Dutch Food

I must start by admitting that my eating habits are not terribly compatible with traditional Dutch cuisine. Lots of fried food and plenty of meat. Fried meat is also common. Just bread it and toss it in the hot oil. While I am not a vegetarian, I never eat any 4-legged creature and rarely cook chicken or turkey for myself. I have fish about once a week. I eat a lot of vegetables. Not so for the people of Rotterdam. Lot of shoarma and doner kebab with frites. And sausages. And meat spreads. Sign me up for a falafel! Acutally, I just do most of my own cooking.

The bread and pastries here are amazing. I've tried not to partake of too many, but anything I've had has been really wonderful. Even regular old grocery store whole wheat bread is moist, fresh, and delicious. I'm in love with stroop wafels, waffle-type cookies with a delicious caramel sauce in between. The grocery stores make them and package them, but the best way to have stroop wafels is fresh, warm, and HUGE from a street vendor. It's a heavenly diabetic coma waiting to happen.

I can say the one thing that the Dutch and I agree upon is coffee. Coffee is everywhere, and it's really quite good. Usually fairly strong, served with a single biscuit or cookie. The cups are certainly smaller than in the US, but I'll just have two. The one part of the coffee ritual here that I struggle to agree with is "koffiemilk." Essentially unsweetened, condensed milk, it doesn't need to be refrigerated and is bought in little cartons. I have always been a 1/2 and 1/2 kind of gal, but I really can't stomach the condensed milk. I'm trying to switch over to whole milk (volle melk) but it's difficult! I like my coffee just so. I think I'm going to end up making my own version with a mix of heavy cream and milk, but haven't quite gotten there yet. I'm glad that the Dutch like their coffee, though, because I existed for a semester in Dublin on instant coffee and it was ok, but just not the same.