Is Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands still Chinese?

Dishes such as Babi Panggang have been a part of Dutch food culture for so long now, that many people would say it has become Dutch food - well maybe they are right!  If you would go to a restaurant in China and ask for any dish from the menu of a Chinese restaurant in the Netherlands, chances are high that the person who is taking your order has no clue what you are talking about. One of the reasons for this is that Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands has been largely influenced by the Indonesian cuisine. Finding out about this, it made me wonder what caused this influence and what other influences contributed to the development of the Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands. 

"Chinese" in the Netherlands

In 2011, the Chinese community celebrated 100 years of Chinese presence in the Netherlands. All these years, Chinese immigrants have been coming to the Netherlands bringing along their culture and traditions, including their cuisine. The introduction of this cuisine resulted in a change in Dutch food culture. It is not unlikely that in Dutch households the question "What's for dinner tonight?" is answered using a short and clear answer: "Chinese". However, this answer seems to be somewhat misleading as our "Chinese" cuisine here is often not solely Chinese – it is a cuisine that is formed by combining various Asian, and more in particular Indonesian, cuisines and is topped off by the influence of Dutch food preferences.

So did globalization then fail in bringing over authentic Chinese cuisine to the Netherlands?  The term 'globalization' does not mean an absolute unification of culture but a mixture of global and local cultures (Appadurai, 1996). Authentic Chinese cuisine has been taken to a global level and subsequently has been made local again by cultures that have adopted and adapted the global Chinese cuisine to their liking. According to the Cambridge dictionary, the word ‘authentic’ refers to “the quality of being real or true”. In this case, authentic Chinese cuisine refers to the cuisine in the way in which it is known in China. The main goal of this article is to discover in what ways Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands has diverted from the authentic Chinese cuisine and what the influences are that caused this.  

Shaping Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands

Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands has in the past been shaped by three major influences. The first and most obvious influence is the emigration of Chinese people to the Netherlands. The first large group of Chinese immigrants arrived during the early 1900s. This group consisted of old trade contacts from the Dutch East Indies, and stokers and sailors from the South of China who entered the country by ship and settled in trade cities like Rotterdam. As the world was heading towards a big recession in the 1920s, work in the sea and ocean trade decreased rapidly, leaving the Chinese immigrants unemployed. Since they were not entitled to financial support, they had to find another solution in order to earn money. This solution was eventually found in the business of sales and entrepreneurship. It started by selling ‘peanut cookies’ on the streets, providing them with the nickname ‘peanut Chinese’ (Hiu, 2010). However, already in 1920, the first Chinese restaurant was opened in Rotterdam and soon more followed. Strange rumors spread about these silly little places - as it was for instance said that they served cat meat. Therefore, the first Chinese restaurants only focused on the local Asian communities of the time. But by 1928, a Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam called "Kong Hing" started to house its first Dutch costumers (van Hasselt, n.d.). This can be seen as the start of the integration of Chinese cuisine in the Dutch culture.

The first Chinese restaurants only focused on the local Asian communities of the time

From Appadurai’s (1996) point of view, the Chinese cuisine had at that moment been taken to a global level as it was served far away from its country of origin. However, despite the fact that the cuisine was integrating into Dutch culture, it was still barely affected by local influences as the restaurants were exclusively owned by Chinese people. Moreover, until 1928 even the customers where exclusively Asian.

Google Images

This changed after World War II due to a second major influence, which really distinguished the Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands from any other localized version of Chinese cuisine. As a consequence of the Indonesian independence, a large number of people emigrated to the Netherlands from the former Dutch colony East Indies (now Indonesia), causing a major change in the local Chinese cuisine. The demand for dishes from the East Indies increased rapidly and to meet this demand, Chinese restaurant owners started looking for ‘kokkies’. The term ‘kokkie’ refers to the former cooks of Dutch families in the East Indies who were familiar with both the East Indisch and Dutch cuisine and food culture (IsGeschiedenis, n.d.). As a result, the number of Chinese restaurants in the Netherlands increased from 23 in 1947 to over 2000 in the 1970s. Additionally, many of them changed their description from ‘Chinese restaurant’ to ‘Chinese-Indisch restaurant’ (Li, 2016). The Indonesian independence can consequently be seen as the first local influence on Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands. However, the special thing about this local influence is that it is not really local. Chinese cuisine in fact is here influenced by a cuisine which has its origins in a country that is actually situated relatively close to China, and yet the blending of these two cuisines happened on a whole other continent.

