Dutch Cheese Markets: A Delicious Journey Through Alkmaar and Gouda

 

The first thing that comes to you is the smell. It is rich, creamy, and even a bit nutty, and flows into the air way before you can even see the cheese. Going to the traditional cheese markets of Alkmaar and Gouda is not only about trying food. It is entering a living tradition that the Netherlands has so dearly kept for centuries.

 

It was my first experience in Alkmaar, at the beginning of a Friday morning. The square was already wittering with silent excitement. Wire after wire of the same cheese in the form of perfectly round balls was stacked like golden pieces under the sky.

 

Men, wearing crisp white clothes and straw hats, strode with unbelievable speed with cheeses on wooden stretchers. The audience stood in awe, with cameras cocked to shoot, yet there was a feeling of reverence, as well.

 

When roaming the market, I paused at small stalls where samples were available. One of the salespeople gave me a slice of young Gouda, and I smiled, trying it. It was smooth, creamy, and soothing, such that you could consume it daily without developing any aversion to it.

 

He described the effect of aging on the cheese, making it more bitter and leaving small crystals that crunch with softness in your teeth. I gave a nod in approval and made to take another specimen.

 

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A couple of days afterwards, I was in the very town of Gouda, and in the market there, I found it a little more familiar. The square is surrounded by lovely old structures, and the cheese market is conducted at a slower pace.

 

The sense of connection was something I liked the most in Gouda. Local people were walking in the market, with children licking cheese crumbs off their fingers, older residents talking to stall owners whom they evidently knew very well. I sat down on the steps of the town hall, with a portion of old cheese, covered with paper, and had a look at the scene.