Cynthia (Hedy) lives in Utrecht. She workes in catering. Beside that she is also the blogger behind De Indomama, a Dutch food blog, on which her Indo background plays an important role. Read about Cynthia’s first experience with Dutch food, how she tried to prepare an ‘AGV’tje’ for the first time and her secret to a tasty stamppot.

Indo

She has born in Indonesia, in a place called Tegal. Both her parents are Indo, with both Chinese and European blood. Which makes her an Indo as well. In 1960 she and her family came to The Netherlands. She was 2 years old back then.

Vla as dessert

Her very first experience with typical Dutch food? “I can’t remember that. In my youth we got vla in the weekend as a dessert. Each one of my siblings had their own colored mug. Is vla typically Dutch?”

AGV’tje

“When I went to live on my own during my student days, I had to prepare my own dishes. To my knowledge, my mother never learned me how to prepare a Dutch dish. The first dish I made was an AGV’tje: aardappelen (potatoes), groenten (vegetables) and vlees (meat). Typically Dutch.

I had peeled the potatoes and cleaned the carrots. Fresh carrots of course! I had cooked the potatoes and carrots, drained them and put them in a deep plate. It still floated in cooking liquid. I did not know what I had done wrong. I thought I had poured everything well enough. There was also still some sand in my plate.

For meat I bought a very cheap burger. One of which more than half of the meat has been replaced by fake stuff. It did not even taste like meat. But it was cheap and I was a poor student.

I finished my plate, but it was not a success.”

Typically Dutch food culture

“Eating pannenkoeken (pancakes), speculaas and tompouce is what I think about when it comes to Dutch food culture. And eating drop (licorice) is also typically Dutch”

Favorite Dutch food

What her favorite Dutch food is? “First: stamppot. Sometimes I make it at home as well. Stamppot is mashed potatoes and vegetables. I also love Hema rookworst! This is a smoked sausage which you can buy at a Hema store. And I also like snert (pea soup).”

“When it’s cold in winter time I find stamppot, hutspot (kind of stamppot which contains potatoes, carrots and onions) and snert delicious Dutch food. Nice to stay warm. It’s real comfort food. You can eat it with sambal for some extra spice as well!

Advice for the untrained Dutch food eater

What advice does Cynthia wants to give to someone who wants to eat Dutch food for the first time? “Try the stamppot, hutspot or snert! Or eat bruine bonen soep (kidney bean soup) if you don’t like peas. And eat stamppot or hutspot with a lot of tasty gravy, it makes it even better.