Dutch Food

The food in the Netherlands is kind of similar to home, but some things are quite different. There are pastries everywhere, and it seems like every day at Philips it is someone’s birthday, and there are boxes and boxes of pastries being shared around the staff. They hardly ever offer them to the auditors though….. mean, huh.

There’s this new year’s pastry called Oliebollen, which we ate already. It is only around at the beginning of the year, and then they disappear for a few months.

Another Dutch specialty is the Kroket (plural is Kroketten). Kroketten look like they’ll have mashed potato inside them, and are long and skinny and deep fried. When you bite into it, it’s a meat/gravy combination. I ate one at the tenpin bowling alley, and I don’t think I’ll have it again.

One thing I will have again is Bossche Bol (think I spelled it right?). It’s basically a big creamy donut, but if I can get away with saying I’m eating it for cultural reasons then bring it on!

The breakfast at our hotel in Eindhoven is fantastic though! There’s bacon, sausages, meatballs, potato/cheese gratin, grilled tomatoes,four different juices, four different milks, cold meats, cheese, breads, bread rolls, muffins, croissants, pain au chocolat, cereals, three types of muesli, strawberry jam, raspberry jam, honey, peanut butter, chocolate spread, four types of yoghurt, rice, Chinese food like dumplings, sweet and sour chicken on a stick, pancakes, French toast, and you can also ask the chef to make you any eggs you like, such as an omelette or fried eggs or whatever. Then waitresses come around and fill up your coffee as often as you like.

There are also little handmade chocolates with nuts in them, and mini glasses of some port or something at the front desk of the hotel in the evenings. It’s great. Cherilyn and I have been making up excuses for going to the front desk and asking questions so that we can get more little chocolates!!!

Over here, all large employers have their own cafeteria (which I think is subsidized?). All the employees buy their lunch there, and it’s social suicide to bring your own from home. There’s bread rolls, and soup, and salads, and deep fried stuff like kroketten and cheeses, there’s a selection of salad items, chocolate bars etc, and even an ice cream freezer (and its seriously 5 degrees celcius outside). Everyone drinks milk at lunchtime, which I doubt I will ever do.

Worst lunch incident yet happened yesterday, when the guy in front of me in the line managed to dip his sleeve into my salad without me noticing. So the counter lady explains to me (in rapid Dutch) that his sleeve was in my food and that I would probably want to get another plate. Of course I just looked at her blankly and said ‘pardon?’ So she had to tell the next person in line (luckily my manager, Marc) and he had to explain to me that some random man had totally assaulted my lunch. Some people, seriously!