Food Culture and Tradition

Blog

  • New Zealand Foods

    FOODS IN NEW ZEALAND

    DAIRY PRODUCTS

    Milk is taken by most children at most meals in the form of fresh whole milk. Where considered necessary, toddlers are provided with the New Zealand Whole Milk Biscuit, a cookie enriched with protein in the form of skim milk powder. Most adults take some milk in tea, soups, and creamy desserts. The use of skim milk, powdered skim milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese is still limited although increasing in popularity. Many varieties of cheeses are available but not widely used.

    FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

    Produce is mainly grown on the North Island where the climate varies from temperate to sub-tropical, allowing for an almost continuous growing period. Imported, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables are also used. Fruits include apples, pears, varieties of berries, plums, peaches, apricots, nectarine, and cherries. The more exotic fruits include feijoas, tamarillo (tree tomato), kiwi (Chinese gooseberry), passion fruit, and pineapple. Pumpkin and sweet potatoes (called kumara) are the staple vegetables but many other common vegetables and salad greens are also used.

    MEATS AND ALTERNATES

    Lamb is the number-one meat in New Zealand almost to the exclusion of beef, pork, and poultry. Distinction is made in the age of the lamb: the youngest and most tender is called spring lamb and is aged from twelve to eighteen weeks; weaned lamb is aged from four and one-half to nine months old. Hogget is the deeper pink-fleshed lamb butchered from nine to twenty months. Young mutton is the next classification and includes lamb from twenty months to two years. Mature mutton is strong in taste, deep red in flesh color with brittle white fat, and for this the sheep are butchered from two to five years old. The most common method of cooking is oven-roasting, with prepared vegetables added near the end of the cooking time. Currently lamb has been used more imaginatively in a variety of international dishes.

    Popular fish include trout, cod, red snapper, groper, terekihi, John Dory, flounder and tuna, with whitebait considered a special delicacy. Oysters, mussels, and eels are widely used. Toheroa is a native bivalve considered a delicacy but not always available. Crayfish, similar to lobsters, are enjoyed and crayfish tails are exported. Fish is eaten in quantity often as an ingredient in other dishes, sometimes as a garnish or side dish. Legumes are seldom used except for special dishes.

    BREADS AND GRAINS

    New Zealand is almost self-sufficient in wheat production. Few wholegrain breads or cereals are consumed; white wheat flour is favored. Oats as a baking ingredient and hot breakfast porridge are used occasionally. But there is increasing emphasis on “health foods” with the resulting interest in whole grains and varieties of different grains, including wheat germ. “Tea breads” or quick breads, biscuits, scones and cakes are served whenever tea is poured and often are a regular part of most meals as well.

    FATS

    New Zealand butter and cream are of fine quality and widely used. Butter, lard, cooking oil, and salt pork are all used in cooking.

    SWEETS AND SNACKS

    Much sugar is consumed in the form of sweetened tea, sweet pastries, and candies as well as preserves such as jams, jellies, and marmalades.

    SEASONINGS

    With traditional British restraint in seasoning, Kiwis have used little more than salt, pepper, and onions. However, more current interest and stimulation in imaginative cooking has brought an increase in both seasonings and condiments, although bland flavors still prevail.

    BEVERAGES

    Tea is the beverage for every meal and as a mid-morning snack usually with biscuits or breads. Tea is traditionally taken with milk and sugar. Local wines are appearing more frequently in homes and restaurants, and beer is enjoyed for quick lunches and outdoor parties.

  • New Zealand Food and Culture

    FOOD AND CULTURE IN NEW ZEALAND

    It is almost as though it were the last place created. Carefully arranged on two main islands it seems that nature’s awesome constructions display themselves solely for the delight of humans. Here is everything: snow-tipped mountains piercing the clouds, emerald green pastures dotted with sheep, glacial lakes spilling into waterfalls, and sunny beaches splashed with blue waters. Small scrubbed cities nestled into hillsides, a few bustling hustling cities where the main business gets done, and then miles and miles of peaceful but rugged natural beauty to calm the mind and quench the soul with serenity

    But most of the world thinks of New Zealand as a faraway place where people drink tea at four and spend the rest of their time tending sheep. No doubt this is the image deliberately perpetuated by the 3.5 million New Zealanders who are fully aware of their good life, beautiful land, and benevolent climate.

