There is no better place to taste traditional Dutch food than the province South Holland. Dutch cheese and stroopwafels are in the top 3 of things to eat in Gouda. Before we literally get our hands on these artisanal products, let’s start our mini Gouda celebration of crafts & food by diving into Gouda and her history of handmade products.
This blogpost is an example of a family outing in Gouda by me, owner of Verita’s Visit Holland. The 4 hour program consisted of a short city walk with focus on the artisanal products and crafts, a very non traditional Dutch cheese tasting and a stroopwafel baking workshop by my local Gouda partners. It is what I call the Gouda celebration crafts & food.
Gouda history of the crafts and local handmade products
The request for the Gouda daytrip was for a Saturday afternoon. The family had found my Gouda cheese tasting & stroopwafel baking workshop and liked the taste of it. Unfortunately the tour could not include Gouda cheese making, as there was just to little time. Fortunately the group was curious to find out about the Gouda history of the crafts and local handmade products.
Gouda celebration crafts & food: a taste of local culture & history
The family organised a small annual event to get together. Instead of birthday celebrations they went on a Holland citytrip with the group: the family members plus their partners. The Gouda celebration crafts & food was an afternoon with a full program. I met the group at my favorite restaurant, which is at a beautiful historical location.
From now I was the Gouda tourguide, leading them past the monumental highlights of the city, unveiling Gouda’s secrets and history with local crafts and food. And, for me, it was a beautiful experience. Everyone listened to my stories and some asked questions. An ideal group to tour with through this beautiful city.
Gouda cheese workshop: creating new Dutch traditions?
After the guided city walk we stepped into that one and only historical location with a Gouda cheese connection. There they were welcomed by my local Gouda partners who served them a cheese tasting. As I love creating new traditions, you might expect this was not a traditional Holland cheese tasting. The family was surprised they were actually doing a cheese pairing with coffee. We got mixed reactions. Some liked the different Gouda cheeses, others liked drinking the coffee. The combination though was too unexpected for many to really like it.
Ending the Gouda group activity: stroopwafel baking workshop
We stayed chatting, eating the typical Dutch cheese and sipping tea and coffee. Far too long. I had wanted to do a small tour to the Saint John church, which hosts a fabulous serie of Gouda crafts not related to old Dutch food. I managed to get the attention of the group to introduce them to their next family activity. In the beautiful bakery with newly created space for the stroopwafel baking workshop I left them in the good hands of my other Gouda local partner.
A few days later the main family citytrip organiser wrote this review :
“Tasty and educational city walk in Gouda”Sep 1, 2021 X4734ZUrobeLast Saturday afternoon, during our family day out, we took a city walk through Gouda led by Vera, during which we learned a lot about the history of the city and about a variety of old crafts, traces of which can still be found in the city and that Vera gave us. was admired. During the walk we also visited the Waag, where Vera had arranged a delicious cheese/coffee tasting for us and a stroopwafel bakery, where we had ourselves educated in this special craft. All in all a very successful event.
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