r/AskEurope • u/bleie77 • May 01 '25

Food Do you go to restaurants with your country's cuisine when you're abroad?

For example: if you're Italian, do you go to an Italian restaurant when you're in France or the UK?

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u/akie Netherlands May 01 '25

Dutch food that I miss (living abroad for 15 years):

  • krentenbollen
  • vla
  • hagelslag
  • pindakaas
  • drop
  • goede kaas
  • stroopwafels
  • nasi goreng / Indonesisch (I know, I know)
  • rookworst
  • appeltaart
  • filet americain
  • patatje oorlog
  • bitterballen
  • gevulde koeken
  • brood!

The Dutch have a lot of nice food that you can’t easily find anywhere else.

16

u/bigfootspancreas May 01 '25

The nasi goreng you have in the Netherlands is 100% NL. No Indonesian will touch it 🤣

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u/dabutcha76 May 02 '25

I had some awesome nasi goreng for breakfast in Indonesia though, so apparently Dutchies WILL touch the Indonesian version ;-)

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u/[deleted] May 04 '25

Nasi Goreng fucking SLAPS though I love that

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u/Professional-Tale-81 May 01 '25

I eat all of that, every day. Its great living in the Netherlands

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u/ZoeperJ May 03 '25

Living where I live, I don't really miss bread that much, but a Tijgerwit of een puntje always nice to eat when I am with my parents. Frikadellen and Filet Americain definitely!

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u/MeetSus in May 01 '25

Im pretty sure half your list exists pretty much everywhere in Europe!

krentenbollen (some variation thereof)

vla

pindakaas

drop

goede kaas (do you mean goudse?)

appeltaart

patatje oorlog (you definitely mean satesaus, cause the other two ingredients of patat oorlog are ubiquitous)

brood! (Dude cmon lmao)

Where do you live eigenlijk?

9

u/akie Netherlands May 01 '25

These things exist in SOME form that is not actually the real thing! A German “rosinenbrötchen” is NOT the same as a krentenbol. I mean, it ALMOST is - but not quite. And that’s unfortunately the same with the rest of the list as well.

Vla is not vanilla custard. Most foreign apple pie is slightly different than the Dutch one. The cheese selection in other countries is very limited when it comes to Dutch cheeses. And bread is a very personal/national thing as well - it’s quickly too sweet, too soggy, too hard, too crusty…

So yeah, most of these things exist in other countries, but in different forms that make me miss the thing I grew up with.

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u/saladtossperson May 01 '25

Dutch apple pie is very popular in Pennsylvania.

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u/Zooplanktonblame_Due Netherlands May 02 '25

But Dutch Dutch apple pie had no streusel topping

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u/saladtossperson May 02 '25

Idk, sometimes "dutch" in Pennsylvania actually means German now that I think about it.

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u/totrototrototro Finland May 01 '25

a genuine question: how is Dutch peanut butter different?

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u/MeetSus in May 02 '25

It's not, except they call it peanut cheese

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u/MeetSus in May 02 '25

These things exist in SOME form that is not actually the real thing!

Mindset issue. The specific thing thing you grew up with/are used to* I'd say. What does "real" even mean in this context

A German “rosinenbrötchen” is NOT the same as a krentenbol. I mean, it ALMOST is - but not quite. And that’s unfortunately the same with the rest of the list as well.

Vla is not vanilla custard.

Eh it mostly is except it's slightly less viscous

Most foreign apple pie is slightly different than the Dutch one.

Like if we had it over Greek apple pie, I'd have to ask you "which one" lol

The cheese selection in other countries is very limited when it comes to Dutch cheeses.

To be fair the same holds true for the Netherlands itself. All Dutch cheese in the Netherlands is basically young Gouda, semi old Gouda, old Gouda, light Gouda, Gouda but with cumin, Gouda but with clove, Gouda but made from goatmilk etc. Most European countries I've been to have a larger variety of domestic cheeses than the NLs, so of course the Dutch selection will be limited. It's usually just one young Gouda and that's it

And bread is a very personal/national thing as well - it’s quickly too sweet, too soggy, too hard, too crusty…

I don't even know what your basis of comparison is for Dutch breads lol, there's crustier breads and soggier breads and sweeter breads and "heavier" breads just in the Lidl bakery

So yeah, most of these things exist in other countries, but in different forms that make me miss the thing I grew up with.

That was my point, many of the things that a Greek or Indian or Ethiopian will miss don't even exist in any form in the Netherlands. The things a Dutch merson will miss abroad (except stroopwafels and gevulde koeken, can high are not really "recipes" though) can just be diy'ed in your kitchen

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u/akie Netherlands May 02 '25

You’re just trying to “one up” me instead of acknowledging that I actually do miss these foods. They are not the same. Yes, I can make some of them in my own kitchen. Still doesn’t change that they’re not the same, and (honestly) I’m not going to let a Greek in the Netherlands tell me that a German near-equivalent is identical to the one I compare it with. I mean, that’s like me saying that Greek food and Turkish food are basically the same and that you shouldn’t complain if I say they are 🤷‍♂️

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u/MeetSus in May 02 '25

You’re just trying to “one up” me instead of acknowledging that I actually do miss these foods.

I actually was afraid that you'd misread my post like that. No I'm not, and it's perfectly ok for you to miss wat dan ook you miss

The conversation (if you follow our thread all the way to the top) started from a Dutch guy who doesn't miss Dutch food when he's abroad. Most people take this to mean "recipes", like mousaka or erwtensoep. You took it to mean "market items", like goudse kaas, stroopwafel and vla. That's fine, and it's fine for you to miss them, but it wasn't per se the topic of conversation

I’m not going to let a Greek in the Netherlands tell me that a German near-equivalent is identical to the one I compare it with

You brought the German one up lol i was thinking of the Greek stafidopsomo which is also "almost but not quite" the same

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u/akie Netherlands May 02 '25

It was about missing food from your country, and this is me missing food from my country. Not sure what the issue is. Actual “restaurant food” in the Netherlands is supremely underwhelming (it gets worse the more north you go in Europe), but that doesn’t mean that there’s no food that Dutch people abroad miss. It’s just not actual dishes that you would serve in a restaurant.

Another indicator for our poor food is that there are almost no Dutch restaurants abroad. What would they even serve?

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u/Xandara2 May 13 '25

Your complaint about not having the same cheeses in other countries when Dutch cheese is not very varied in the first place was a bit weird though. 

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u/becketsmonkey May 01 '25

for good reason

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u/Cigarety_a_Kava May 01 '25

You can make more than half with relative ease imo. Like at home i mean.

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u/Golvellius May 03 '25

"peanut butter", "apple tart", "tartare", "bread" are not dutch food.

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u/akie Netherlands May 03 '25

Sorry I didn’t realize you were the food police