"netherlands" news and stories

I was going to say, "a hot dog made out of horse meat? Gah!" But then I thought, who the hell knows what's in the hot dogs that we eat now? Snouts, intestines, whatever. Maybe horse meat isn't too weird after all.

Esquire's Greg Lindsay gives us the scoop - from the horse's mouth, you could say - on the frikandel, a hot dog native to The Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of Germany. It's deep-fried sausage made out of beef, chicken, pork, and Mr. Ed.

His description (bland, soft, with pink gloop squirting out) doesn't make me want to get on a flight and try it anytime soon, but I'm not a big hot dog guy anyway.

If you thought that the country most likely to have its residents eat pre-prepared food was the United States, you would be wrong. While the sheer number of people dining out in the US might be greater than in most countries, the average Briton will eat 365 meals a year out of home - one every day. In comparison, the average person eats out only 306 times per year in the United States, coming in third after Italy, where the Italians dine out 308 times each year. Also high on the list were the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, France and Germany.

The survey, conducted by the group Datamonitor, showed a link between a stronger work ethic and the likelihood of eating outside the home. The reasoning for this is that in countries where employees work longer hours and seem to have trouble tearing themselves away at the end of the day, the employees eat out more frequently. They also show a stronger inclination for fast, snack and pre-prepared foods that can beat eaten on the go or at a desk, as opposed to choosing to dine restaurants.

Source

You haven't lived until you've let your arteries harden a bit by doing a Dutch food slideshow on flickr. Some highlights:

• uitsmijter (fried eggs on ham, cheese toast) and a kroket sandwich
• ham, tomato and cheese pankoek (pancake)
• Bread with cheese 
• Boerenkool (potatoes, kale and sausage, mushed) 

As much of America's heritage is Dutch, the photos look very much like a particularly pork- and deep-fried-focused trip into America's heartlead. All I know is, breakfast tomorrow is uitsmijter. I'll be sure to deliver a full report.