KOST event to promote a healthy Dutch cuisine
18-9-2015
KOST is an event about the Dutch food culture for everyone who cares about our daily foods. The first edition will take place on 21 September.
Dutch cuisine
Chefs, producers, scientists, farmers and policymakers explore the possibilities to put the Dutch food culture and Dutch cuisine firmly on the map and make it healthier. They will do that together with speakers like Kobe Desramaults, Robert Kranenborg, Julian Baggini, Linda Roodenburg and Martin Caraher during the KOST event on 21 September at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam.
Platform ‘Van Moeder Natuur’
KOST is an initiative by the ‘Van Moeder Natuur’ platform (freely translated as the ‘Mother nature platform’). The platform focuses on a healthy Dutch food culture. This includes enjoying healthy, delicious and natural products packed with nutrients. Next to that, it means making time for food again by home cooking and enjoying meals together.
Day program
During the day program interesting topics are addressed. The program is compiled by various well know curators from the Dutch food culture like Mac van Dinther, Joris Bijdendijk, Joris Lohman, Samuel Levie and Helen Kranstauber).
Kostelijk dinner
In the evening there is a Kostelijk dinner (translated: Delicious dinner). The chefs responsible for the dinner are Joris Bijdendijk (RIJKS®), Albert Kooy (Dutch Cuisine), Luc Kusters (Bolenius), Benny Blisto (BAK), Sander Louwerens (Citroen), Willem Schaafsma (Eindeloos), Jonathan Karpathios (Vork en Mes), Geert Burema (Merkelbach), Nel Schellekens (de Gulle Waard), Dick Soek (Piloersemaborg) Eef Bolado (As) and René van der Veer (De Veldkeuken). Drinks are arranged by Niek Beute (De Klepel) and Ard Muntjewerf (The Lobby).
A delicious program. Unfortunately, it’s merely in Dutch and both the day program as well as the dinner are completely sold out.
Amstel Hotel Amsterdam reveals Van Gogh Suite
17-9-2015
From 7 September to 5 December the Amstel Hotel in Amsterdam has a special presentation about Van Gogh. Visitors can express their own creativity on a canvas as well, with pastels, oil paint and brushes.
Honouring Van Gogh
This year marks the 125th anniversary of Vincent van Gogh’s death. Several museums and other institutions in Europe honour the Dutch artist with special exhibitions and events. Recently there was a labyrinth of sunflowers at the Museumplein, referring to one of his famous paintings.
Van Gogh Museum Relievo Collection
The Amstel Hotel launched a special Van Gogh suite and paintings from the Van Gogh Relievo collection on 15 September. The Van Gogh Museum Relievo Collection is barely distinguishable from the original paintings that are on display at the Van Gogh Museum. This is realized with a combination of the most recent 2D and 3D technology, craftsmanship and handicrafts.
Van Gogh Suite
The special Van Gogh Suite is available until 1 January 2016. The comfortable suite is located on the fourth floor of the hotel and is furnished in the atmosphere of his paintings. On a weathered wooden table in the sitting room, a bottle of absinthe welcomes guests. This is the drink where Van Gogh was fond of. On arrival, guests get a plate in the shape of a paint palette serving typical Amsterdam snacks. For guests who are inspired by Van Gogh there are pastels, oil paint, brushes and a canvas available. Guests can take their creative works home. Getting inspiration is easily done at the suite. At two locations in the suite paintings from the ‘Van Gogh Museum Relievo Collection’ hang on the wall. The view is magnificent as well.
Grocery store Christmas Festival in Utrecht by Albert Heijn
16-9-2015
The grocery store chain ‘Albert Heijn’ organizes a Christmas festival by the name of its instore magazine.
Allerhande Christmas Festival
Albert Heijn is organizing a major food event in Utrecht on 11th, 12th and 13th of December. The food festival is called ‘Allerhande Kerstfestival’ and is located at the Railway Museum in Utrecht. The event is scaled to 40,000 visitors and is a logical continuation of the recent food festivals popping up all over the country.
