What do Dutch people actually eat, and is Dutch food as bad as everyone says? This is what to eat in the Netherlands after a month of trying: bitterballen, kapsalon in Rotterdam, stamppot, a fresh stroopwafel, raw herring at the Rotterdam Markthal, and the Indonesian rijsttafel that turned out to be the best food in the country. If you are looking for traditional Dutch dishes, Dutch food to try, or slow travel in the Netherlands, this is an honest month of eating from two people who went in expecting very little.
The reputation exists for a reason, but it is only half the story. Walk around any Dutch city and it is easier to find Italian, Turkish or Indonesian food than anything the Dutch would call their own. That is not an accident, and it turns out to be the most interesting thing about eating here.
What we ate:
Bitterballen (Giethoorn): deep-fried, crunch on the outside, ragu and roux inside. The snack that goes with beer everywhere in the Netherlands, and the first thing that made us reconsider.
Kapsalon (Rotterdam): invented in 2003 by a Rotterdam barber who wanted his favourite foods on one plate. Chips, shawarma, cheese under the grill, salad on top. Named after the Dutch word for hairdresser's salon. Not traditional, not Dutch in origin, and completely brilliant.
Stamppot (hotel room): kale and potato mash with rookworst and gravy. The national dish, eaten by most people from a supermarket tray on a cold night rather than in a restaurant. We tried finding it on a menu in July during a heatwave and gave up. This is the honest version.
Patatje oorlog (Utrecht): literally war fries. Chips with mayonnaise, satay sauce and raw onion. The satay is there because of Indonesia, which is the clue to where this episode ends up.
Stroopwafel: made fresh in front of us at a market stall, still warm. Nothing like the packaged ones.
Herring (Rotterdam Markthal): Hollandse Nieuwe, lightly cured, served with pickles and onion. Rick put this off for the entire month. There is a reason it is the last thing we ate.
Rijsttafel: rice table. A dozen small, heavily spiced dishes arriving at once, to mix and match with rice. The Netherlands controlled Indonesia for around 350 years, and after independence in 1949 hundreds of thousands of people arrived here and brought their food with them. It is now on high streets in every Dutch city, and it is the best food in the country.
Snacks: excellent. Cheese: ridiculous. Traditional mains: the reputation is earned. But the thing nobody tells you about Dutch food is that the best of it came from somewhere else entirely.
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🎵 Original Soundtrack by Adam. All music in our films is original, composed and produced by Adam (PhD in audio-visual composition).
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We are Rick and Adam, The Floating Nomads. We live a life of constant slow travel by train, ferry and water. When not on our UK narrowboat, Serenissima, we live abroad for months at a time. Whether spending 200+ days in Malta (and Venice) or travelling from Buxton to Brazil without flying (as seen on CNN).
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Chapters:
0:00 Is Dutch Food Really That Bad?
0:56 Bitterballen in Giethoorn
2:56 Rotterdam and the Witte de Withstraat
4:57 What Is a Kapsalon?
9:10 Stamppot, the National Dish
13:47 Patatje Oorlog in Utrecht
16:19 A Fresh Stroopwafel
18:34 Back to the Markthal
19:12 The Cheese
19:47 Rick Finally Eats the Herring
22:34 The Verdict
23:42 Rijsttafel
#DutchFood #WhatToEatInTheNetherlands #Netherlands #Rijsttafel #Stamppot #Bitterballen #Kapsalon #Stroopwafel #DutchHerring #SlowTravel #FloatingNomads #NetherlandsTravel #Rotterdam #Markthal #IndonesianFood 
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