Dutch food

To help me prepare for my quickly approaching adventure, Will gave me a book called The UnDutchables: An Observation of the Netherlands, Its Culture and Its Inhabitants. I guess it has served its purpose because I am now silently freaking out about how unprepared I am and how awful some Dutch behavior sounds (though I'm sure American habits sound much worse to outsiders).

One question it has answered, though, is what kind of food do Hollanders eat? (Also, what kind of toilets do the Dutch have? But that post logically comes after this one)

Erwtensoep: pea soup with lumps of ham (or pig's knuckle) and vegetables. I don't really know what pig's knuckle is, but that below just looks like sausage, which I can handle.

 Photo from dutchmeup.blogspot.com

Hutspot: mashed potato with onions, carrots and maybe meat, with gravy. Pretty straightforward.

Photo from www.internationalfood.eu

Hagelslag: chocolate sprinkles. My friend Kelsey, whose father is Dutch, told me about these chocolate sprinkle sandwiches and I thought they sounded pretty awesome. With my recent rat problem and the resemblance between hagelslag and rat droppings though, I'm much less enthusiastic about them.

Photo from www.littlechutewindmill.org

Haring: raw herring. I don't think I'll be trying this one. At least not in the traditional throat-sliding version seen below.

But I am going to try to get Will to help me make these oliebollen on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.