Food and immigration

What is the influence of the colonization in the food? How did the immigration have an impact on the Dutch culinary specialties? We give you an overview of Dutch culinary history.

The Netherlands once colonized the West Indies, Suriname and Indonesia. Indeed, it was a great colonial empire. Traders brought back various spices from these colonies: coffee, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc.

These flavors gradually influenced the ingredients of some typical Dutch dishes such as cinnamon in desserts like apple pie or stroopwafels.

Today, more than 180 nationalities live in Amsterdam. This is a city of total freedom, where you can be who you are without judgement. This is one of the reasons why the Dutch authorities encouraged them to stay, while insisting on the need to "keep your own identity".

The reason there are so many immigrants, other than those from the colonies, is that in the 1960s there was a labor deficit. So, they called in workers from abroad. Workers from southern Europe were also invited to come to the Netherlands. The authorities then concluded employment agreements with Turkey (1964) and Morocco (1969).

Multiculturalism has become a state doctrine. This is why in Amsterdam, for example, there are several restaurants of different origins: India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Istanbul and more ...

A whole world in one !

If you want to know more about the history of the Netherlands, you don't hesitate to visit museums such as the Rijksmuseum or the Amsterdam Museum.

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Don't you know ?

The current flag was finally adopted in 1937, as there were several. The flag is made of red, white and blue horizontal stripes. Amsterdam has its own flag. It has a red background, and, in the middle, there is a black stripe with three white crosses inside. They represent three plagues which are famine, fire and plague. They would protect the city from these calamities.

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"Food is one of the key elements that structures people's identities and their perception

of others."

Wenying Xu