In the Dutch culture we have three main moments to eat. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our breakfast consists of milk, coffee and bread. Besides ham, cheese or marmelade, we also have breakfast with peanutbutter or ‘hagelslag’, this is made of chocolate and you can sprinkle this on your bread. Instead of bread you can also have breakfast with yoghurt and fruit.
Dutch people eat lunch around 12:00/12:30. We do not take a lot of time for lunch, usually half an hour. An interesting thing that you will find here is that most employees of companies actually bring their own food for lunch. Usually this meal also contains bread.
Finally, Dutch people have dinner between 17:00/19:00. This is relatively early compared to other countries. At this time we eat a warm meal, usually containing 1 or 2 courses. At the supermarket you practically can get everything you want. Furthermore, if you are vegetarian, you don’t have to worry, because we have plenty of food available without meat.
Typical snacks
A typical dutch snack is ‘stroopwafel’. This is a cookie which has caramel in the middle. If you visit Leeuwarden, you have to try this!
In Leeuwarden we have one famous ice cream place, so if you love icecream, you have to visit La Venezia. This place is located at the Nieuweburen in the city center. A definite place to go!
If you want to go out in Leeuwarden you should be aware of some things. First of all, the bars are open until 5 in the morning, however the doors close at 3:00 am. This means that before 3:00 in the morning you can go to every bar you want, but after 3:00 you have to stay inside the bar and cannot go to another bar.
Secondly, you are not allowed to smoke inside bars. You can smoke outside or in a special area in a bar specifically for smoking.
