In many Dutch houses the day starts with bread. That might be usance since ages, the painting on the stamp on the right is rather old: painted over 400 years ago (circa 1615) by Floris Claeszoon van Dijck. Usually my slice of bread (sandwich) is filled with a slice of cheese, and cheese also was present in 1615 as you can see on the original painting.
However nowadays many Dutch people take cereals (corn flakes, muesli) for breakfast, accompanied with milk or yoghurt. No worries: milk was also present ages ago, as the famous painting 'The Milkmaid' proofs, painted by Johannes Vermeer around 1660.
These excerpts are part of a larger stamp sheet issued in 2013 for the grand re-opening of the national museum, Rijksmuseum).
In the evening, the 'typical (traditional) Dutch dinner' consists of a piece of meat, vegetables and potatoes.
Vincent van Gogh painted a family who had only potatoes for dinner, the well-known 'The Potato Eaters' (1885):
Potatoes grow in the ground, and in some countries they are literally named 'earth appel' ('aardappel' in Dutch, 'pomme de terre' in French, 'sib zamini' in Persian).
The way they grow is shown on this pretty Danish stamp:
Nowadays the Dutch kitchen is influenced by many other cultures, so some of the other food you can see on this blog and the other Sunday Stamps blog posts of today you might find in the Netherlands, too.
Food starts with harvest, shown on this nice Greek stamp:
From Spain I received this gastronomic stamp (thank you, Eva!):
From Japan (the dish is named 'ramen'):
From Singapore (I love the combination with the person who eats, seen in the back of this picture):
As dessert you can choose a watermelon or cantaloupe, both great summer fruits, a healthy choice. They have been pictured on stamps more than once:
By Greek Post:
In the USA:
Finally some traditional Dutch food eaten at New Year's Eve: 'oliebollen', which you see on the stamp on the left (wikipedia shows a painting from 1652!).
Fondue (shown on the stamp on the right) is of course known in many other countries.
Enjoy more dishes at Sunday Stamps and via the links mentioned there!
