4 ms·

Only problem is that dutch vegetables have no taste and are still insane expensive compared to meat (which is also tasteless). So yeah, awesome thinkering and e

Only problem is that dutch vegetables have no taste and are still insane expensive compared to meat (which is also tasteless). So yeah, awesome thinkering and efficiency here, but quality is not there.

john_nik 8y ago
I can concur to this. I have a friend from Italy where he worked during the summers at family farms down south where they produced tomatoes the natural way. Eating tomatoes in Netherlands is like eating paper, he said. The same goes for lettuce. There is no taste and it goes bad/degrades much faster even if you keep it in the refrigerator
- radicalbyte 8y ago
  The same applies everywhere in Europe outside of Italy and France.
- grenoire 8y ago
  One of my biggest complaints about living in the Netherlands is the goddamned tomatoes. Even after seasoning them and trying many different kinds, I just couldn't find one that was like... a tomato, in the way that I know it.
  - Udik 8y ago
    I find the small cherry tomatoes (the "snoepgroente" ones) to be delicious, in the right season (of course quality varies throughout the year). With some buffalo mozzarella from Italy they make an excellent meal.
  - Tsubasachan 8y ago
    Well as you know tomatoes don't grow naturally in the Netherlands. The whole thing about Dutch farming is efficiency. Produce vast quantities with minimal manpower or land use. Feeding the world>taste.
radicalbyte 8y ago
Vegetables are only expensive because meat is heavily subsidised by the Common Agricultural Policy.
paganel 8y ago
> Only problem is that dutch vegetables have no taste The expression “like Dutch tomatoes” has become an insult for vegetables being sold on the local market exactly for the reason you mention.
jillesvangurp 8y ago
Actually a bit of a myth (I'm Dutch). It's more a case of targeting different markets with different price and quality ratios. E.g. Germans love to complain about Dutch water bombs but buy them by the kilo anyway because the stuff is cheap. They don't realize the more expensive varieties also available to them come from the same country. You don't have to buy the cheap ones but they do; it's their poor tastes that are driving the demand for this. Likewise, Italy imports a lot of tomatoes (more than they export according to this: https://www.freshplaza.com/article/2158667/italian-table-tomato-imports-grew-in/ https://www.freshplaza.com/article/2158667/italian-table-tom...). Most of those come from the Netherlands. Italians are of course famously picky when it comes to their food. Yet they seem to buy Dutch produce.
- harryf 8y ago
  The other problem is the Netherlands are at risk of getting wiped out by rising sea levels. Your example of Italy is bad news - in effect countries that could produce their own are buying Dutch because it’s cheaper, presumably because economies of scale now work in Holland’s favor. In other words we depend on a country that’s at risk of being wiped out by flooding for food _and_ that same countrys dominant market position is also holding back food production in other countries. Sounds like the back story for a bad movie.
  - jillesvangurp 8y ago
    Sea level changes are not that much of a challenge. We have centuries of experience building infrastructure to manage that and decades more to leverage that. Much of the country is already below sea level and already well prepared for extreme water levels. Some of the infrastructure will need some upgrading of course. The reality of sea level changes is that they will be most devastating in places where they won't be able to pull together the economic resources to put infrastructure in place or where they are making the historic mistake of assuming it won't happen.
  - misja 8y ago
    This is a myth. Despite the global warming, Dutch sea level rising has not accelerated. See e.g. https://www.clo.nl/en/indicators/en0229-sea-level-dutch-coast-and-worldwide https://www.clo.nl/en/indicators/en0229-sea-level-dutch-coas...
meuk 8y ago
I live in the Netherlands and disagree with your point about the price. I usually cook meals for 2-3 people. They usually cost less than 3 euro for vegetables (in total, not per person). Meat and/or cheese are usually the most expensive. And those meals contain a lot more vegetables than the typical meal in the USA and southern or eastern Europe.

john_nik 8y ago

I can concur to this. I have a friend from Italy where he worked during the summers at family farms down south where they produced tomatoes the natural way. Eating tomatoes in Netherlands is like eating paper, he said. The same goes for lettuce. There is no taste and it goes bad/degrades much faster even if you keep it in the refrigerator

radicalbyte 8y ago
The same applies everywhere in Europe outside of Italy and France.
grenoire 8y ago
One of my biggest complaints about living in the Netherlands is the goddamned tomatoes. Even after seasoning them and trying many different kinds, I just couldn't find one that was like... a tomato, in the way that I know it.
- Udik 8y ago
  I find the small cherry tomatoes (the "snoepgroente" ones) to be delicious, in the right season (of course quality varies throughout the year). With some buffalo mozzarella from Italy they make an excellent meal.
- Tsubasachan 8y ago
  Well as you know tomatoes don't grow naturally in the Netherlands. The whole thing about Dutch farming is efficiency. Produce vast quantities with minimal manpower or land use. Feeding the world>taste.

radicalbyte 8y ago

Vegetables are only expensive because meat is heavily subsidised by the Common Agricultural Policy.

paganel 8y ago

> Only problem is that dutch vegetables have no taste The expression “like Dutch tomatoes” has become an insult for vegetables being sold on the local market exactly for the reason you mention.

jillesvangurp 8y ago

Actually a bit of a myth (I'm Dutch). It's more a case of targeting different markets with different price and quality ratios. E.g. Germans love to complain about Dutch water bombs but buy them by the kilo anyway because the stuff is cheap. They don't realize the more expensive varieties also available to them come from the same country. You don't have to buy the cheap ones but they do; it's their poor tastes that are driving the demand for this. Likewise, Italy imports a lot of tomatoes (more than they export according to this: https://www.freshplaza.com/article/2158667/italian-table-tomato-imports-grew-in/ https://www.freshplaza.com/article/2158667/italian-table-tom...). Most of those come from the Netherlands. Italians are of course famously picky when it comes to their food. Yet they seem to buy Dutch produce.

harryf 8y ago
The other problem is the Netherlands are at risk of getting wiped out by rising sea levels. Your example of Italy is bad news - in effect countries that could produce their own are buying Dutch because it’s cheaper, presumably because economies of scale now work in Holland’s favor. In other words we depend on a country that’s at risk of being wiped out by flooding for food _and_ that same countrys dominant market position is also holding back food production in other countries. Sounds like the back story for a bad movie.
- jillesvangurp 8y ago
  Sea level changes are not that much of a challenge. We have centuries of experience building infrastructure to manage that and decades more to leverage that. Much of the country is already below sea level and already well prepared for extreme water levels. Some of the infrastructure will need some upgrading of course. The reality of sea level changes is that they will be most devastating in places where they won't be able to pull together the economic resources to put infrastructure in place or where they are making the historic mistake of assuming it won't happen.
- misja 8y ago
  This is a myth. Despite the global warming, Dutch sea level rising has not accelerated. See e.g. https://www.clo.nl/en/indicators/en0229-sea-level-dutch-coast-and-worldwide https://www.clo.nl/en/indicators/en0229-sea-level-dutch-coas...

meuk 8y ago

I live in the Netherlands and disagree with your point about the price. I usually cook meals for 2-3 people. They usually cost less than 3 euro for vegetables (in total, not per person). Meat and/or cheese are usually the most expensive. And those meals contain a lot more vegetables than the typical meal in the USA and southern or eastern Europe.