Sure, I am Always Talkin’ Food, but I teach NT2 (Dutch as a second language) on the side. Mainly to young foreigners who came to Amsterdam for or with love and intend to stay. For privacy reasons the names in these columns are fictitious.
The first Dutch class in the new year. For a democratic seating, I put the tables in a rectangle in my classroom - part of a cook’s school by day, Dutch language school by night.
One by one my new students trickle in. They come from Romania, Latvia, Russia, Iran, Egypt, Japan, Portugal, Greece and North America.
The United Nations in miniature.
To get to know each other, everybody must interview their neighbor. As a conversation starter, I put some sample questions on the IWB.
Including: what is your favorite Dutch word?
There is busy chatter, laughter and taking notes in Dutch.
Then it’s time to introduce one another. The diversity is striking: one works at a major hotel booking website, one at a ramen shop, another is trader with a financial startup, someone is manager at a hotel, the next is a dentist and yet another is a farmer.
Finally we come to their favorite Dutch words. Remarkably, the three most frequently mentioned reveal something about the Dutch culture, or at least about how it comes across to others.
The unmistakable number one is ‘gezellig’. The proverbial gezelligheid (coziness) of the Dutch way of life is the reason why many foreigners stick around.
The second place is for ‘doei(doei)!’ (cheerio!) A cheery informal greeting that may well be the first Dutch word foreigners pick up upon arrival. A word used by Dutch from all walks of life.
The third favorite gets immediate approval from all who hadn’t come up with it themselves.
‘Why didn’t I think of that one?’ is the reaction of Kiko from Japan. ‘Such an important word for the Dutch,’ Janek from Latvia adds. ‘They measure everything against it,’ Ethan, the farmer from New York City, agrees.
’If the Dutch don’t talk about the weather, it’s about this,’ Yasamin from Iran asserts.
Goedkoop (cheap, as in: not expensive).
To my question: is the Netherlands a cheap country, an elongated ‘Nee!’ is the unanimous response.
However different their backgrounds and origins, my group is now united.
Let the course begin.
Coffee lingo
pour over coffee - de filterkoffie
cold brew - de cold brew/de koudgezette koffie
batch brew - de batch brew*
coffee roasters - de koffiebranders
*most coffees keep their original Australian/Italian/Spanish names in Dutch
Gezellig equals coffee
Recordstores and bookstores are my favorite kind of shops. Abroad, I visit them for their global vibes and the gezellige indoor coffee shops that are pretty much standard outside the Netherlands. Lucky for me, my fave Amsterdam bookstore ABC (American Book Center) also houses an indoor coffee shop, Harar 2. Apart from espressos, the cheerful owner of this Ethiopian coffeehouse brews a pour over in a Chemex coffeepot, surrounded by bookcases crammed with international titles.
Equally gezellig is Concerto Koffie, where you can sip an espresso-based cup from local coffee roasters, while attending (if you’re lucky) a free mini-concert by an international band visiting the Concerto recordstore for a signing.
Is de koffie goedkoop? Maybe, compared to the US. Certainly not, compared to Italy.
Harar 2 Coffee, inside American Book Center, Spui 12 Amsterdam. Open: Sun 11 AM-6:30 PM, Mon-Wed 11 AM-6 PM, Thur10 AM-6 PM, Fri-Sat 10 AM-7 PM. (Harar 1, Tweede Hugo de Grootstraat 21, is the main coffeehouse, where the Ethiopian mother roasts coffee beans in-store).
Concerto Koffie, inside Concerto recordstore, Utrechtsestraat 52 Amsterdam. Open: Sun-Mon 12 noon-6 PM, Tue-Sat 10 AM-6 PM.