Sure, I am Always Talkin’ Food, but I work as a volunteer Dutch language teacher for Ukrainian refugees on the side. For privacy reasons the names in these columns are fictitious.
Kalina is a nutritionist. She has to chew on the Dutch word voedingsdeskundige for a long time.
I get that.
It doesn't stop her from hoping to get started in her own profession here soon.
It makes me curious. Would Dutch and Ukrainian nutrionists have similar views on food?
I soon discover that vegetables are her favorite food. Check.
And that she is appalled when I refer to French fries as my favorite. Check.
She hardly eats meat, which is remarkable for someone from a pretty carnivorous region. Check.
She does not drink alcohol. Check.
But a whole lot of water. Check.
According to my schedule, we happen to be discussing vegetables and fruits today. Kalina and the others are astonished to learn that in Dutch we only know two categories, whereas in the Ukraine they distinguish three: vegetables, fruits and berries.
Berries are a fruit in Holland? Such barbarians, I hear them thinking. Berries are not a fruit, berries are... berries!
It gets even worse when I tell them that in official Dutch nutritionist circles potatoes are not considered a vegetable.
Spuds not a veg? What then? Fruit? They laugh.
I have no other option but to use one of those horrible words with which nutritionists in my country reduce our food to just a collection of nutrients: a carbohydrate source, like pasta.
If you don’t believe me, check the infamous Schijf van Vijf, I advise them.
Here, unlike in the rest of the world, eating potatoes is not “allowed” to be added to your daily intake of vegetables. And in the trade people talk about AGF – Aardappels (potatoes), Groente (vegetables) and Fruit.
And just like that Kalina realizes that her daily vegetable consumption dropped dramatically overnight by at least one fifth just by entering our country. Double check.
Varenyky
Just like me, Ukrainians love potatoes. And just like them, I love their varenyky - crescent shaped dumplings boiled in salt water. My absolute fave varenyky have, of course, a smooth potato filling. Lucky for me, I can eat the dumplings in Amsterdam at the Russian/Ukrainian restaurant Oleg. But beware: they’re very addictive.
Oleg, Roetersstraat 10A, Amsterdam.
Blin, Russian supermarket, Plantage Kerklaan 30, Amsterdam: for excellent frozen pelmeni (the Russian variant).