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After the French intro of 20 seconds a culinary acapella version of Billie Jean starts. They also made a song about raclette. And salad.

You beat me to it, both visiting and posting about it!😄 Hattem has been on our to do list for a while, because of the Hanseatic history, Anthony Piek Museum (he inspired Dutch theme park Efteling) and the bakery museum as well. Did you enjoy your stay? This is from an old Dutch tv show called Ontdek je plekje, discover your spot. Footage was shot during late '70's and or '80's. I haven't figured out those time stamps yet, but you can find Hattem from 19.00 minutes on and the bakery museum itself at 24:04. (Before that you get to see Harderwijk and Elburg, which are similar towns in the same area). Unfortunately they don't go in, so this is completely off topic. I found some recent footage from this bakery museum. The baker in your pictures is quite funny and great with kids! He's practily doing up stand up, while teaching and he serves jokes for all ages. Unfortunately most of the material has been shot by enthousiastic amateurs. This is a part from the bread figures demonstration. He explaines how to make a swan. This figure was used as a symbol for unity and loyalty, on wedding cakes but also as a wedding bread. Swans mate for a life time and two swans can make a heart symbol. He then procedes to make a branch, which symbolizes fertility. You wished people a lot of kids, since the government and insurance wasn't available in those days. There's a lot of embellishment about his personal life and family dynamics. He gets nostalgic about his mothers hutspot (a historic dish in its own right) among other things. Here's another part that continues after the wedding. We're now heading to child birth and he explaines that in the eastern region of The Netherlands called Twente, a krentenwegge was brought when visiting a newborn. This is a raisin bread. He's demonstrating a wikkelkind, which is inspired by the practice of swaddling babies. It is typical for the Veluwe region, where this museum is located. They give to new mothers to recuperate. Powdered anise is always included, as anise is linked to this period. (Read more on anise and muisjes here. The baker also uses the word wikkelbrood and in my area we have one too, but I guess that it is only folded and more like a stollen. It's a raison bread, stuffed with kaneelspijs. Spijs is a coarser almond paste (it should be, although the cheaper white bean can pop up too) 1:1 with regular granulated sugar and kaneel is cinnamon. Marsepein is less coarse and contains powdered sugar in 1:3 or 1:4. This information was brought to you by me and is not from the clip.) We then move on to death. As this is usually not very festive, banket/sugary things were offlimit in the Veluwe during the mourning period. As white was the colour of mourning until in victorian times black took over, white bread was ordered at the bakery. Before hitting the oven, they used a salt water wash and called it a groevebrood. (In both English and Dutch grief means kind of the same thing, but groeve means quarry or grave) This is a braided bread, using four strands. He explains that during the rise it takes a certain shape referring tussen komen en gaan, literally coming and going. Thus were the seasons of life, nature is up next. To greet spring, he makes a regular bunny. Easter is next. This used to be breakfast and egg searching for the kids, but nowadays brunch is more common. He tells that as a baker, one of the first things you should be able to do, is making an easter bunny. We're back at wedding customs from the Veluwe. The daughters parents paid for the wedding, the boys parents would give live stock. Some piglets, a calf or a goat, just to get them started. Then some personal stuff about roulade for christmas (and vegetarian girlfriend from one of his sons) and making surprise gifts (made from gold painted curly vermicelli) and poems for Sinterklaas. We miss some footage, but he made a pig. Sinterklaas full steam ahead, this starts in november until it peaks on the 5th (Dutch) or 6th (Belgian) of december. This is a very traditional time for sweet products and bakers could show off many things. Things that we're only made in this period of even just once a year. He tells about a baker removing his the door to his bakery, so he can use it as a table top to spread out and show off everything. Borstplaat (mentioned in my post above), fondant (a different sugary product, not the one applied to cake exteriors), marzipan, chocolate letters, taaitaai, speculaas both regular or stuffed with spijs, pepernoten. There's no other festive day that gets this many exclusive products. And now christmas is taking over, so less of these products get made. He's making a kerstmanbrood, santa shaped bread. And killing any romantic thoughts about life as a baker. If you want to bake in that old oven of theirs, you need to get up three hours early to fire it up. You can't just throw in some wood, it needs skill to heat up evenly to 250 c degrees. Delivery wasn't as easy as it is today. Unpaved roads that could turn to mud, clients living off road on their farms, etc. If you arrived at the last house and couldn't fulfil what was ordered on the spot, you would have to go back to the bakery and return to the customer when the product was ready. Yes, that means firing up that oven again. You had to, because there was a lot of competition in that region. 