Want cheese with that …?

So, you’re sitting in a bar … in Paris, Amsterdam, or Madison Wisconsin, and the drunk next to you wants to play a drinking game. “For 5 bucks, I bet you can’t name the world’s top cheese nation!”

Chances are you’d lose. It’s a trick question. See, if you say it’s France, you’d possibly be right, if we’re talking top cheese consuming (per capita – see, another wrinkle) nation. Otherwise, the top cheese producing nation is the United States, thanks to Wisconsin and maybe Vermont. The US also consumed the most cheese too, as any cheeseburger will tell you,

Alright, this was a cheap setup to get us talking about the #6 cheese producer, Holland. More accurately, the Netherlands, because North Holland and South Holland are two of the states within the country, home to Gouda and Edam and the second largest exporter of all agricultural products in the world after the United States. Not bad for a small country, huh?

On a recent visit, our hosts brought us to Alkmaar, a town with a long cheese history and one boasting a tasty Gouda variety. In the town square one morning, rain notwithstanding, we caught the dramatic reenactment of preparations for shipping the day’s fresh production.

Dutch cheese production dates back to 80 BC, when Julius Caesar mentioned it in his book, Bellum Gallicum. The year-round rainfall and plentiful green grass in the Netherlands provides the perfect pasture for dairy cows. All that dairy needs to go somewhere, and much of it goes towards making 650 million annual kilos of Dutch cheese.

Now … where did you get them clogs?

We might call them clogs, but in the Netherlands  they are simply “wooden shoes”. And they are not historic artifacts of a bygone era. They are, in fact, actually needed and used by gardeners squishing around the wet boggy terrain of Holland’s lowlands. We learned this insight from our hosts and from the Clog Factory Museum at Zaanse Schans.

Here’s the skinny …

From 1550 AD, dried peat became the main source of fuel alongside wood. Special peat wooden shoes were worn which were adapted to the boggy ground. These wooden shoes had a flat and extra broad sole to avoid sinking into the soft terrain.

Even horses wore clogs …!

The Clog Factory Museum collection even contains a pair of real ‘horse clogs’, which the horses wore so that they could make their way across the boggy land.

“Each Dutch region or village used to have its own wooden shoe makers with their own recognizable shape of wooden shoes”

The wooden shoe is an outdoor shoe. It protects the feet and keeps them warm, dry and safe. Wooden shoes were taken off at the front door and put on a so-called ‘wooden shoe rack’. Decorations on the shoes were often used to distinguish ownership. They were also often specifically adapted for work situations. Wooden shoes have been awarded with a CE safety certification since the early 2000’s. They are often used as a comfortable alternative to steel-nosed shoes.

How are they made?

It all starts with a block of raw wood and a prototype from which a copy is made.

How to make room for the feet?

Even shoes need a shave!

Off camera, the young man in the video blew into the shoe to expel residual water from the fresh wood. Next, he set the shoe aside to let it dry for 6 weeks before it is polished, painted and is ready for sale.

For more, click on the Wooden Shoe Workshop.

Dishes?

Now to round out this Dutch odds and ends experience, and apropos of nothing so far, a peek into the restaurant of … possibly “the future” but this is actually today. Our Dutch hotel had a novel way of getting dirty dishes neatly into its kitchen for cleaning.

We could all use one of these, right?