Traditions part#1: Herring on Saturdays

I thought it would be fun to jot down some traditions we have, with friends, with family, and just between us two. Might be fun to make an album about someday.

So today we're starting with a tradition that has been around for a while now. On Saturdays, we always have a large market in the city-center. Marijn and I get up quite early to shop for fruits&veggies, cheese, bread etc. We have a standing date with a group of friends that we find each other at the herring-cart at noon.

The perfect opportunity to eat some (raw) fish and share some gossip. You might not think it, but guys are just as bad as girls when it comes to gossip. Everyone usually goes out on Friday-night, so Saturday-morning is usually the perfect opportunity to eat hangover-food (apparantly raw fish) and tell each other who-did-what-with-whom-last-night. The best part is that the past few weeks, it's been lovely weather and we don't have to bring umbrellas and wintercoats anymore.

So you're probably thinking: raw herring? wtf? Let me tell you that this is very Dutch and that the rest of the world probably thinks we're a bunch of loons. The herrings are being cleaned right in front of you and you can either eat them dipped in raw onion cubes or on a bun (also with onion). You grab the herring bu it's tail, dip it into the onion and then try to eat it as graciously as possible (which never works). On the pics you can see our friends Willem, Hanne, Pol, Dirk and Matty share this gross and stinky type of food (which they love and would give their right kidney for if needed) with Marijn, who's a big fan. I'm not a fan and I'm the only one. The thought of raw onion alone makes me want to hurl. So usually I just provide napkins, get the gossip-train going or eat some fried fish with garlic-sauce. Or in this case, I take pictures. It's a good tradition though, usually we manage to occupy a table at the herring-cart for more than an hour, after which we continue our day in a café or on a terrace where we drink large amounts of coffee and water. It's always fun, we always have loads of stuff to talk about and we use our time together to plan dinner-dates, parties, film-nights and trips before everyone goes their own way to work, home or to hit the shops. Yes, this is probably the best tradition we have at this moment!

 

Comments

[Paula {Kruimel}]

het ziet er ranzig uit maar moet bekennen dat ik het soms ook wel erg lekker vind... liefst wel op een broodje met veel ui en zuur :D

[D@nielle]

getver haring ... maar wel een leuke traditie !

[nicky]

en dat is nou net zo lekker aan nederland...! leuke pics! en eerlijk gezegd, de manier waarop je het beschrijft, maakt dat je bijna de vriendschap van de groep voelt!

[Colleen Carmona]

I love your tradition. While I'm not a herring fan, I think having a standing date to meet with friends at the Saturday market is a great idea.
I invite you to share this and other traditions on the website, www.CafeTraditions.com. The site is all about sharing traditions. It's a good opportunity to share your story and also get ideas for new traditions.

Regards,
Colleen Carmona
www.CafeTraditions.com