12 bakers for 7.000 people pre-war time. Nowadays they have 15.000 inhabitants and two dedicated bakers, who struggle against supermarket competition. Making banket, the sweet stuff, was done while the oven temperature dropped. It wasn't a daily chore and something that was best sold on Fridays and Saturdays. As the salaries came in on those days, debts from during the week could be paid off. If in luck the left over money could be used to splurge on raisin bread or some cookies and such. Then he tells about the 19th-century bakery next door and passing on knowledge from generation to generation. Knowledge you need to feel and experience from someone who has spent years honing his skill. And, if you're lucky, has written his routine down so you have a booklet to fall back on with the family recipes and perhaps the economics how to monetize it best. In this clip from 2020 it turns out the baker is also the ceo. There is a new building for the museum, where he wants to show off kermisbakery. Kermis background in English, but also check out the the page in Limburger (this is the southern region bordering Germany and Belgian) dialect. It shows two pictures, one of a contemporary kermis in Maastricht and some of the regional specialty vlaai. Oliebollen (a fried dough, also very much associated with new years eve) and waffles are part of kermisbaking. Poffertjes (no i included, unless in South Africa I think) are also linked to kermis, although the poffertjeskramen can show up without kermis. One, if not the oldest, is in my region and open from March/April to September. It's sort of a family tradition for us. I have been taking pictures, which will show up in another post on this subject. He has pictures on the wall of poffertjes makers. These were catholic families from the south, Brabant and Limburg, both Dutch and Belgian. In The Netherlands Brabant is officially Noord-Brabant, but everybody calls it Brabant. Belgium has a Flemish and a Walloon Brabant and a Limburg of its own. The statues are patron saints of compassion, all holding a piece of bread or otherwise referring to grain. The middle one he points at first for the poor, the second for the sick and the third is for the soul. He is resting after work and looking up to symbolize that. Back to the first one, but the edit misses what refers to being poor. The bread and lamb symbolize life. We move on the second room, het spijslokaal. No, not almond spijs. This instance it translates as food in general. It used to be a cafe, but from here he wants to serve the terrace that looks in on the bakery. They will be selling banket from here, which is pastry. He mentions krentenwegge again, but they will also be selling suikerbrood (sugarbread with characteristic sugar lumps called parelsuiker/pearl sugar. The tiles behind the bar he's pointing at are original and have been restored. The golden pretzel/krakeling sign came three weeks after buying this building. It came from the city of Zwolle, where bakery De Kruyter ceased to exist after 80 years. He mentions two other bakeries, which I frequented personally as I used to live there. But I'll leave the story of Zwolle's inhabitants nickname and the delicious cookie modeled after it for another day. De Kruyter were very happy that their krakeling got such a nice spot at the bakery museum. Up in the attic he shows the workshoproom (leslokaal), which is still empty for now. Covid struggles etc, but the restoration has been done. He points at the rafters which have been raised. Again, he likes the view on the other museum buildings. Expo space (pronckkaemer) is up next. They have 20.000 books on baking, from as early as the 17th century up to now. He also mentions poststamp and menu collections. 1000 menu's to show what bakeries catered for through the years. This might take a while to develope though, as exposing books and menu cards means they need climate controle, good lighting, etc. They're working on funds to make this happen. The stairs lead to the offices, where a part of the book collection will be kept. Which is why they kept up all those walls. He points out the window where outdoor activities will be held. Last room will be storage for things not currently on display, like chocolate molds. It's a good space, as it's not very warm for an attic and the small windows block most of the light. Amateur footage of the old bakery, where bread is baked. Also some shots of the exposition and old bakery and chocolate shop. Yes, even more can be seen. Warning though, this is not steady filmed footage including the volume. It does show the entrance, the shop and some other locations, which wasn't available in the prior clips. Enjoy!

