Museums are scattered throughout the towns and trade fairs continue for hundreds of years! Dutch cheese "sits on a palanquin" to weigh it

Source: Global Times

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Netherlands, and the leaders of the two countries recently exchanged congratulatory telegrams to celebrate. In the daily life of Chinese, the most associated with The Dutch element is the Dutch cheese. In the logo design of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Netherlands, a symbolic pattern of Dutch cheese with a corner cut off is integrated. In today's Netherlands, cheese has been upgraded from a national cuisine to a signboard that drives the local cultural tourism industry, and many unique landscapes related to cheese have emerged.

The National Cheese Museum is hidden in the town

The Netherlands is the world's largest exporter of cheese, consuming more than 10 kilograms of cheese per capita per year. Cheese in the Netherlands has a long history, and curds were found in clay pots from 800 BC, which is the oldest evidence that the Dutch made cheese. In the Gallic Wars, it is also recorded that the Dutch menu with cheese.

This knowledge of cheese is entry-level material at the Dutch Cheese Museum. Cheese museums are built in many cities in the Netherlands, and it is worth noting that the National Cheese Museum is not in the capital Amsterdam, but in the small town of Alkmaar, as it is home to the oldest and largest cheese market in the Netherlands. The National Cheese Museum is 30 years old and is located in the Cheese Weighing House in Alkmaar. The third floor of the museum is the historical exhibition area, which displays a variety of traditional tools for cheese making, such as cheese presses, cheese troughs and butter blenders; the second floor is the modern dairy industry exhibition area, where visitors can learn about modern grazing and the processing of dairy products such as cheese; the first floor is a shop, where there are a variety of cheese-related goods, including postcards, cheese recipes, and of course, the most colorful cheeses.

The small square opposite the museum is small, but it is one of the largest and oldest cheese markets in the world. According to reports, since the 14th century, a market has been formed here specifically for cheese trading, which has a history of more than 600 years. During the summer months, every Friday morning is the day when the cheese market opens, which is also the most lively time in the town. In recent years, as the Dutch government has paid more and more attention to creating a cheese cultural tourism industry, it has attracted many tourists. When the outbreak was severe in the Netherlands, all "non-essential" public places, including cheese markets, were closed. Now the market has reopened. Here, round cheeses the size of tires are neatly stacked on top of each other, waiting for buyers to pick and buy.

Interestingly, the cheese market trades still maintain an old tradition. The first step in buying and selling is the inspection of the goods, and both parties select trusted industry experts to check with special tools. It was a drill tube with a pointed tip, inserted deep into the cheese, and twisted out a long strip of cheese like a red wine. The examiner tests the quality and ripening of the cheese by pinching, smelling, tasting and so on. Sometimes, they will also invite the audience to participate in the tasting and ask the audience how it is evaluated. After the quality is identified, the buyer and seller begin to negotiate the price, the way of bargaining is ancient and unique, but the two sides frequently clap each other's palms, and finally the highest bidder in the whole field buys the cheese.

"One brand, one hundred tastes"

After the sale was negotiated, it reached the climax of the whole venue. The cheese porters become the protagonists of the audience's line of sight and camera chase, and they pick up the cheese in groups of two, dressed in neat and neat white pants, wearing straw hats, straw hats have four different colors of red, yellow, blue and green, and the color of each group of porters' straw hats is consistent with the color of the shipboard they transport cheese. The board is low in the middle, upturned at both ends, and has two handles in front and back, which is a bit like a dry boat in traditional Chinese festivals, and similar to lifting a palanquin. The long shoulder straps are tied around the porter's shoulders to the handles on both sides, and unlike the lifting car, the ship's shape plate is very close to the ground, and the porter's hand does not have to touch the handle. Each piece of cheese weighs about 40 kilograms and can only be transported 8 pieces at a time. Only to see the two men with their backs straight, one in front of the other, their hands swinging sharply and regularly, stepping out of the Dutchman's long legs and striding like a fly, carrying the cheese ordered by the merchant to the weighing station, and weighing it with an old scale of up to four or five meters. The figures of porters with different color markings running back and forth became a moving landscape on the exchange square.

At this time, the fair turned into an entertainment show, next to the musicians playing the old-fashioned accordion in traditional costumes, as the pace of the porters increased the pace, the pace and the sound of the piano you chased me, as if in a game, causing onlookers to burst into laughter. The bazaar is also home to a variety of traditional Dutch stalls, including a wide variety of cheeses, traditional snacks, and stalls that handmade Dutch wooden shoes and crafts on site. Each stall owner wears traditional national costumes, and visitors wander through it as if traveling back in time to the Middle Ages.

Dutch cheeses come in countless varieties and flavours, as well as a wide range of brands. The local people are most proud of the traditional cheese produced and processed by the workshops of each cattle farm, which can be said to be "one brand per family, hundreds of tastes". The internationally renowned Dutch cheese is actually divided according to the major categories, named after the trading place where there is a traditional cheese trading market. Specific to the texture, there are hard, semi-hard, and soft and silky; in taste, there are sweet, salty, salty and sweet, as well as smoked, cumin and so on.

"Only free cheese on mouse clips"

Cheese is also eaten in a variety of ways, which can be used as a side dish, can also be eaten directly as a snack, and can also be made into popcorn and small biscuits, which are loved by children. Cheese spread bread is one of the most common ways to eat, what cheese with what bread Dutch have their own rules, such as a little coarse slightly sour black bread should be paired with silky old Amsterdam cheese, from the mouth to taste are a perfect match. The Dutch are the tallest in the world, with an average height of 1.8 meters for adult men. However, the rainy climate in the Netherlands is actually not conducive to growing tall, and the Dutch believe that local children often eat cheese without lack of calcium, which is an important reason for the tall stature of the Dutch.

The Dutch also have a slightly funny nickname called "cheese head", according to legend, when Napoleon occupied the Netherlands in history, French soldiers always liked to steal local cheese, in order to rebel against the French, the farmer would wear a wooden mold of cheese on his head as a helmet. There is also a saying that the Netherlands is low-lying and has a wide network of rivers, and in the past, the Dutch often crossed the river with cheese the size of a wheel on their heads, so they got the title of "cheese head".

The Dutch people are known for their hard work and bravery, known as the "Chinese of Europe", which is evident in the local folk proverb. Interestingly, these proverbs also have a strong "cheese smell". For example, a local proverb teaches children to be industrious, saying that "only the mouse clip has free cheese"; encouraging children to be brave, they will say "don't let people eat the cheese on your bread".