    If New Zealanders have a reputation for pride, it is for good reason. Although they cannot take credit for the beautiful land or benevolent climate, they can take credit for creating a society where pollution, poverty, malnutrition, racism, and unemployment are almost non-existent. This is not to say that life for New Zealanders was always idyllic. There had been friction between two peoples of such diverse philosophies: the Maoris and the English.

    Well-preserved legends tell of the seven canoes in the Great Migration that brought the first Maoris in 1350 C.E. to the islands of New Zealand. They quickly disposed of a small population of simple people known today as the “moa-hunters”; those they favored they married, the others they ate. Surviving on the many indigenous birds and planting their own crops, the Maoris soon expanded into many powerful tribes.

    Today most of the prominent Maori families trace their origin to these early adventurers who worked artistically with hone, stone, and wood, creating a highly developed culture that survived untouched for about 300 years. Then, in December 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman arrived. His visit was brief. A skirmish resulting in the deaths of several of his men convinced him to return to sea. More than a hundred years later, in 1770, Captain James Cook carefully charted the coasts of both islands and the European influx began.

    The first Europeans to create settlements were missionaries bent on saving souls and fishermen bent on hunting whales. The established Maori population did not take kindly to all of this and sporadic fighting ensued. The Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 gave Great Britain sovereignty over the islands but guaranteed the Maoris’ right to their lands. English colonization was slow, and occasional uprisings and disagreements between the European and native populations did little to encourage peaceful growth of the new nation. But a gold rush in 1865 brought a swell of immigrants who later settled into farming pursuits when the gold fever exhausted itself. Production of mutton and lamb quickly exceeded local needs and the introduction in 1882 of refrigerated ships gave impetus to the production of fresh meat, stimulating both the intensity of farming and the flow of immigrants.

    Light industries based on food and forest products, clothing and light machinery together with the small population probably account for New Zealand’s lack of pollution problems. Although the sheep out-number the people by twenty to one, farming only absorbs about 12 percent of the population. At its worst, the unemployment level is usually less than most countries. Likely it is a combination of climate and agricultural efficiency that accounts for the abundance of meats and dairy products and a year-round selection of fruits and vegetables that places nourishing foods on every table.

    That the easygoing nature of the Polynesian Maoris can exist side by side with the work-oriented English (or Pakehas as they are called in New Zealand) is a tribute to both peoples. About 88 percent of the Kiwis (New Zealanders) are of European descent, with about 9 percent of Polynesian Maori origin and the rest small groups of mixed descent. “Kiwi,” by the way, does not derive from the fruit by that name, but rather from the native kiwi bird which is flightless. Although some Maoris have adapted themselves into the mainstream of New Zealand society and can be found working in all types of industries and professions, great inequalities still exist.

    A phenomenon called musu is often apparent among the Maoris, as it is among other South Pacific and even African groups. It is characterized by a deadpan expression and monosyllabic speech and is said to be caused by a combination of fear, shame, and perhaps a sense of unjust accusation. The intervention of a trusted person who speaks the language will usually calm the afflicted Maori. Regarding all property as communal and seeing no wrong in “borrowing” something he desires is another Maori cultural trait that has frequently caused misunderstandings.

    But in the fabric that has built the New Zealand nation, the interweaving of the Maori spirit of nature and the Pakehas’ ethic of work and order over more than 150 years have combined to produce a proud and pioneering people in a fresh clean land of boundless beauty, in a climate that is never too hot and never too cold and where no one needs to pray for rain. Maoris, Europeans, and others have retained their cultural identities, enriching each other and in the process creating an exemplary country.

  • Dutch Food Glossary

    GLOSSARY OF FOOD AND FOOD TERMS

    Amandelspijs: Christmas almond cake.

    Appel Beignets: deep-fried apple fritters served with a sugar dusting. A New Year’s Eve treat.

    Appelbollen: apples baked in a puff pastry. A New Year’s Eve treat.

    Balletjes: small meatballs often used as soup garnish.

    Bitterballen: small coated deep-fried meatballs used as appetizers.

    Borstplaat: brightly colored flavored fondant candy a specialty for St. Nicholas’ Eve, December 5.

    Boterkoek: rich shortcake enjoyed with “elevenses,” the mid-morning coffee break.

    Jachtschotel: casserole made with layered cold (cooked) sliced meats and onions, apples, and potatoes, all baked slowly.

    Kandeel: hot spiced wine thickened with egg yolks and traditionally offered to visitors after a baby’s birth. Served in small cups and poured from a jug. Gender-appropriate decorations of pink or blue ribbons are tied to the cinnamon-stick stirrers.