Interesting read, thanks for sharing! Thought I recognized a brand from a vegan cheese taste test I participated in years ago, but Numu didn't exist back then. It was No Muh and their blue cheese has to be one of the vilest things I have ever put in my mouth. (Edit: Sorry no, the blue cheese was from Bute Island Cheese. No Muh wasn't that bad and got better reviews from us.) Isa Chandra's Moskowitz' melted crayons reference brings back that exact memory, although we described it as (latex) paint at the time. 😆 Thankfully, a lot has changed for the better.

This was a Dutch tv show during the late '70's and begin '80's. Medemblik in Noord-Holland is the charming subject of this episode. In the first minute you can see an old fashioned bakeryshop and a bit of the bakery in the back. Those heartcookies are speculaas. Apologies for the quality, these images don't show up in the regular episode available on YouTube. It has become a bakery museum (sorry, no English text) and is being remodeled as we speak. Better quality and more recent footage: He first shows a bread shape. It has something to do with the reformation that the Dutch use these shapes and not make baguette. The second object is for speculaas. Back in the day there was a lot more variation than the usual windmills and such of today. Every figure is symbolic for something. He thinks this wooden plank is about 200 years old. Last but not least our shapes for sugarwork and candies. Here's a more in depth Sinterklaasspecial. First you get to see some products in the store. The presenter has an assignment to find a vrijer, which translates to lover and refers to the old tradition of how the speculaas men and women (speculaaspoppen) were used. People would give this to their crushes. If it was reciprocated, they would accept the speculaas. If not, the would refuse or break the head off. This was typical for the West-Friesian region in Noord-Holland. After shaping speculaas in the back, they move on to sugarwork. The son, who specialises in sugarwork, explains a bit about sugarwork belonging to one of the oldest guilds. As sugar was so expensive, people wanted to show it off. The art pieces were made with dragant (sugar with gelatine) and tragant (sugar with something related to arabic gum). The train won a price in 1996, he is most proud of this piece. Now they're gonna make sugarbeasts. He soaked the wooden shapes for at least an hour. As with speculaas, the shapes are symbolic. Doves were popular for weddings. The rooster symbolises purity. He refers to a painting of Jan Steen, where a girl holds a little white rooster to symbolize her innocence. The third is hard to understand, I think it's a peacock that stands for vanity. Sugarbeasts are getting less common, at least I don't see them often anymore. They're made of sugar and water. I remember them being coloured, orange, yellow, brown (cocoa) and pink. The baker (scratchy noises from the bottom of the pan) and sight (cloudy texture). He also tells about selling a lot of these and how this surprises him as sugar is getting such a bad rep, especially for kids. Nonsens, he says. They also speak about borstplaat, which is heavy cream and sugar. It literally means chest plate and was advised when you have a cold. Now that's a medicine I can get behind! It can still be found, but one has to be careful to get the real deal. In supermarket they will sell a borstplaat that's actually a fondant type. Do not fall for this trap, it's vile! If any of you make it to The Netherlands, it will probably be Amsterdam. If you're there in November and first week of December, get yourself to Pompadour for some proper borstplaat. I mention the season, because borstplaat is only made in the period up to Sinterklaas. You won't find it outside that time window and Pompadour can be worth it for other products as well, year round (imho).

