October 9, 2009 at 10:24 pm · Written by tokyorama · Filed under Eating, Socializing
Tired of spending lots of money in junk food? Are you fed up with kebabs or vlaamse frites? Do you want to socialize with nice people?
So, all you need is a VoKu.
VoKu stands for Volks Küche, a German expression that means ‘People’s Kitchen’. A VoKu is a place where you can have healty vegetarian (or sometimes even vegan) meal for a little damage, and a good occasion to meet interesting Amsterdammers. Many squats and social centers across the city organize weekly VoKus. Here’s a partial list.
De Peper at OT301 – every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday
Remember that the Dutch eat early and generally the vokus start at 7 pm. Don’t be late and remember to reserve your dinner in time, calling the phone numbers you’ll find on each website.
May 3, 2009 at 12:56 pm · Written by tokyorama · Filed under dutch culture
The Netherlands are a small country, but they present many unique cultural features compared to other European nations. Holland have a most peculiar wet territory, and the Dutch have learned through centuries how to live and how to manage it on a technical and political level. Holland was also a country of sailors and merchants, and many different cultures merged.
This series is meant to provide you practical tools in dealing with basic cultural glitches you will sure experience during your visit in the Low Lands.
The first cultural shock that a foreigner coming to the Netherlands have to face is related to the particular form of Dutch toilet vases.
The traditional Dutch toilet is shaped in a way that the user’s wastes are collected in a risen, dry shelf or plateau in the back side of the vase.
Dutch people, of course, claim that this system is the best one compared to other toilet models, and they could provide many technical reasons to demonstrate their arguments:
A plateau is very useful for studying waste, which can come in handy, especially with children. The second reason is equally practical: the shallow flusher does not spalsh back on the user’s buttocks [1]
Others argue that the Dutch, “if they can’t see land above water, they’re not happy” [2]. Despite being tongue-in-cheek, this statement grabs a deeper motivation for understanding the Dutch toilet morphology: toilet is a product of a precise cultural and semiotic code. Listen to Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, on toilets and Ideology.
March 31, 2009 at 12:43 pm · Written by tokyorama · Filed under Going out, Shopping
During closing time in Albert Cuypmarkt, dozens of herons come by to seek some food left overs. Foto tokyorama
One of the biggest outside daily market in Amsterdam is located in De Pijp District in Amsterdam Oud-Zuid. The street and the market are named from Albert Cuyp, a painter from the 17th century.
This market began by the free initiative of a bunch of street vendors with hand carts, since when in 1905 the municipality decided to establish a free market to regulate and organize the business. Originally it was running only on Saturday until 1912 when it was decided to open it 6 days por week. Actually it’s still going from Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. till 6 p.m. with 268 market stalls on both side of the street where is possible to buy anything: food, clothes, cameras, souvenirs, gadget, tools.
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