    Kool Sla: coleslaw. Literally, a cabbage salad dressed with vinegar.

    Krentenbollen: shiny currant buns served with but-ter for Easter breakfast.

    Oliebollen: traditional New Years Eve treat of deep-fried yeast doughnuts sprinkled with sugar.

    Olykoeks: “oilcakes.” Yeast dough with raisins, lemon, and chopped apple shaped in rounds and deep-fried then rolled in sugar.

    Ontbijtkoek: a moist lightly spiced cake often buttered and eaten on a slice of bread for breakfast.

    Paling Soep: an eel soup popularly eaten with other fish and seafood dishes during meatless Lent.

    Pap: children’s hot breakfast cereal, which may be oatmeal but more usually is stale bread with hot milk poured over and flavored with cinnamon and brown sugar.

    Pepernoten: spicy round crisp cookies eaten on St. Nicholas’ Eve, December 5.

    Puffertjes: puffards. Cookies baked in a “puffet pan” and eaten hot with cinnamon sugar.

    Rijsttafel: the Dutch name given to the Netherlands version of an Indonesian feast, where a huge mound of rice flanked by many dishes combining meats, fish, and seafood with lightly cooked (stir-fried) fruits and vegetables are served, accompanied with deep-fried shrimp wafers and a selection of condiments from sweet, crisp, cool, to spicy hot. This special dinner is usually eaten in restaurants, though it may be occasionally attempted at home. Some of the dishes may include the following:

    • Bahmi: Chinese noodles mixed with finely cut vegetables sauteed with meat or seafood and seasoned with the slightly sweet Indonesian soy sauce.
    • Gado-Gado: mixed sauteed vegetables with peanut sauce
    • Ketimoer: a spicy cucumber relish.
    • Kroepoek: the small dried shrimp and tapioca flour wafers that billow out to fluffy crispness when deep-fried. Served as a bread accompanying the meal.
    • Loempiahs: similar to egg rolls or spring rolls.
    • Nasi: rice.
    • Nasi Goreng: fried rice.
    • Sambal: spiced combinations of crushed hot peppers made into very thick sauces. These are always added by the diner, not the cook.
    • Sateh or Sate: tiny cubes of meat, usually beef, threaded on thin, small wooden skewers and broiled.
    • Tauge: bean sprouts.

    Rookworst: smoked spicy sausage eaten only after slow cooking, usually accompanies thick mashed vegetables.

    Rolliches: lean beef and fat strips well seasoned and wrapped in tripe then boiled and pressed together with some of the broth into a loaf, chilled then sliced.

    Speculaas: one of the many spiced cookies eaten on St. Nicholas’ Eve, December 5.

    Spekkie Sla: favored dish made of a cooked mashed mixture of potatoes and chopped endive, served in a soup plate with bacon drippings, vinegar, and freshly ground pepper.

    Stamppot Witte Kool: white cabbage and potatoes cooked and mashed together and served with butter. A typical winter dish.

    Taai-Taal: soft and chewy gingerbread cookies made in shapes of men and women, served at the place setting of each guest for St. Nicholas’ Eve, December 5.

    Uitsmijter: famed Dutch “snack” made of buttered bread topped with cold sliced meat and fried eggs, and garnished with pickles.

  • Meals, Customs and Foods Commonly Used

    MEALS AND CUSTOMS

    The average day in the Netherlands begins with an ample breakfast of many breads, unsalted butter and jams, sliced cheeses, and occasionally a fried or boiled egg. Young children often eat a breakfast cereal called pap. Adults drink tea with milk and sugar, while the youngsters have milk or buttermilk.

    Lunch, called koffietafel, is principally a cold meal consisting of breads, cheeses plus sliced meats and sausages, and the addition of one small hot dish (a baked casserole, soufflé, or omelet), perhaps a dessert of fruit or rice, or farina pudding. One thing is certain: lunch will be concluded with “endless cups of coffee taken with milk and sugar. Note that both breakfast and lunch are “sandwich meals” and these are accompanied by either tea or coffee.

    Six o’clock in the evening is time for a quick aperitif of Dutch Genever gin (strongly juniper-flavored preceding the usual dinner time of 6:30 p.m. The often damp and chilly weather makes hot soup  popular first course, followed by fish or meat plus gravy and one of the many hot potato or vegetable dishes. A simple dessert pudding or flensjes (small crepes) finish the meal. Accompanying dinner is water or mineral water and sometimes wine but never tea or coffee. Juices or soft drinks also have no place at the dinner table. Occasionally men have beer at dinner.

