sauce is spread in the middle.

Fries with “Special Sauce” – the Dutch love their ‘french fries’ and there are plenty of shops that sell only fries. The real treat is in the “special sauce” which is mayonnaise, curry, and raw onions. They also have an amazing contraption that forms mashed potatoes into long tubes that are then deep fried and topped with thick peanut sauce – these look like just like regular fries but have an entirely different taste!

Filet American – we are not entirely sure why this is termed ‘American’ as there is NO WAY anyone in the USA eats this. The spread is made from raw beef… yes, RAW beef. It is bright red, and contains beef, tomatoes, onions.

Raw Herring – the Netherlands has a lot of seafood, as they are close to the sea. One of the favorites is the herring, which has to be eaten in a proper fashion – by picking the raw fish up by its tail, tipping your head back, and eating it. Usually there are some raw onions on the fish. It was described to us as the “Dutch Sushi”

Hagelslag– while Americans only put chocolate sprinkles on ice cream sundaes, the Dutch sprinkle them on top of buttered toast for breakfast!