Eating Amsterdam with Eating Europe Food Tours

Get to know the food of Amsterdam, it’s stories and producers with Eating Amsterdam Food Tours

Napoleon Bonaparte said ‘an army marches on it’s stomach’ – and so does a food blogger. I’m seldom happier than when travelling with my mouth, getting to know a locale via it’s food and the folk who produce it. Food tours are a rapidly growing sector of local and international tourism and, if you pick the right one, you will have the opportunity to view a destination in an entire, fulfilling and filling, new light.

I’ve been lucky enough to do a couple of Eating Europe’s sensational Eating Italy tours (find out more here and here) so when I was offered the opportunity to check out one of their Eating Amsterdam food tours I was dead keen.

This was my first visit to The Netherlands and Amsterdam and I had deliberately planned our recent Europe trip for late September/early October in the hopes that we’d miss out on the bulk of the tourist crowds. Unfortunately that was not to be, as the European shoulder season for tourists is now almost as popular as peak times. As a result Amsterdam was crowded and, at times, it’s charms were hard to see through the bustle of foot, bicycle and vehicle traffic, but our Eating Amsterdam tour took us away from most of that into the relatively quieter residential neighbourhood of  The Jordaan.

The Jordaan is a 17th century quarter in Amsterdam whose name is believed to be derived from the French word for garden, jardin, and many of the streets and canals have botanical names. The area was once staunchly working class and a left-wing bastion but, once property prices began to rise in the 1960’s, many of the residents moved to less expensive districts. The Jordaan is now distinctly gentrified and home to galleries, boutiques and restaurants.

 

 The Eating Amsterdam food tour takes us on a gentle 3-4 hour walk through the streets of The Jordaan, stopping at some of the historic and significant food spots, meeting the locals in their stores – some of whom have been running family businesses on the same site for generations. We enjoyed everything from the delicious, tiny Dutch pancake-like treat called poffertjes, the very traditional pickled herrings to some surprising snacks from the ex-Dutch colony of Surinam (formerly known as Dutch Guiana and a country I had to look up to locate) and the best apple pie in the world which has a written endorsement from President Bill Clinton! And cheese – of course.

Eating Europe run tours in Rome, London, Amsterdam and Prague. The tour guides are local food lovers, the groups are limited to small numbers and each tour will take you into a residential neighbourhood and the food stores and cafes where the locals shop and hang – not the tourists. I’ve loved all of their tours, as have the many friends to whom I’ve recommended them. If it’s a great food tour you’re looking for, Eating Europe are definitely your guys.

Lambs’ Ears and Honey was a guest of Eating Europe for her Eating Amsterdam tour.

 

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