Number of days in Amsterdam – 99
Number of days without a bike theft – 95
Days since it last rained – 0
Today was all about exploring new foods, at the insistence of Bill.
Today was also the day I did it.
I ate a raw herring.
All over the city are Haring stands, selling raw herring. The Dutch consider it something between a delicacy and a national pastime, and slurp these things down with relish.
I had promised my Kickstarter patrons that I would slurp one down on camera as part of my obligation for their donations, and produce a video of it.
I really expected that it would be a situation where I’d act all like Andrew Zimmern in Bizarre Foods and hammer it down, commenting on the flavors and ending with something like “All in all, it’s not that bad. See? We all learned something today.”
This was not to be the case.
Haring is salty and fishy. But that’s not the worst part.
It’s really mushy.
It’s the texture that gets you.
I immediately went queasy as I choked this squishy, fishy thing down.
Seriously, Dutch readers: what’s the matter with you?!?!?
I got it all on video and produced a piece exclusively for Kickstarter. To be honest and brag a bit, it turned out very well. However, as promised, it will not be posted here.
Just know that I tried it, and it was painful.
Keep in mind that I like sushi. I like head cheese. And there are many organ-based food items I have consumed over the years that, even if I didn’t like them, didn’t produce the queasy reaction I got from this mushy mess.
OK, no more ragging on your national treasure. Let’s move on to another Dutch national treasure.
FEBO.
Bill, the adventurous one who nonetheless didn’t want to try the haring, did want to try food from FEBO.
FEBO is an odd concept; a combination of a fast food restaurant and a vending machine. Inside are walls of vending machines, loaded with fast food items like burgers, krokets and cheese souffles. They are loaded from behind by fast food workers you never see. Perhaps they are a variation on the Dutch gnome? Who really knows? It’s one of the mysteries of the Netherlands.
You pop in your coins, open up the door and grab your food.
Bill went for the cheese souffle, which he said was like a Hot Pocket filled with Velveeta.
We can honestly say he got the full FEBO experience, right down to the hair in his food.
Truly, FEBO is “De Lekkerste” (“The Tastiest”).
Post-FEBO, it was time for one more new and distinctly Dutch food experience – stamppot.
Stamppot is a cool-weather comfort food that I’ve been looking forward to trying. It’s essentially a mix of vegetables and mashed potatoes served with meat (usually rookworst, I believe) and gravy on top.
It seems pretty time-consuming, and while I’m looking forward to making it this winter, we went with a premade stamppot from Albert Heijn.
This was… not bad.
It wasn’t great, but that was more from it being a premade grocery store version than anything else. I can see that, made with fresh ingredients, this will be an amazing winter staple to chase away the chill!
Despite all this conspicuous consumption, it was actually only early afternoon, so Bill and I went to the park for a beer, and to reflect on everything we’d done so far. He was a good visitor (as all our visitors have been so far), because he/they remind me (and I’ll reiterate this point many times more, I’m sure) remind me not to take this experience for granted. When the day to day hammers me down, or I’m worried about finances, or parenting issues, or whatever, I have to stop and remind myself that I am in a beautiful foreign country – hell, I’m living in Europe! – in a beautiful city where I get to ride my bike everywhere, every day!
Even if it’s raining, I never consider that a point of I have to ride my bike.
It’s always I get to ride my bike.
And I can go drink a beer in the park.
I am pretty lucky.
After all these new and unknown food experiences, we wanted to share one with Bill that we knew – Renato’s Pizza.
Because Renato’s is pretty much impossible to get into without a reservation (they only have 10 or so tables and the food is amazing), I went ahead and made us a reservation. Quite often, Nicole and I pop in there on a whim to see if there is space at the bar, but I wanted to be sure we got a table so Bill could try it.
I walked in and told the server we had a reservation.
His reply?
“Well, that’s good! You won’t have to sit at the bar again tonight!”
DON’T YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?
It means we have become “regulars” somewhere. To the point where they know us.
That makes me happy.
And the pizza? It made everyone happy.
You are brave! I am Dutch and would never ever try a ‘haring’. Certainly not all Dutch like herring! I would like to see the video though
I did sponsor you so how does that work? Maybe I should check my spam filter. Kickstarter mails tend to end up in there.
Hi Mark,
It was in my latest update. Let me know if you didn’t get it, and I’ll make sure you get to see it!
- Ryan
“Latest update”? I don’t think I ever saw anything else than a mention that the project went on and I had to pay
It was an update to our Kickstarter backers, that would have come in a separate email. I send updates to our backers via email. Drop me a line via ryan@amsterdamtourist.com and we can get it sorted out if you’re not getting your updates.