Holland: The Herring Experience

Two times a year, the herring run is on, and the Dutch love to make the most of it by eating raw herring from street stalls. I'd read about it in the guide books but didn't realize we'd be there during one of the annual runs, and when Frederic told us about this auspicious opportunity to try something so Dutch, well, we just HAD to.

So the deal is:

• You find a street stall with the appropriate sign saying they have new, fresh herring. We just so happened to have one about three blocks from the houseboat, located on the Kinkerstrasse, our main street to the Jordaan and Western Canal areas.
• You make your choice, which is basically with or without bread. Some Dutch eat the herring by dangling it above their heads and then nibbling on it, but our stall served it cut into pieces, accompanied by onion and pickle, and decorated with the Holland flag toothpicks that also serve as little spears.
• You watch the man (in our case at least) trim and fillet the herring right in front of you. I swear, the work he does is at least as artful and precise as any sushi chef.
• You then eat the herring with the onion and pickle.
• You may also opt for the breath cleansing gum that was also sold from the stall, in case you have a date or meeting after your herring experience. (Read the sign, you can probably figure it out.)

We'd had some marinated herring in both Latvia and in Sweden, but this was the best of them all, in my opinion. The raw fish had a somewhat milder flavor than the preserved version, and was much less salty than the plain marinated herring in Riga. It tasted a bit like cooked tuna, actually, especially with the onion and pickle. I thought of it as a sort of deconstructed tuna salad.

Highly Recommended.

Comments

[Karen Sorensen]

The Herring tour!