Epicure
W
e stepped out of one
of the ubiquitous
Amsterdam canal boats
onto the cobblestone
path which ran beside
one of the many scenic canals in the
city, which is sometimes referred to
as “the Venice of the North”. Canals
run everywhere throughout this
beautiful European city and are one
of the main modes of transportation,
as well as the home of many
charming houseboats. There are
several different canal boat routes
you can take, each of which goes to
a different part of the city and to
different tourist destinations within
the city. You can easily hop off at,
say, Anne Frank’s home, and later hop
back on to see another location.
Many-leveled warehouses with big
windows which had been converted
to homes and apartments overlooked
the canal; hundreds of bikes –
the transportation of choice in
Amsterdam – lined the streets.
Everyone in Amsterdam seems to
ride a bike and you even see very
young children cycling around.
Mothers place their babies in
especially designed carts to pull
hin th ir i
an
t th ir
groceries into large baskets.
But we didn’t pay much attention
to these uniquely Amsterdam sights
because we were on a mission.
A cheese-tasting mission. Dutch
cheese can be found everywhere in
m t r am in many iff r nt orm
and you can pretty much have cheese
for every meal of the day if you
choose – and it will all be delicious!
Cheese is available in all the
restaurants in many delectable forms
and you can purchase it in any of the
large or small markets or even at the
open air markets.
Braving the icy November rain and
with written directions that
included confusing words like Dam/
Raadhuisstraat, we headed to the
Cheese can be found
everywhere!
Reypenaer Cheese Tasting Rooms.
Reypenaer makes some of the most
delicious Dutch cheese. They have a
100-year-old warehouse on the Oude
Rijn in Woerden, where the cheese
matures naturally as it has done for
three generations of the family,
resulting in a distinctive and
om
a or an aroma Th
historic ripening process of the
Reypenaer cheeses is unique in the
Netherlands and these artisan
cheeses are also quite unique. Some
of the older cheeses have a strong,
a ty a or hi n
r h
ar
much milder.
But they also have a lovely little
store, tucked away on a side street
in the middle of Amsterdam where
they sell a variety of cheeses. In
a quiet little basement furnished
with wooden tables and chairs like
a schoolroom, they have cheese
tastings with the guidance of an
expert cheese taster. Each cheese
tasting session lasts approximately
one hour and is designed for a
maximum of 20 people per tasting.
Tasting workshops take place every