Workshops and inspiration
Visitors can inspire themselves by tasting food and drinks and get help from experts during various cooking workshops. Saskia Egas Reparaz, director of marketing & format of Albert Heijn explains the choice of the food festival: “Christmas is an old festival where every family has its own traditions and customs. We celebrate Christmas for 128 years already and help our customers every year again with new ideas, inspiration and lots of special Christmas products. This year, we want to offer our customers something extra with the ‘Allerhande Kerstfestival’. It’s the tastiest inspirational event for the holidays. In preparation for Christmas, anyone can gain additional ideas to create his or her own special Christmas.”
From drinks to dessert
With the Allerhande Christmas Festival, visitors of all ages can get in the mood for Christmas and inspire themselves for the Christmas dinner. They can literally walk through the menu from starter to dessert and taste, participate in workshops, watch live cooking sessions by renowned chefs and get tips from experts.
Christmas Shop
Everything at the festival can be bought at the special Christmas store or can be delivered home or pre-ordered at Albert Heijn grocery stores. Besides inspiration, the event is meant for entertainment and fun. The Winter Wonderland stage includes a ‘wish tree’, a winter barbecue and market stalls. Furthermore there is live music, an ice rink and mulled wine.
Ticket Sales
The tickets are for sale from 5 October and cost ten euros per person. Registration for the cooking workshops is done online via allerhandekerstfestival.nl.
Amazon free take-out delivery
15-9-2015
Amazon starts with one hour free take-out delivery for premium members in Seattle.
Free take-out delivery
Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. has begun a free take-out delivery service. Amazon Prime members get free delivery on their take-out orders from dozens of outlets and receive them within the hour. The Amazon Prime service costs $ 99 per year.
Delivery of beer, wine and spirits
A few weeks ago Amazon already announced that they began with one-hour delivery of beer, wine and spirits in Seattle. The city is the only place in America where customers can order beer and spirits via fast mail-order. In the rest of the country the delivery is limited to wine. Amazon offers a fast delivery service for alcohol in London already.
Growth of the delivery market
With the rapid deliveries Amazon wants to compete with restaurant delivery parties like GrubHub. The American GrubHub is comparable to the Dutch ‘Thuisbezorgd.nl’. The company delivers take-out meals from 30,000 local restaurants and has customers in 800 American cities. Americans spend an estimated 70 billion dollar on takeaway and delivery meals in 2013. With such numbers offering a one hour delivery service for take-out pays off. In March 2015, total sales in restaurants and bars was higher than the grocery market (!) for the first time. With the expansion of the delivery market, restaurants can increase sales at peak times, without adding extra seats.
Game workshop by Nestlé Professional and Sligro
14-9-2015
Nestlé Professional and Sligro put Dutch game on the menu with a wild harvesting and game workshop for chefs.
Game workshop by Nestlé Professional and Sligro
Sligro Food and Nestlé Professional have joined forces to let chefs discover the possibilities and culinary variations with Dutch wild boar. Recently eleven chefs from restaurants throughout the Netherlands got inspired during a wild harvesting workshop and wild clinic in Lingewaard. In addition, they were challenged to create combinations of wild boar and CHEF products. Game, and escpecially wild boar, gets more accessible by processing it and make for example a wild boar burger or hot dog with the meat.
Pulled Swine
“Game is the finest free-range meat there is. Guests often think that game tastes very strong, but that’s a misconception we would like to take away, “said Edwin Detering, culinary consultant at Nestlé Professional Food. “In addition, a local product such as Dutch wild boar now widely available. By putting accessible game dishes on the menu, the threshold for guests to discover new game is lowered. Think of a dish like a ‘pulled swine’ sandwich. ”
Edwin Florès
During the game clinic and wild harvesting workshop the chefs discovered the edible nature under the guidance of Edwin Florès, professional wild harvester and cookbook author. The score of the wild harvesting included wild mushrooms, fresh watercress and water mint. These were incorporated into the food from the game clinic.
