Delicious Dutch Festival Snacks
The time of carnivals, fairs and festivals is here. That means soaking up the sunshine and atmosphere with all kinds of people around you and the smell of delicious snacks drifting through the air! The Dutch are crazy about international snacks like churros, Vietnamese spring rolls and Belgian waffles. That said, there are fortunately plenty of typical Dutch snacks as well. Try them all this year!
Oliebollen
You’ll find oliebollen being made and sold at all the traditional Dutch pastry stalls. You might know them from New Year’s Eve in the Netherlands. That’s when the Dutch consume oliebollen practically by the kilo. But oliebollen stalls are also a regular fixture at outdoor events year-round.
Poffertjes
Something else that definitely has to be on this list: poffertjes. Poffertjes are tiny, puffy pancakes that are usually eaten covered in a mountain of powdered sugar. Just watching them being cooked up in their special pan with all its little indentations is fun!
Haring
The Dutch coast in particular has countless fish stalls that sell fresh fish. In June, the first barrel of Hollandse Nieuwe, or Dutch new herring, gets auctioned off. After that, you can buy plenty of Hollandse Nieuwe again. It’s herring prepared in a unique, traditional way.
Friet (or is it patat?)
The snack of choice in the Netherlands is chips (or is it fries?). There’s a longstanding debate in the Netherlands about whether it should be called patat or friet. In Eindhoven and other cities in Brabant, it’s friet, full stop. The Dutch eat them with mayonnaise or order a friet speciaal: friet with curry ketchup, mayonnaise and raw onions.
Kroket
Not in the mood for fries? Then have a kroket at the chip stall. This tasty treat has been a feature of Dutch cuisine for 200 years and counting. Traditionally, they’re filled with meat. Nowadays, however, you can choose from all sorts of kroketten, including shrimp and vegetarian versions.
Stroopwafels
We’ve saved the best for last: the stroopwafel! A freshly baked thin waffle, a layer of sweet, sticky treacle and another waffle on top. Yum, yum and more yum!
In the early 19th Century, the first syrup factory opened in Gouda. Soon afterwards, the first stroopwafels made their debut, and now—well, it’s impossible to imagine life without them. And while you can pick a package up at the supermarket or the bakery, the taste is never as divine as when you eat a piping hot stroopwafel outdoors.
Pardon?
If you don’t yet speak Dutch very well, the Dutch you hear all around you can sometimes sound like a bunch of gibberish. Here are a few phrases you commonly hear at food stalls. Answering in English is usually fine.
| Wie is er dan aan beurt? | Whose turn is it? or Who’s next? | |
| Zeg het maar. | Tell me. | |
| Mayo erbij? Uitjes erbij? | With mayo? With onions? | |
| Anders nog iets? | Anything else? |
Hold your waffle!
The Dutch saying ‘Hou je waffel’ (hold your tongue) has its origins with the waffle bakers of yore. The ladies who baked the waffles would hold the waffle iron over a fire, and because they chatted so much, they sometimes forgot about the waffle inside. If they had only held their tongues, those waffles wouldn’t have been ruined…
In the Netherlands, we also have a few sayings related to treacle, including:
- Iemand stroop om de mond smeren (literally: to smear treacle around someone’s mouth) = flattering someone
- Je vangt meer vliegen met stroop dan met azijn (literally: you catch more flies with treacle than with vinegar) = you get more done with kind words
Dutch is the key
Did you know that just like ‘food is the way to the heart’, speaking Dutch is the key to many a Dutch person’s heart? Sure, a lot of Dutch people like to show off how well they can speak English. But they also delight in you learning Dutch.
Read more about our Dutch courses