Love eggs and am almost never without any. Mostly hard boil them in batches, as I'm not a fan of runny yolks and absolutely despise whites that are too jiggly for my taste. After boiling, I keep them in my fridge. I like them with mayonaise, especially kewpie. Either as a snack, in a soup or curry, or sliced up in a sandwich. My regular bread is sliced whole wheat, but for nostalgic reasons I will use a soft whole wheat bun with a Dutch style mayo (which is sweeter). Another variation is the Dutch broodje gezond, meaning healthy sandwich. This is a combination of gouda style cheese, ham, lettuce, cucumber, tomato and egg. I leave out the ham and don't use any butter, because I prefer the sweeter mayonaise instead. If you decide to order this in a Dutch snackbar, please beware of the difference between mayonaise and fritessaus. Fritessauce is a sort of diet version of mayonaise, which I don't recommend. You're already ordering non-fried stuff in a snackbar, don't skimp on that mayonaise too! Second comes the fried egg. Either sunny with cooked yolk or as something that I refer to as an omelet, but is probably cooked to death too much to please a French person. This ends up as a sandwich or is served next to fried rice. I keep forgetting I can fry the egg with the rice most of the time. Sometimes the omelet gets a masala treatment. My SO likes to incorporate cheese. Third is every now and then, the Spanish tortilla. You probably guessed it, no runny center here. Also because I like to bring it as lunch for outings like picknicks on hot days. Oh and almost as much, scrambled eggs. These are almost exclusively for making egg and chive dumplings. My SO just made wentelteefjes, which literally translates as turning bitches. You might now it as pain perdu or French toast. It's one of his favourite things. Me, not so much. But I'm not complaining, especially not when he uses special bread to make it and doesn't make them too eggy. Friesian sugarbread, stewed pears and cinnamon ice cream make a nice combo. This Easter he found a stollen with almond paste, amarena cherries and hazelnuts at Lidl. There was a ricotta and pear ice cream from Lidl's Italian week lurking in the freezer. Not bad 😄 Edit: I forget to mention memories of painting eggs for Easter in my oma's kitchen. There was also a time when we painted the eggs at school and blew the contents out of a little hole in the shell. This hung in the kitchen for ages. I should check if it's still there.

In The Netherlands and Belgium Aldi shops fall under Aldi North. I think I noticed this chain some twenty years ago, when I was still a student and have been going every now and then ever since. Even now, when I live in a city (population of 90.000) with access to approximately ten different supermarket chains, including a Lidl or two, I can reach in 5-20 minutes per bike (recreational speed). Over the years some products have been praised by people who's opinion I value. Thanks to rotuts and some other people here, Roser Moth chocolate have made it's way to our house. The biological eggs are quite tasty for a supermarket product, at least I don't know better ones. Yet. I'm never without those little cans of double concentrated tomatopuree. They also have big hunks of gouda-style cheese on sale every now and then. The medium aged one is my cheese workhorse so to say. If I don't get my minced beef from a proper butcher, I'll settle with Aldi's biological one. Nuts have been a let down. Especially the borrelnootjes, a coated and fried spiced peanut product. Both from Aldi, Lidl and other supermarket brands. Lidl started to smarten up a bit a few years ago. Both locations here got an update and a bakery section. A few months ago, my Aldi got a bakery as well. Bakery as in fresh baked off bread, not a proper bakery from scratch. (I think the Albert Heijn chain started to bring bake an oven in to the stores.) After the overhaul, Aldi now is open in the evening and on Sundays. Except for the supermarket formula that relies on special needs personnel, it was the only one left that wasn't open after 18 or on Sunday. Lidl has won some awards for their fresh produce and their theme weeks appeal to me. Aldi is starting to do more themes I feel, but it's still less elaborate than Lidl. We do have special hours for the vulnerable in supermarkets, which are generally the very first opening hours or even an hour earlier than regular opening times. Complaints have been made that they aren't used much though. Edit: Have noticed some TJ-products showing up the last few years, but I only specificially remember being disappointed about hotdogbuns.

I am glad you enjoy it so much!

This subject actually made a few headlines in The Netherlands, as pizza chain Domino's announced they're saying goodbye to pizza hawaï and pineapple. April Foolsday campagne, I guess.

A little while back I discovered the Maroccan version. It's called Ahsan Patissier or in French Le meilleur pâtissier and you can find it on YouTube

Dutch newspaper article in English: Takeaways aren’t a new thing. The ancient Romans ate nothing but

The meat is the hero of the dish, so two cloves should be fine. Especially if you use high quality cloves, which my oma definitely not had access to. If in doubt, you could always chuck an extra in. Eet smakelijk!

