Eating in the Netherlands

The original version of this chapter was published in Dutch in 1987. It represented the author’s most detailed attempt to apply to another country’s food history the historical-sociological insights that he had developed in his study of England and France. The research was heavily dependent on the help received from Dutch friends and food writers, and the original evidence remains unchanged in this first English-language publication. However, a few (possibly anachronistic) comments on more recent trends and some less detailed suggestions about the culinary cultures of Belgium, Ireland, Germany and the USA have been added. The chapter ends with some speculations about the emergence of a global culinary culture.