Dutch cuisine

Dutch cuisine is formed from the cooking traditions and practices of the Netherlands. The country's cuisine is shaped by its location on the fertile Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta on the European Plain bordering the North Sea, giving rise to fishing, farming, and overseas trade. Due to the availability of water and flat grassland, the Dutch diet contains many dairy products such as cheese and butter, and is relatively high in carbohydrates and fat.

The Burgundian court enriched the cuisine of the elite in the Low Countries in the 15th and 16th century,^[1] so did in the 17th and 18th century the colonial trade, when the Dutch ruled the spice trade, played a pivotal role in the global spread of coffee, and started the modern era of chocolate, by developing the Dutch process chocolate,^[2] which was instrumental in the transformation of chocolate to its solid form (which was up till then drunk as a liquid).

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, frugality became fashionable. Dutch food became designed to be efficient rather than pleasing,^[3] which was the result of the rise of housekeeping schools, where girls learned to cook in such manner.^[4] The focus on efficiency in the food production became so successful that, despite its size, the Netherlands became the world's second-largest exporter of agricultural products by value behind the United States.^[5] It gave both the Dutch the reputation of being the feeders of the world, and Dutch food of having a bland taste.^[3] During the 20th century, Dutch cuisine and diet changed significantly. Initially influenced by the eating culture of its colonies (particularly the Indonesian cuisine), and later by globalization, it became cosmopolitan. Most international cuisines are represented in the major cities and there is a renewed interest in taste, which is also reflected in the 123 Michelin star restaurants in the country.^[6]