My mother is about the same age and she absolutely loves to have options. She can't handle big portions anymore, especially not of sugary, fatty or very spicy things. Big portions are less appealing when she does her own shopping, as she doesn't like to be stuck with produce for days. Cooking has become painful and ready made stuff can be fatty, sugary and not very tasty. So I either buy it from a place she can't or won't reach. Or I make it and take down the heat of some of her favorites and watch out with fat. The sugary things (like when we try out some nice patisserie), we just share. If I don't make or buy any small portioned stuff like madeleines, I just cut op stuff like a piece of cake or pie, so everyone get's to try a small piece. This looks a bit less nice, but it does spark a lot of joy. And analyses of said products, because now everyone has an opinion😄 Does your mom still make stuff herself? If not, how about a nice kartoffelsalat? Home made stuff can be much lighter and nicer than what she has access to. Dressed up nicely on a fancy plate or use an ice scoop to make individual portions. This might look a bit less intimidating. You could make a decorating border out of a variety of pickles. Or choose a different acid to balance the spread, like a krautsalat. Could be regular white/green one with carrot or go for a red cabbage and do a little sweet and sour with raisins. Or a beet salad. It's not the right season yet, but some cherry tomatoes can be a nice addition. Bonuspoints if you can get your hands on a nice mix of colors and shapes. Get or make the best bread available and also some nice crackers. Some chutney perhaps? For sweets, is bienenstich an option? Maybe it's a personal thing, but bees signal spring (and summer) to me. Might be a bit much, next to all those cheeses. But you could opt getting one piece from a good bakery and cut it up for nibbles. Eggnog is a bit of an easter thing over here (Hallo Nachbar, süße Grüße aus den Niederlanden👋) and can be put in small glasses. Layer it with contrasting colours and savour with tiny spoons. Or go for something zingier and pick lemon curd. Oh, I'm digging the asparagus suggestion! I saw some green ones available and now want to grill them. Anyway, have a great easter and birthday celebration!

Oh that's easy, money. Just tell those politicians and managers where you would like that budget to come from.

Perhaps Bourdain didn't see hovering above the toilet as food poisoning per se. I hear people say the same about Taco Bell (or eating at my place after absolutely assuring me that they really love spicy food) and have yet to hear anyone call that food poisoning. By the way, welcome to eGullet @Rodk! I wish you health and social distance too.

So I'm just an ex food sales person and have been around quite a few vegetarians and vegans both professionally and leisurely. I'm not a cooking professional, so not sure if this helpful.. Looking at vegan recipes, I see unroasted cashewnuts being used as a canvas a lot. I second @AAQuesada that almonds and oats are generally more popular than soy. Next to health issues, quite a few people do detect a soy taste and dislike it in my experience. @Tri2Cook Have you seen and perhaps tried MCT and vegan protein powders? I know they can be very pricy, but the MCT powder can have a subdued or perhaps even absent coconut flavour. Not familiar with this product, but I see it being recommend as a milk powder sub. Edit: Now that I'm further down the rabbithole, I see it containing lecithine and silicium dioxide. That might be inconvenient and I also see ones that do contain lactose. Not my best suggestion, sorry. The vegan protein powders come to my mind, because I saw an item on tv about a macaron baker that uses potato protein. Some of this stuff is specificly blended for a neutral flavour. I see pumpkin protein being mentioned as such for instance, brown rice and quinoa too. Pea protein isolate seems common for bulk. Aqua faba has been getting noticed a lot past few years. I see this being advised as a dairy substite as well, although it's main recommendation is as an egg replacement. And out of your scope, because it's not a powdered product. My bad... Oh and on rice, I would like to say that I've disliked it so far. I've tried rice milk, chocolate rice milk and solid chocolate. Have found them a bit devoid of flavour and to skinny in texture. These were all white rice products to best of my knowledge and obviously quality can vary a lot. Perhaps it's not just a health marketing to use brown rice? Carob could be an interesting choice too, as this is also being used as a chocolate substitute. It won't pass for the true chocolate lover, but it could boost the chocolate flavour in a way malt does too?