food | Pierre Vanderhout's Travel Blog

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

I’m now back in Kingston after a very enjoyable trip to France, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands. I still intend to do a wrap-up post but first I am going to take the populist approach and write about food. I didn’t include too many food pictures in my day-to-day posts, as I realized fairly early on that I would have enough for a post devoted solely to food. I’ve noticed that food also tends to draw the most blog comments and personal e-mails.

Sometimes food can be a tasty history lesson. Two examples on this trip were Tibetan food in Luxembourg and Indonesian food in the Netherlands. Tibet is not currently an independent nation. However, the idea of Tibet as an entity has been kept alive in several ways. Many Tibetans have fled home to establish new lives elsewhere and a significant number have established restaurants specializing in Tibetan cuisine. My wife and I have eaten Tibetan food in Montreal, Toronto and Northampton (Massachusetts), among other places.

Bhutanese cheese soup and Tibetan butter-and-salt yak tea (Luxembourg City, Luxembourg) — Bhutanese cheese soup and Tibetan yak-butter-and-salt tea (Luxembourg City, Luxembourg)

So, even if you couldn’t place Tibet on a map, you may still be familiar with the Dalai Lama…or Momo dumplings! I really enjoyed my Tibetan meal in Luxembourg City and I’m glad that I can now also share a photo of my Bhutanese cheese soup. Bhutan is an independent country but it is very small and I do not think that there is a very large Bhutanese expatriate community. Bhutan occasionally makes the news because its leaders have taken a rather unique approach to tourism and economic development: the number of visitors is very strictly limited…and the nation has determined that “Gross National Happiness” is more important that “Gross National Product” (hence the restrictions on the number of tourists).

Rijsttafel at De Lachende Javaan (Haarlem, the Netherlands)

I have fond memories of eating Indonesian food as a child during my family’s visits to the Netherlands. It was so colourful and tasty; virtually every town had at least one place where you could get Indonesian food. I didn’t really understand all of the nuances at the time, but the main reason for this proliferation of Indonesian restaurants was that Indonesia was once part of the Dutch colonial empire. In some ways, the Dutch adoption of Indonesian cuisine mirrors Britain’s adoption of (East) Indian cuisine. Much as I associate Indonesian food with the Netherlands, I also associate Indian cuisine with Britain.

The Man-Wah restaurant in 's-Gravenzande, the Netherlands. I remember eating Indonesian food here as a child. — The Man-Wah restaurant in ‘s-Gravenzande, the Netherlands. I remember eating Indonesian food here as a child.

There are quirks, however. I’m not sure exactly why, but most restaurants serving Indonesian food are also described as being “Chinese”. The food served doesn’t really match up with this Canadian’s perception of Chinese food, but the naming convention remains in place.

Even though I could happily eat Indonesian food several times a week, it doesn’t seem to be that trendy in the Netherlands these days. Like many other people, the Dutch have taken a liking to showarma, doners and kebabs…foods that became commonplace in western Europe partly because of the economic migration of guest workers in the late 20th century. The fresh flavours of Thai food are also very popular with the Dutch (see photo at the top of this post – which is from a “Chinese” restaurant in Zuidlaren). But what struck me most was the proliferation of Spanish restaurants (generally focusing on tapas) and Argentinean steakhouses.

Dimly-lit North African food in Groningen, the Netherlands

The Netherlands has had a new king since 2013. His wife is Argentinean and she is quite popular with the Dutch. Indeed, most of my relatives believe she is the reason that tapas bars and steakhouses can now be found in any decent-sized Dutch town. Her popularity may not last forever but, in the meantime, eating tapas or Argentinean steak seems to be almost a patriotic act in the Netherlands.

And what of “traditional” Dutch food? I regularly ate krokets (croquettes) as a snack, loaded up on various types of excellent Dutch cheese on sandwiches, and ate hagelslag (“hail”, a type of chocolate sprinkle) whenever possible for breakfast. Only in the Netherlands can adults enjoy this food without guilt. It’s great to start your day with some buttered (as an adhesive layer) bread and a thick coating of dark chocolate hagelslag.

Next time on the blog – a Dutch recap and my next destination!

(Lima, Peru)

I really enjoyed my culinary tour of Cusco and all of the food that I ate in Peru. Looking back at my photos, even though I included a number of them in my blog already, I see that there are quite a few more food-related ones that I’d like to share.

I haven’t paid too much attention to appetizers in this blog, but they were invariably very tasty. One of my favourite dishes was the quinoa-stuffed piquillos with honey and goat cheese; unfortunately, the photo didn’t turn out very well. Below is a salad and some appetizers from our first day in the Sacred Valley. There was also a very, very hot pepper that didn’t quite make the photo!

Soup, main course, desserts still to come! Salad and appetizers in the Sacred Valley, Peru

Next, there was the alpaca. Some people find it too dry for their tastes but I found it perfect for mine. I don’t eat a lot of red meat and, when I do, I prefer it to be well-done. My favourite version was probably the blueberry alpaca I had in Aguas Calientes after returning from Machu Picchu.

Blueberry Alpaca in Aguas Calientes, Peru

As a result of my preferences, I didn’t try either anticuchos (skewered beef hearts) or ceviche (raw fish/seafood “cooked” in lime juice). However, it was easy to find other interesting food to try. We dined in Lima on both the first and last days of the tour; on both occasions I had a variation on drunk chicken! On the first day, I had chicken in port sauce over a local version of risotto that was made from wheat rather than rice. On the last day in Lima, I had chicken in beer sauce with green rice (with a bottle of Cusquena to complement the meal). It was a nice way to end the trip.

I also managed to visit another food market in Cusco, the day after my culinary tour. The photo at top of this post was taken in the “fruit district”; the photo directly below was taken in the “potato district” of the market. The diversity of food in Peru was astonishing – there were approximately 1000 varieties each of both corn and potatoes. The corn was often huge: the kernels were about 5 times the size of what we are used to in Canada.

Some of the potatoes at the Mercado de Wanchaq (Cusco, Peru)

Way back in February, Ian B. asked me whether I would ever eat at an overseas McDonald’s restaurant. Although I didn’t deliberately set out to do so, I did just that on my final day in Cusco. A variety of factors led to this, including the fact that the Cusco franchise was right on the main square and was showing the Belgium/Argentina World Cup quarter-final. I settled on the “Chicken McBites” meal, supplemented with both local “aji” sauce and ketchup for the French fries. The convenience and novelty made it interesting, although the best part of the meal was the aji sauce.

My "Chicken McBites" combo in Cusco, Peru — My “Chicken McBites” combo in Cusco, Peru

I’m now back in Canada until the first week of August. I expect that I’ll have some more to say about Peru but right now I am enjoying spending a few weeks at home and (finally) getting to play a few soccer games. I’m also using this time to plan as much as I can for my remaining months of travel. I’ll be talking about this critical “halfway point” in a future posting – my itinerary will be taking some unexpected but exciting turns!

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