Date Added: October 20, 2013 07:01:47 PM

The country's staples—bread, cheese, and potatoes—are pretty much the same with most European countries. However, the Dutch have naturally created and developed their own recipes and cooking methods and the results are quite fascinating. They have also found ways to utilize their own unique ingredients to produce some of the most delicious dishes in the world.

The Basics

In a typical setting in the Netherlands, food is fairly basic. Most Dutch people settle for a bread meal, together with fish or a vegetable stew. The breakfast and lunch in the country also differ very little and so, meals are almost the same throughout the day.
A typical combination in Dutch food culture is bread and cheese—two food items that make the Netherlands quite a name in the field of gastronomy. The cheese, in particular, is really varied and special in this part of the world. Favorites like Edam, Gouda, and Leyden originated from this country, but today they are sold and served everywhere. The bread, on the other hand, is known to be very airy due to the yeast dough from which it is made. Some of the popular Dutch breads are rye bread, suikerbrood, and kerstsol. The last one is flavored bread traditionally served and eaten during Christmas.
Another essential part of the simple Dutch cuisine is the combination of coffee and biscuit (or tea and biscuit). At least twice a day, the Dutch will have a cup of coffee or tea with a piece of biscuit. This is often done before lunch and after dinner. The coffee they have is called café au lait, prepared with equal parts of coffee and hot milk. Other than these two beverages, they also sometimes have warm lemonade (kwast) and hot milk with aniseed (anijsmelk).

The Specialties

All around the Netherlands, there are different regional specialties to enjoy. Although diverse in taste and preparation, most of them are made up of local ingredients and made in the same simplistic and straightforward Dutch fashion. Likewise, despite the different regions from where they originated, these traditional dishes are available everywhere in the country, including a Campanile hotel in Amsterdam.
In the northeastern part of the country, there is an abundance of specialty sausages. The area is known to make sausages with wildly strong tastes. They also produce smoked sausages, such as the popular rookworst, which is exported to the United Kingdom and Australia.  Meanwhile in the west, dairy is the centerpiece. The three most popular cheeses were first made here. The region also boasts of rich coasts where the locals harvest fresh seafood, such as herrings, which are traditionally eaten raw in the Netherlands.
Down south, all these great but humble foods are transformed into haute cuisine. Here, one can find high-end restaurants that serve quality versions of these traditional dishes. The south also serves main courses, such as Biefstuk, Varkenshaas, and Ossenhaas, which are all meat-based dishes.

The cuisine of the Dutch has the same fundamentals as most European cooking. But unlike the food served by a hotel bruges and other European cities have, the ones in the Netherlands are simply their own. Their famous cheeses are locally valued, but are now seen everywhere. Meanwhile, the country's specialties remain precious in their respective places and one can try them out at Amsterdam hotels and restaurants.

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