    The legendary Dutch appetite could hardly be appeased with a mere three meals a day. So at about 10:30 a.m. everyone stops for coffee and hot milk served with koekjes (cookies). At 4:00 p.m. there is a universal break for tea and cookies. But in between, if even the suggestion of a hunger pang strikes, all is in readiness: pannekoekenhuisje (pancake houses) dish up huge pancakes a-shimmer with butter and preserves; broodjeswinkel (delicatessens) stand by to serve sandwiches, especially the famed uitsmijter, a Dutch “snack” of bread and butter topped with sliced meat, fried eggs, and pickles. Then there are always vendors with herring and eel snacks.

    Dutch cooks seldom experiment: simple and hearty traditional dishes are well loved. The most popular dining-out meal is the rijstafel or Indonesian “rice table.” This is a traditional feast centering on mounded rice flanked by platters of shrimp or pork or beef ready to be accented with an array of hot, sweet, spicy, crunchy, or cool condiments. What a contrast to the daily Dutch fare!

    Such exotic tastes were brought to the Netherlands by colonists living for a time in previously Dutch-owned Indonesia. Three hundred years of Dutch occupation was long enough to bring home some Oriental food tastes. Many quick-lunch counters also feature a few of these specialties. The fact that most western Dutch import shops feature a section of specialty foods for the rijstafel is proof that adventurous Dutch will occasionally attempt this cookery at home.

    FOODS COMMONLY USED

    The Dutch eat traditional hearty fare at home, but prefer international dishes when they dine out. Cheese is one of their most important dairy products and is usually eaten for breakfast. Fruits and vegetables are well cooked and enjoyed in season, although preserves are also popular. Potatoes prepared in endless variations and breads of every type stand apart as the most important staples. Meats are used more sparingly and pork and beef are favorites. Of fish, herring is used most widely and in many ways. Seasonings are limited because the Dutch prefer the natural tastes of fresh ingredients. Tea, coffee, beer, and gin are the usual adult drinks, while children enjoy milk. It is customary that all cooked foods are well cooked.

  • Dutch Domestic Life and Special Occasions

    THE NETHERLANDS DOMESTIC LIFE AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS

    The spotless Dutch kitchen, boasting shiny rows of plates in the cupboards and a collection of spoons hung in a spoon rack, which was always so much a part of pioneer Dutch kitchens, is often still found today. Many Dutch have a fondness for delftware — earthenware dishes glazed in white and blue — as well as for copper utensils and accessories. North American home-styles are very much a part of Dutch life too, but the tradition of gathering around the kitchen table for good food and talk persists.

    A part of the Dutch home that is shown with pride is the food cellar. Rows of home-canned fruits, vegetables, pickles, pickled meats, headcheeses, and bins of root vegetables are very much a part of home-making skills. Modem homes make full use of freezers and refrigerators, but the traditional pride in home preserving remains.

    SPECIAL OCCASIONS

    More than two-thirds of the Dutch population belong to Protestant sects and the majority of these are members of the Dutch Reformed Church. Of the remainder, some 27 percent are Roman Catholics and about 5 percent are Jews.

    Easter is celebrated with daffodils and tulips, honingkoek (honeycake) and krentenbollen (currant buns), while Christmas is quietly celebrated by going to church with family. New Year’s Eve calls for happy family parties with appel beignets (fried apple fritters), oliebollen (deep-fried yeast doughnuts), and appelbollen (apples baked in puff pastry).

    The happiest and most important celebration of the year is, surprisingly, neither religious nor patriotic, and is celebrated by everyone regardless of age or religion. This is the delightful festival of St. Nicholas, “a fixture of Dutch culture since the Middle Ages,” and the patron saint of Amsterdam. Although no one seems to know why, as early as mid-November, Sinterklaas, dressed in bishop’s robes and a long beard, arrives by boat from Spain, accompanied by his black helper Swarte Piet (Black Pete) and his white horse. Together they make the rounds of towns and villages, providing toys for good children and reprimands for naughty ones.

