WORLDROVER  Travel Magazine   March  2001

     

 


Bon Appetite

with
Gael Arthur

 If you choose your hotel well, you can eat well enough to make a great start on the day, full of energy to find the best place in town for Rijsttafel.



A TASTE OF HOLLAND 

The Dutch are, first and foremost, traders, people who sought out opportunities to buy something in one country and ship it to another.  As a result, they appreciate that different people has varying ideas of, say breakfast.  
The good news is that in most hotels that offer breakfast, you will have a choice of sweet and savoury, a quick bite or a full meal.   

You can hunker down to thick slices of bread topped with cheese (Edam and Gouda of course, caraway variation being one of my favourites), along with various cold meats.  
If you have a sweet tooth, you can opt for nutella or even the funny little sprinkles that sit on breakfast tables in hotels.  
Yoghurt is ubiquitous for the health-conscious, along with fresh fruit.  All in all, if you choose your hotel well, you can eat well enough to make a great start on the day, full of energy to find the best place in town for Rijsttafel.

 Rijsttafel?   It’s known as the national dish of Indonesia, but one of the best places in the world to sample it is Holland.  
The Dutch brought the dish back
from what was then the
Dutch East Indies and treat it with the respect it deserves.  

A big bowl of white rice surrounds as many as 
40 different smaller dishes, the key being the balance of flavours and textures, meats and vegetables, spicy and not-so-spicy and, of course, colours.  Just make sure you know what your tolerance for spice is, and have plenty of good Dutch beer on hand!


The following recipe came from a Dutch immigrant family to Canada – after the Second World War, immigrants from all over Europe flocked to the “New World”.  Luckily, they brought their recipes with them, and share them willingly.  

Koek

  Butter and flour two loaf tins.  Preheat oven to 350° F (170° – 180° C)  

Beat together until well mixed:

1 ˝ cups hot water

2 cups sugar

3T. butter

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp ground cloves

1 ˝ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

 

Then mix into first mixture:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

2 ˝ tsp baking powder

1 cup raisins

 

Divide mixture into two loaf tins; bake for one hour and ten minutes.  Test with a toothpick to make sure it is done. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a flavour of the countries 
you are visiting check out 
the guide books  
published by Lonely Planet.