Dutch food festival – The moment I heard about this festival, an epiphany hit me which made me realise that I have not experienced Dutch cuisine till now. Being a food reviewer, where my profession requires me to be well conversant with the different cuisines of food, the aforementioned fact of my unawareness of Dutch cuisine did vex me; however, at the same time, I was thrilled about this opportunity, and I started looking forward to try something very different. In other words, it was the time for me to learn – and write – about a new excursion which I never explored earlier.
As I am a part of Team Shivangi Reviews, I was invited to cover this event. Known as Holland meets Mumbai, this event was launched on June 1 at Foodhall – a premium lifestyle food superstore – which is located inside the Palladium Mall at Lower Parel, and the objective of this event is to bring its patrons the culinary flavours of Dutch cuisine. This cuisine is traditionally rustic with bread, cheese like Gouda, meat and vegetables such as potatoes and asparagus, and berries which play an important part of the food. The country’s cuisine is shaped by the practice of fishing and farming, including cultivation of the soil for raising crops and the raising of domesticated animals, and the history of the Netherlands.
The Dutch cuisine has gained popularity amongst food connoisseurs across the globe owing to its simple and straightforward flavours. This food festival will take you to the Orange land with some of its most enjoyable savouries such as Stroop Waffle, a waffle made from thin layers of baked dough with a caramel-like syrup filling and world famous cheeses such as Edam and Gouda. This event will continue till June 6.
The food festival was quite an interesting affair where the famous Dutch delicacies – such as different types of cheese, pancakes, Stamppot, Dutch famous pea soup, waffle cones, apple pie etc. – looked delectable. All the aforementioned food items were for sale ; however, all of them had some trial items – mini or you can say free versions – so that people can taste them before buying. In the juices category, there were four types: grapefruits and mango mix juice, passion fruit ice tea, cucumber aloe vera juice, and jalapeño lemonade where the last one was the most interesting in taste with the pungent flavour of jalapeños. Beautiful pancakes with blueberry compote were tasty; however, while doing the pulse check of the event, a lady mentioned to me that she had much better pancakes in Europe. Of course, and I have no doubt to this fact because every country has different quality and taste in terms of ingredients.
My favorite part of the show was the demonstration of different categories of Dutch cheese. This section was stunning, and the beautiful sight of different types of cheese – such as Gouda, Edam, smoke cheese with chilly, and Gauda with green pesto – was divine and heavenly. Of course, I tasted all of them, and every type of cheese was delicious.
The entire event was good; however, I felt that some things were not properly organised. The team – or whoever was responsible – did not replenish the trial versions of Dutch delicacies constantly, and as a result, people had to wait to try them. I waited too long to try two very special Dutch delicacies; however, I gave up at the end because the trial items did not come at all. I wish they could have organised this in a better way.
I was fortunate enough to meet the Consulate of the General Kingdom of the Netherlands, and he was extremely kind to answer some of my questions regarding this food festival. He mentioned that food is a great way to bring people together, and he understands that Indians love food and good flavours. He further mentioned that Indians love to experiment, and he and his team would like to bring something new to them; hence, they launched this food festival. I also inquired about Dutch cuisine, and he very graciously stated that Dutch is a very cold country; hence, the food is heavy and sweet. A majority of the population is non-vegetarian, but Dutch has great deal of vegetarian food as well. Lastly, he mentioned that through this initiative, their intention is to bring the two nations together.
At the end, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the organizers of the event as it gave me – and to lot of other people – a huge opportunity to experience and understand the Dutch cuisine. It is a great platform for the food reviewers and bloggers to expand their horizon in terms of food and its knowledge.
Life………… Significance, Souvenirs, and Lessons 