    For many children, Sinterklaas, with his book of records about children, is scary. Yet, hopeful that they will receive toys, children eagerly prepare for the arrival of Sinterklaas and Swarte Piet by placing one of their shoes, filled with hay, carrots, or cookies for the horse, in front of the fireplace. For them, Sinterklaas and Piet may arrive by horse, barge, car, or even a bicycle. However, adults enjoy the festival with gifts accompanied by rhyming verses, treasure hunts, and practical jokes. Traditionally, a large solid chocolate letter (boterleiter) for each person’s name marks their place at the festive table. Also enjoyed are marzipan and fondant candies, and other special cookies, rich with honey and fragrant with nuts and spices, are called speculaas and taai-taai.

    Recently in the Netherlands, the rotund jolly Santa Claus, together with North American holiday jingles, have been encroaching on the Sinterklaas tradition. For those Dutch who retain Christmas as a calmly beautiful religious festival, such commercialization is profanity.

  • Dutch Foods

    FOODS OF THE NETHERLANDS

    DAIRY PRODUCTS

    Milk and buttermilk as beverages are consumed more by children than adults, although a substantial amount of milk is used in tea and coffee. The cheeses of the Netherlands are famous, such as Edam, Gouda, and the spiced Leiden, all named for the towns where they are produced. The Dutch traditionally prepare few dishes with cheese (although cheese dishes seem increasingly popular), nor is cheese used as a dessert. They enjoy their mild nutty cheeses thinly sliced and served with bread either for breakfast or as a snack with Genever gin.

    FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

    Frozen and canned vegetables are readily available, but fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables are preferred. Potatoes are used in an infinite variety of ways: boiled, mashed, pureed, fried, as a souffle, pudding, baked or sautéed. Vincent Van Gogh’s famous painting, The Potato Eaters, is still representative of some rural areas in the Netherlands where the evening meal may consist of a huge bowl of potatoes centered on the table, each person spearing his or her own and dipping it into gravy or bacon fat before eating. White asparagus, red and green cabbages, cauliflower, Belgian endive, brussels sprouts, leeks, onions, kale, and car-rots are favorites.

    Apples are the most popular fruit. Other fruits are expensive and therefore used sparingly. Dried fruits often accompany cooked meat dishes.

    MEATS AND ALTERNATES

    Beef and pork are preferred and, frequently, offal and variety meats are imaginatively used for economy and flavor. All types of cured, smoked, and pickled meats and sausages are also enjoyed for flavor and economy. Fowl and hare are used only occasionally.

    The favorite fish is herring, in many forms. Green or spring herring is lightly smoked and brined and called Hollandse nieuwe. These are usually purchased from street vendors, sprinkled with raw sliced onions, and eaten as a snack. Cod, haddock, plaice (flounder), and snoek (pike) have a place in the Dutch diet, too, as well as shrimp and eel. It is a New Year’s custom to down as many oysters as possible. The Dutch generally prefer their meats well cooked, but enjoy their fish about raw.

    Legumes are sometimes incorporated into sever-al vegetables that are cooked, mashed, and served with butter or gravy. More common is the use of dried peas in the soup called erwtensoep. Nuts are only seen in bakery and then almonds are prevalent.

    BREADS AND GRAINS

    A great variety of breads made from wheat and rye flours are served at every meal and customarily eaten in quantity. Hot cooked cereals or cold prepared cereals are not used. The exception is pap, a hot cereal of oatmeal and milk, but more usually prepared from stale bread with hot milk poured over and served to children for breakfast.

    FATS

    Unsalted butter is the preferred fat. All the well cooked meat and vegetable dishes are always serve, together with gravies or sauces, drippings or butte “Dry” meats or vegetables are not served.

    SWEETS AND SNACKS

    Chocolate, cocoa, and candies are considered special treats. A great variety of baked goods, especially cookies and unfilled, un-iced cakes are eaten wit tea or coffee as between-meal breaks. Red currant jellies and jams are used on bread or as dessert sauce: Snacks are often hearty meat sandwiches or fish specialties such as smoked kippers, sardines, and man varieties of herring.

    SEASONINGS

    Daily Dutch home cooking is well cooked but never highly seasoned. Onions, salt, and pepper with the added flavor from butter or drippings provide zest to soups, meats, and vegetables. Some fresh herbs at used when available. Ginger and cinnamon are use in baked goods with honey and molasses often providing sweetness as well as distinct taste and texture in honey cakes and honey and gingerbread cookie:

    BEVERAGES

    Milk is the children’s beverage while adults prefer tea or coffee taken with milk and sugar. Afternoon often find women enjoying tea and cookies while men drink a few beers. The traditional dinner aperitif is Genever gin, sometimes called Borrel by the Dutch. The rest of the meal will be served with watt or mineral water and, on special occasions, wine.