Beautiful dishes from neck and shoulder
The chefs attended a deboning demonstration of a wild boar. It was explained how to prepare tasty dishes with the obsolescent parts. “The front part, including shoulder and neck, is used less frequently, but there are lovely dishes to be made of” Hein Willemsen, SVH Master Chef explains. “Through slow cooking at low temperature (sous-vide), the meat is very tender. A shoulder pad can be grilled after cooking and you can serve it with pasta and mushrooms. The neck piece can be cooked in a game sauce based on demi-glace. The taste of wild boar meat can be well combined with powerful sauces such as the CHEF red wine sauce or pepper sauce. A nice piece of meat such as a Dutch wild boar deserves to be combined with a high quality sauce or stock, like the products of the CHEF. ”
Deboning workshops
Earlier, we wrote about a deboning workshop for consumers by Gertjan Kiers at Julius Bar & Grill. A trend that we applaud to. Let us know if there are workshops like these organized in your neighbourhood or if you choose to organize one yourself.
Slow Cow relaxation drink
11-9-2015
The Slow Cow relaxation drink clears the mind.
Slow Cow was developed by three hyperactive stressful entrepreneurs. They sought, and found, an alternative to energy drinks. A drink to help relax, focus and concentrate. Together with various partners and investors they launched Slow Cow in Canada in 2008.
Slow Cow ingredients and effect
Slow Cow promotes the feeling of natural tranquillity. The drink does not cause sleepiness or fatigue and isn’t the opposite of an energy drink at all. Slow Cow was developed in Quebec, Canada. The drink contains almost no calories, no caffeine, no sugar and no preservatives. It does contain extracts of green tea, valerian, chamomile, passionflower, lime blossom, lemon grass, potassium and sodium.
Alternative
The creator present the soda as an alternative to every day’s hectic pace, the adrenaline and race against the clock. In terms of taste it could have been a bit less sweet in our opinion. That will probably be due to our limited energy drink consumption normally. It is certainly an interesting alternative to high school students who are regularly hyper on the caffeine and sugar bombs that they consume in large amounts.
Mascot
Slow Cow mascot Harry plays a leading role in the promotional campaign. His mission is to help the Dutch people to relax in their increasingly stressful daily life. Through his discoveries, he reminds us constantly about his message “It is important and urgent to adopt a cool lifestyle.” Harry is the champion of ‘cool’ and relax. He embodies calmness in all situations.
Tres Hombres prepares a viral launch with Thunderclap
10-9-2015
Thunderclap sends a message through subscribed social media accounts at the same moment. By requesting users’ permission to send via their social media channels like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, it is possible to schedule a launch at one time.
Thunderclap social media distribution
The social media distribution tool shows who participates with the Thunderclap, it provides insight into the users supporting the message and creates a measurable reach. It gives the people joining a togetherness feeling because only the backers know about this upcoming ‘internet flashmob’ which can quickly provide be a trending topic. For the non-profit sector it is an interesting way to promote awareness campaigns by a “social contribution” instead of having to ask a financial contribution.
Sailing ship Tres Hombres
Using Thunderclap the crew of sustainable sailing ship ‘Tres Hombres’ will promote a campaign for organic coffee that the sailing ship will transport in 2016. Besides coffee, the ship was used to transport barrels of rum and chocolate with pure wind power over the ocean for the past five years. The ship can carry around 35 tonnes of cargo. Erik Rauws is one of the sailors Erik Rauws who has sailed along several times. He will join the sailing crew that will transport organic coffee from Costa Rica and created the sustainable coffee brand ‘Anemoi Coffee’. Half the ship is dedicated to cargo transport and half is used for passengers. People interested can join the crew on (a part of) the trip. The ship sails in the beginning of the summer in 2016 and a round trip takes about 5 months.
Anemoi Coffee by Sail
Share the Thunderclap by Erik Rauws and his Anemoi Coffee by Sail as well. The Thunderclap will be delivered on 11 September.
“We want to sail the most sustainable coffee in the world next year by sailing from Costa Rica to Amsterdam, join us!”
SUSHISAMBA, a culinary mix of Japan, Brazil and Peru
9-9-2015
At restaurant SUSHISAMBA you can eat a unique blend of the Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cuisine.
