Hi Maureen,
There are several very noticeable differences between living in Holland and Australia. It would take me for ever to describe them all but here goes with a few.
Four distinct seasons
Housing is in very short supply and people have very small houses - moving from a big Aussie house to here was a real culture shock.
The lifestyle is much more formal. Just dropping in to see if someone is home and expecting to be welcomed is virtually unknown.
You are offered ONE biscuit if you are invited for afternoon tea then the lid is firmly replaced on the tin.
Public holidays are not 'made up' if they fall on a weekend. Imagine what would happen in Australia if there was no extra free day when, as will happen this year, Christmas and Boxing Day (known here as 2nd Christmas Day) are on Saturday and Sunday. There is no extra holiday to compensate for this.
As for food, people here tend to cook very simple meals. Oven dishes are not very common and, in fact, many people don't have an oven. Kitchens are tiny and most people have a small bar type fridge with a grid with 4 gas burners on the top of that. Electric frypans are completely unknown (thank goodness I brought my trusty Sunbeam along) and crockpots have made an appearance on very recently.
Potatoes aren't considered to be a vegetable - they are a category all on their own. Supermarkets have G, F & A (groenten - vegetables, fruit & aardappel - potato) departments instead of the familiar F & V.
It is very unusual for a Dutch main meal to be served without potatoes.
Despite the proximity of The Netherlands to Greece and Italy, these cuisines are much better known in Australia.
Because Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony, Indonesian food is very popular here. Although Australia is so close to Indonesia, I had never cooked or eaten Indonesian food before I came here.
A favourite winter meal is stampot. This consists of potato mashed together with one or more other boiled vegetables. A very popular combination is potato, carrot and onion (this combination is known as hutspot)
but there are all sorts of other varieties, the most common being potato and curly kale.
A large dollop of whatever vegetable combination is put on the plate then bathed in thick gravy and served with a piece of smoked sausage (thank goodness there is a great vegetarian alternative available).
Dutch food tends to be what I would describe as hearty peasant food rather than gourmet. I must admit I do love a nice stampot in winter.
Sandwiches are seldom, if ever, eaten. Toasted sandwiches are called tostis and are very popular but two slices of bread with a filling are virtually unheard of. The Dutch put the topping on just one piece of bread then eat it with a knife and fork. That is a habit I have still to acquire!!!!!! There isn't even a word for 'sandwich' in Dutch. The closest is 'boterham' but that actually means one piece of bread.
There are plenty of other food differences but I guess that will give you a bit of an idea.
Cheers from Marie
--- On Sun, 23/5/10, Maureen <berrymaur2@gmail.com> wrote:
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From: Maureen <berrymaur2@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: MAUREEN - Re: [Vegetarianslimming] Welcome Maureen!
To: Vegetarianslimming@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, 23 May, 2010, 23:00
Thanks for the welcome Marie....
How do you like living in Holland and is the food much different?
Maureen
On 23 May 2010 19:43, Marie Rieuwers <marierieuwers@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Hi Maureen,
>
> Welcome to the group. I am Marie and although I now live in The
> Netherlands I am originally from Australia. I was born and grew up in
> Melbourne but moved to Adelaide when I was about 30. I lived there until
> moving to Holland in 1998.
>
> I'm sure you will find lots of help and encouragement here in the group.
>
> Cheers from Marie
>
>
>
>
>
> Please tell us a little about
> yourself so we can know you a bit better:
>
> *What is your name? ...... Maureen
>
> *Where do you live? Are you the only vegetarian in your
> household? Etc....I live in Australia on a small island off the
> coast of Queensland...Right now our son and his wife are living with
> hubby and I...Hubby will eat whatever I put in front of him but doesn't
> want to be a vegetarian again....Our daughter in law is Vietnamese and
> is happy to eat very little meat...Our son loves meat but will eat some
> vegetarian meals.....
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
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