  • The Netherlands Food and Culture

    ABOUT FOOD AND CULTURE OF THE NETHERLANDS

    For many people, “Dutch” is synonymous with a number of stereotypes: the clopping of wooden shoes, children skating to school in the winter, and a lone boy somewhere with his finger in a dyke. Some think of the Dutch as staid and stolid, settled placidly into a life of agriculture with days in the fields and evenings with the goude frouw knitting and the burgher puffing contentedly on his pipe.

    In fact, wooden shoes are worn only in the muddy countryside; the Netherlands’ year-round climate is so damp and misty that there are few days when ice actually forms on the canals; and in place of a little boy with a very sore finger, Dutch engineers have established a network of well-engineered dykes, dams, pumps, and sluices that not only keep back the North Sea, but are also draining and reclaiming the 25 percent of the Netherlands that is actually below sea level.

    The 400th anniversary of the planting of the first tulip bulbs in the Netherlands was celebrated in 1994. One of the most awaited spring displays of glorious color, tulips excite delighted thanks to the Dutch. What many do not know, however, is that in many periods of hunger in Dutch history – as recent as the Second World War – tulip bulbs were ingeniously made into breads, stews, and soups.

    Even the briefest glimpse into history reveals the Netherlands (“Holland” is the unofficial but popular name) as an important seafaring nation which once had global possessions: from the Arctic Ocean to Asia, Africa, Latin America, and even Staten Island in the United States. The Dutch East India Company is credited with introducing, in 1625, the Holland-Friesian breed of cattle to America, and in the 1800s it was Amsterdam bankers who were the first to invest in railroad building in Canada. It was the outspoken Dutch in the 1500s who fought the evils of the Inquisition and who to this day offer their land as a haven to religious and political refugees. Daring explorers, shrewd businessmen, and independent thinkers, the Dutch have also made great contributions to world art and literature.

    Perhaps the image of the contented Dutch persists over the reality because so many Dutch contributions to our daily lives relate to the home. It was the early Dutch pioneers in New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island who introduced flower gardens with imported bulbs from Holland, built their homes over food storage cellars, and even served pancakes, waffles, and cookies to neighbors who had never sampled such delights.

    Even the ubiquitous mound of coleslaw on restaurant plates is of Dutch origin. Credited with introducing strip farming in southern Alberta, developing western irrigation districts, and starting market gardening in the Holland Marsh area of York County in Ontario, the sturdy Dutch emigrating to the New World from the most densely populated area of Europe found vast areas of good land awaiting their industrious ingenuity.

    Because of the imports of the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch were among the first Europeans to make tea drinking a daily ritual. In fact, the Dutch are credited with initiating the 4:00 p.m. tea break, the rules of steeping for five minutes, and even the serving of tea from a tea cozy protected pot.

    There are many who would argue that the most important Dutch contribution is the beloved tradition of Santa Claus. Although the Dutch Sinterklaas is the antithesis of the western world’s commercially exploited Santa, he arrives annually in the Netherlands on December 6.  Sinterklaas is a Dutch tradition specifically for the enjoyment of all children regardless of religion.

    Dutch family life is of prime importance, and closeness of friends and relatives is retained with much visiting. In the Netherlands this poses no problem since more than 15.5 million people live in no more than 16,000 square miles. In Canada and the United States the Dutch maintain this visiting, regard-less of the distance one has to travel. The sports-loving, health-conscious Dutch are also famous for their appetites. Though many are overweight, they still claim “Western Europe’s longest life expectancy and one of the lowest death rates in the world.” Perhaps then, the image of the goude frouw knitting and the burgher puffing on his pipe is more a symbol of inner peace and strength that contributes to Dutch health and longevity.

  • Romanian Food and Their Culture

    FOOD AND CULTURE OF ROMANIA

    The Romanian is a study in contrasts. Like the Romanian climate which is icily cold in winter and fiercely hot in summer, the Romanian can be consumed with melancholy listening to the doine (poignant country songs of love and longing) or elevated to a passionate frenzy when dancing the hora or the colusari. Gypsy violins can make him cry but the sound of flutes and nai (panpipes) or cimpoi (bag-pipes) will evoke songs and laughter. He likes his tea very weak and his coffee very strong, his pickles very hot and his desserts very sweet. Like the powerful wind called the crivetz, which whips up the snow in the winter and drives the yellow dust in the summer, the Romanian soul is alternately gay and animated or sad and despairing – but seldom dull.