We don’t know many restaurants in the Netherlands that combine a cultural coalition in one cuisine. We recently wrote an article about the Nikkei cuisine (Japanese & Peruvian Cuisine) and in reaction somebody wrote us about another great tri-cultural coalition namely SUSHISAMBA. This cuisine is created in the early 20th century when thousands of Japanese emigrants traveled to South America’s fertile soil to cultivate coffee plantations and find their fortune. In bustling cities like Lima in Peru, and São Paulo in Brazil, the integration of Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cultures flourished. The restaurant in London, nearby for us Dutchies, opened in 2012.
What to expect when dining out at SUSHISAMBA
Hearty moquecas and colorful seviches found a place at the table alongside simple miso soup and tender sashimi. SUSHISAMBA serves these traditional dishes, plus more inventive creations, including sawagani, tuna tataki and anticuchos. The restaurant in London is located at the Heron Tower. A private glass-walled express lift hurtles up the outside of Heron Tower, taking you 38 storeys above the city. Once you’re up there, SUSHISAMBA has a pretty impressive rooftop bar that’s open all year round. Check all the pictures for an impression of the restaurant and the menus on their website. Certainly a restaurant and rooftop bar with a view. The next time I visit London, I most certainly will visit SUSHISAMBA!
About SUSHISAMBA
SUSHISAMBA started in New York City in 1999. Samba Brands Management was founded by Shimon Bokovza, Matthew Johnson and Danielle Billera. The company operates SUSHISAMBA® restaurants in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, London and Coral Gables. In addition to SUSHISAMBA®, the group manages SUGARCANE raw bar grill® in Miami and Duck & Waffle in London. ^Marjolein
Food on the rails in the Panorama Rail Restaurant
8-9-2015
With the Panorama Rail Restaurant train lovers and enthusiasts of culinary cooking can enjoy a train ride in the West of the Netherlands and a dinner, every Saturday.
Every Saturday evening the Panorama Rail Restaurant offers a trip by train through the heart of the Netherlands with Amsterdam Centraal as starting point. The train takes you along typical Dutch villages, rural landscapes, the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Haarlem, Gouda and the ‘Green Heart’ of the Netherlands.
The train
These dining cars from the sixties (the TEE trains Rheingold and Rheinpfeil panorama coaches) have a rich history and were originally used in European luxury travel industry. Recently they have been fully refurbished. The train can accommodate about 100 guests and has tables for two, four and six people. The historic trains of the Panorama Rail Restaurant comply with the strictest standards imposed from both the EU and the Environment and Transport Inspection.
The Panorama Rail Restaurant
The unique train restaurant is developed by Promo Rail, a leading provider of charter transportation by train in the Netherlands and Europe. The four courses menu which is served during the train ride will be specially developed by a Michelin-starred chef, each quarter another one. Currently by Edwin Soumang of restaurant One in Roermond. The menu of Edwin Soumang is based on the New Dutch Cuisine. The food is prepared and served by an experienced catering team led by Roland Vos of Buitenpoort Catering Amsterdam. Especially for tourists a nice way to see and taste a piece of Holland in two hours and three quarters.
The Vega Pop-up restaurant will be in Rotterdam in October
7-9-2015
From the first of October the Vega Pop-up restaurant will serve exclusively vegetarian and vegan dishes in their pop-up restaurant in Rotterdam for five days per week (Wednesday/Sunday). They will be in the ‘Westelijk Handelsterrein’ in Rotterdam for the entire month of October.
Why a Vega Pop-up restaurant?
Earlier we wrote about the initiative of, amongst others, Friedjof Kempenaar. They want to show the people in the Netherlands that the vegetarian kitchen is already far beyond the ‘Birkenstock’-image. They serve various small dishes to choose from the menu but you can also opt for a full evening menu. The dishes are served in the size of a ‘side dish’ so that you can taste even more … The wine list is vegan as well, which means that the wines are not filtered with the use of animal products.
Improve the image of the vegetarian and vegan cuisine
Vega Pop-up responds to the lack of good, but especially modern, vegetarian and vegan restaurants in the Netherlands. Through a variety of campaigns and food scandals, more and more people start eating ‘mindfully’ and sometimes even make the choice to eat vegetarian or vegan. At most restaurants the choice for these people is still poor. The Vega Pop-up is serving a trendy choice of vegan or vegetarian dishes and is having a cocktail bar and a DJ until the early hours on Friday and Saturday.
