SOME DUTCH FOODS

                                        Rijsttafel  and Cheese

Rijsttafel is a Dutch word that literally translates to rice table. It is an elaboration from Indonesia and typically consists of many (forty is common) side dishes served in small portions, accompanied by rice prepared in several different ways.  A rijsttafel also features an array of flavors, colors, degrees of spiciness as well as textures including crispy, chewy, slippery, soft, hard, velvety, gelatinous, and runny.

I ate my first rijsttafel in Amsterdam, Holland on my first trip to the city. Generally today these meals are served buffet style where one can help himself to whatever foods he desires. They are great fun with a group of people vs dining alone.

The Dutch have been producing cheese since 400 AD. In the Middle Ages official dairy markets and weigh houses were introduced that controlled both the quality and weight of cheese.

I have visited many cheese factories or enterprises over the years, but at one a docent gave us an interesting insight on an old custom.

She told us, “Today most cheese production has been taken over by factories, but there are still over 600 cheese producing farms left. Dutch cheeses include Gouda, Edam and Leiden, with Gouda accounting for 50 percent of all cheese production.  Edam is the only cheese in the world that is perfectly round and is the second cheese product. Leiden cheese is distinguished by the addition of cumin seeds.

“Soft cheese (jonge kaas) is ripened for three weeks, sharp cheese (belegen kaas) ripens two to seven months, and very sharp varieties (oude kaas) ripen at least twelve months.”

She continued, “Years ago the farmer would take his cheese to market once a week where he would partake in a sort of game. A buyer would make a bid the farmer refused, and the bidder walked away. The bidder returned, the farmer would raise the price, and the buyer would walk away again. The third time a price was agreed upon and the cheese officially weighed. Meanwhile the bidder would bang the palm of his hand on the cheese to see if the holes in it were the right size. That was called cheese bashing. With each slap either the farmer had reduced his price or the bidder had increased his offer.

“When this ended the buyer sampled the cheese. Then the cheese porters, dressed in white uniforms and lacquered straw hats, carried the cheese to the weight house on barrows painted the color of their section. The weigh master called out the weight marking it on a blackboard. There were 80 cheeses to a barrow weighing about 353 pounds. Finally the cheese was loaded onto a lorry or taken to a warehouse.”

Today larger production and more efficiency endure but lost is the fun, color and custom.