    Aside from these extremes of temperament and taste, the two-thirds of the Romanian population engaged in agriculture do show a form of moderation when it comes to their work. The rich fertile lowlands and the Wallachian Plains yield bounteous crops with little effort, and for centuries the people contented themselves with their own needs and little more.

    Probably it is those same fertile pastures, orchards, vineyards, and fields of grain that enticed the Roman conquerors about 100 C.E. In exchange for the grain and the gold that they took from the land, they built bridges and roads; but more important they built the beginnings of an identity and left a language and culture that is proudly preserved to this day. The strength of the Roman cultural identity can be better appreciated when one realizes that Romania was and still is almost surrounded by Slavic peoples and even counts within her own population more than a dozen ethnic groups. Despite this, more than 85 percent of the population speak Romanian, which is closely related to the other Romance languages of Latin, Spanish, French, and Italian. Further, their homogeneity is displayed not only in their almost universal temperament and tastes but also in their religion, for the vast majority of the population are members of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

    Romania today is composed of the areas of Transylvania, Banat, Wallachia, and Moldavia, with the Transylvanian Alps and parts of the Carpathian Mountains forming her interior. In former times, Bucovina and Bessarabia were also a part of Romania – but never all these areas at one time. Because of the tug-of-war for her lands, parts of Romania developed differently, strongly influenced by invaders. For example, Transylvania, originally a Romanian province, before 1000 C.E. became a Hungarian province, but in the 1200s was settled by German colonists, thus adding to the population of Romanians, Hungarians, and Szecklers (of non-Hungarian origin). At this time Hungarian domination spread to most of Romania, and the original Romanian population was kept in ignorance and subservience for almost 800 years.

    In the 1400s, the Turks conquered Moldavia and Wallachia and placed Greeks on the thrones. In the late 1600s a contest of power between Austria and the Ottoman Empire further suppressed the Romanians and added Hungarian peasants to the oppression.

    By the late 1700s, Russia joined the battle for Romania’s lands and by 1812 Bessarabia became Russian. But a surge of Romanian nationalism resulted in the creation of Romania as an independent kingdom in 1881, and rather than wars, she made treaties with Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and gained some internal stability.

    In the powerful desire to throw off their subservient yokes and gain independence, the Moldavian peasants began a surge of anti-Semitism that later became government policy and led in the early 1900s to a mass exodus of Romania’s Jews.

    Towards the end of the First World War, Romania’s siding with the Allies gained her more territory at one time than she had previously ever known. Back into her fold came Transylvania, Bucovina, most of Banat and Bessarabia. In the wake of this good fortune, Romania rescinded its anti-Semitic policies and attempted much-needed land reform policies. This too was short-lived and growing political pressures and Fascist sympathies led again to Jewish repression, censorship, and alignment with the Germans during the Second World War. By 1944, Russian armies swept into Bessarabia and Bucovina and deep into Romanian territory to secure her surrender. The gradual spread of communism began, as did the shift from a basically agricultural economy to a more industrialized one.

    Because of the repressive history of Romania, it is all the more intriguing that the country has retained her ancient Roman cultural identity and language – even the Romanian Orthodox religion. With the many territorial exchanges and foreign rulers, and despite the sufferings of her people, Romania mirrors her history in her cuisine but not in her identity. From the Southern Slays of the former Yugoslavia came the sarmales and ghiveciu, from Hungary the tokany, gulyas, and paprikash, from Austria the strudels, tortes, and wiener schnitzel, from Turkey the pilafs, baklava, halva, dolmas, and strong Turkish coffee, and finally from Russia the taste for soured soups, blini, and a variety of dark breads made from rye and coarse wheat flours. In some areas the German love of potatoes predominates over the inherent Romanian love of mamaliga, Romania’s staple “bread of gold” made from cornmeal.

    Aside from cuisine, one other Slavic tradition has become important in Romania. This is the reverence for wheat as the symbol of life. A part of the Romanian Orthodox funeral service is the blessing of a plate of mounded wheat sprinkled with sugar, raisins, and nuts. This is similar to the Ukrainian kutya, the Russian kutija, and the Serbian koljivo or zito.

