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Comment by eru

4 hours ago

I love the Netherlands, and not just for their livable street design, I just wish they food weren't so bland. They make even German cuisine look adventurous in comparison.

11 comments

eru

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vanderZwan  4 hours ago

As a Dutch person... this is sadly not just 100% accurate, it's almost part of our culture by now, hahaha. For example, in Gerard Reve's "De Avonden" ("The Evenings", a literary classic in the Netherlands from 1947) the daily bland dinners are described like a recurring cynical joke.

Apparently World War 2 is to blame for the shift in food culture. Somehow we never recovered from that.

I think we just internalized that Dutch cuisine sucks and focus on getting good food from other cultures (don't complain about our pannenkoeken or stroopwafels though, unless you're looking for a fight).

  • fernandotakai  4 hours ago

    when i moved here, people told me the greatest issue with the country was not the weather, it was the food. and i remember saying "there's no way it's that bad".

    after being here for 2y, holy shit it's true. one dutch coworker said "we just eat for fuel, not for taste".

    thankfully it's quite easy to buy amazing ingredients and just do really tasty home meals.

    > (don't complain about our pannenkoeken or stroopwafels though, unless you're looking for a fight).

    i would also say dutch bar/finger food is delicious. it's impossible not to have bitterballen while having a beer.

    • vanderZwan  4 hours ago

      Right, I guess the distinction is between "Dutch cooking" and "Dutch snacks". We're not too terrible in the latter department.

      (although technically bitterballen and kroketten are local variations of the croquette, which originated from France[0], so even there we can't quite claim originality, haha)

      [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquette

yread  1 hour ago

They should also improve the landscape. It's too flat. What happened to the proposal to build a mountain in the North Sea?

amsterdorn  4 hours ago

Their savory dishes aren't great (looking at you stamppot) but they do sweets well! Poffertjes, oliebollen, stroopwafels, etc.

misja111  3 hours ago

This is true. I can recommend the Indonesian and Surinam restaurants, both are former colonies so many people from there moved to NL. Their food is much better, the Dutch like it so much that you could almost call them part of Dutch culture.

switch007  3 hours ago

I admire it to an extent in that it is a part of their healthy culture. I think they take it a bit far though

But being more like the Italians or French in terms of food would mean being more like the Italians or French...