    Romanians are noted for extremes in temperament and taste, and diversity in history and cuisine, but some things have remained comparatively consistent. Although increasingly Romanian women are stepping into full-time jobs away from their homes, they still retain their age-old respect for their men; the Romanian man comes first. And although Romanians are devotedly religious, they have embraced Christianity in addition to, not instead of, paganistic rites and superstitions.

    All share one other characteristic: they believe firmly that old age is simply a disease, not an inevitability. Health spas, mineral baths, drinking waters, the assiduous application of herbs and sometimes even a spell or two are believed to do the trick. From infancy to adulthood the taking of special waters, teas, and herbal brews are as much a staple as their beloved mamaliga. Hence too the serious devotion paid to the skills of the kitchen by all Romanian women: what can be more important than food and herbs?

  • Portuguese Food Glossary and Food Terms

    GLOSSARY OF FOODS AND FOOD TERMS IN PORTUGAL

    Acordas: similar to the migas of Spain, these are bread soups made with bread crumbs or a slice of day-old bread moistened with water or garlic-scented broth. Often served with a poached egg and a sprinkle of freshly, chopped coriander.

    Almondegas: seasoned meatballs rolled in flour and browned in oil then simmered in a sauce of browned onions, broth, and chopped parsley. Served with rice and potatoes.

    Azeite: strongly flavored olive oil typical of the country

    Bacalhau or Bacalao: dried salt cod for which the Portuguese are said to have 365 different recipes, one for each day of the year, each one so enjoyed as to gain the title of a “national dish.”

    Batatas a Portuguesa: thinly sliced new potatoes browned in a skillet with butter and olive oil, salt and pepper.

    Broa: the cornmeal bread of northern Portugal. Sweetish and heavy but crusty and satisfying – and wonderfully absorbent of tasty sauces.

    Caldierada: a melange of freshly caught fish simmered in a soup-stew with whatever else is at hand, usually served with potatoes and fresh bread.

    Formas con Laranja: tender waffles served with orange wedges.

    Laranja: the sweet juicy oranges of Portugal. Those are enjoyed fresh in wedges or slices, scooped out and refilled with mixed fruits in the shells, or served in a sweet candy-syrup. Still another favorite is candied orange peel.

    Medronho: a clear liqueur distilled from arbutus berries. Brandy mel is the same liquor with the addition of honey — easier to take. Neither is exported, hut are the specialty of the Algarve region.

    Migas: a dish of pork fillets or chops surrounded by lard-soaked bread.

    Paio: pork tenderloin that has been salted, smoked, and spiced.

    Pao de Trigo: a bread of southern Portugal made with wholewheat flour, coarse and crusty and used to soak up sauces.

    Papas de Frieiras: small sweet pastries with the earthy name of “nuns’ nipples.”

    Percebos: local shellfish, similar to barnacles.

    Porco con Ameijoas: one example of many types of casseroles combining pork and shellfish. Both these ingredients are prohibited by the dietary laws of both the Muslims and the Jews and are said to be typical of the dishes prepared and eaten during Inquisition days to prove “Christian zeal.”

    Presunto: smoked ham.

    Queijadas da Sintra: small cream-cheese and almond-paste tarts.

    Queijo: cheese.

    Sardinha Asada: grilled sardines.

    Tortilha: omelet.

    Vaca Estufada: beef stew with vegetables.

  • Portuguese Meals and Customs

    MEALS AND CUSTOMS IN PORTUGAL

    Few people feel more deeply about their native land, their childhood, or their food and drink than the Portuguese. They bring to their meals the same intensity as they bring to every other aspect of their lives. There is no philosophizing about food or drink as there is with the French, nor is there a plethora of cookbooks in Portugal. Portuguese prepare their food with simple dign4 making the most of nature’s rich gifts and in the same humble way they eat quietly and appreciatively Food is important and meals are generous hut food is never glorified or categorized.

    Dinners and suppers frequently run to five- or six-course menus and these include soup, fish, meat and vegetables with rice and potatoes, cheese, fruits, and a choice of sweet desserts of which at least two must he taken in order not to cause offense. Meals are usually leisurely with dinner from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and the evening supper sometime between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. hut not as late as the Spanish have theirs. The Portuguese enjoy eating tneals with their children. who are not only included in the adult conversation, they also join their parents in drinking wine as freely as water.

    Though dinner and supper are often filling meals, the typical Portuguese breakfast is simple and light, usually consisting of a hot beverage like tea or coffee and a variety of fresh breads and rolls to be eaten with honey, jams and butter.