The number of Chinese restaurants in the Netherlands increased from 23 in 1947 to over 2000 in the 1970s

Lastly, we arrive at the truly local third influence on Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands: the Dutch. As the Chinese-Indisch cuisine was becoming incredibly popular amongst the Dutch, restaurant owners were looking to satisfy as many customers as possible. Therefore, besides adding many East Indisch dishes to their menus, they also adjusted their dishes to the Dutch preferences as the served portions became bigger and the food less spicy (IsGeschiedenis, 2016). An example of the Dutch influence on the Chinese-Indisch cuisine is the phenomenon that is known in the Netherlands as ‘de rijsttafel’ (rice table). I have known this concept my whole life and for 22 years, I lived under the impression that this was a Chinese concept. However, I have come to know that this is not Chinese but in fact is invented by the Dutch. During colonial times, Dutch people in East Indie used to have large meals at noon consisting of rice with many small side dishes. This is what has eventually been given the name ‘rijsttafel’. So despite that it has been invented 7,500 kilometres away from the Netherlands, this phenomenon has been  Dutch all along. Another example, which in my opinion reaches the highest possible level of Dutchification, is the introduction of snacks like the ‘bamischijf’ and the ‘nasischijf’. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, these descendants of the Chinese-Indisch cuisine were being sold in many Dutch snackbars. Nowadays, it is even possible to literally pull these snacks out of the wall at cafeterias owned by the fast food chain FEBO. So there you go, it will not get any more Dutch than that. At last, also the Dutch culture has influenced the development of the Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands. 

Google Images

The (re-)emergence of the authentic Chinese cuisine

It has become clear how Chinese cuisine has developed itself in the Netherlands so far. However, the localization phase in the process of cultural globalization (Appadurai, 1996) does not end here. Nowadays, a new development can be identified. Despite the huge success of the Chinese-Indisch cuisine during the second part of the 20th century, a large decrease in Chinese-Indisch restaurants seems to indicate the end of an era. Over the last five years, the number of Chinese-Indisch restaurants has declined by approximately 13% and the last ten years even show a decline of 22% (NOS, 2019). On the other hand, more restaurants that are serving the authentic Chinese dishes from the 1920s are emerging in the Netherlands. 

One of these restaurants is Si-Chuan in Velp which serves authentic Chinese food, mainly from the eponymous Chinese province of Sichuan. On the restaurant’s website, the Chinese owner and chef Ping Cao explains that she serves authentic Sichuan dishes that she learnt from her grandmother, combined with local ingredients such as white asparagus.

So what has caused this new development? An explanation for this can be the open door policy that was adopted in connection with the Economic Reforms of 1978. Next to enabling Western companies to do business in China, this policy made it possible for Chinese students to travel and study abroad (Li, 2016).  This resulted in an increase of Chinese immigrants during the late 1970s (CBS, 1998). Moreover, between 1991 and 2000, the number of immigrants from mainland China increased with over 50% (CBS, 2011). This caused a transformation in the Chinese diaspora in the Netherlands. Before that, it was dominated by ex-colonial immigrants from Hong Kong, Indonesia and Vietnam but due to the increase, immigrants from China became the largest group in the diaspora (Li, 2016). It is possible that as a result of this, the demand for authentic Chinese tastes has increased leading to entrepreneurs deciding to start offering these tastes again.

Customers who are visiting her restaurant for the first time often claim that what she is serving is not Chinese food

It is likely that customers of the authentic Chinese restaurants will be mainly Chinese, at least in the beginning. Just as in the 1920s, Dutch people will have to get used to this 'strange' cuisine again as they expect Babi Panggang or Chop Suey when they order Chinese food. Moreover, in an interview with the Dutch lifestyle magazine Vice, Cao Ping explains that customers who are visiting her restaurant for the first time often claim that what she is serving is not Chinese food. I think this is a good illustration of the Dutch interpretation of “Chinese food”. Explaining to a Chinese chef what food is Chinese and what is not, certainly feels like an oxymoron here.

Google Images

A variety of Asian cuisines

An advi report by Van Spronsen & Partners shows that over the past ten years the number of Thai restaurants increased with 37%, the number of Indian restaurants increased by 13%, for Japanese restaurant this increase was even 172% and the number of other Asian restaurants has increased by 143%! So besides the authentic Chinese cuisine, other Asian cuisines are also becoming more popular in the Netherlands.

Besides the authentic Chinese cuisine,  other Asian cuisines are also becoming more popular in the Netherlands

The growing number of alternative Asian cuisines can be explained by the commodification of Asian cuisines in the Netherlands. Just as every commercial enterprise, Asian restaurants adjust their menus and concepts to their customer’s'wishes. Due to globalization, consumers in the Netherlands are developing a more diverse taste which means that restaurants will have to adapt in order to offer their customers what they want (Li, 2016). Next to that, in the advice report another reason for the growth is mentioned by Lin Ping Lin, member of the Vereniging Chinees-Aziatische Horeca Ondernemers, and Han Ji, Chef and founder of restaurant HanTing Cuisine in The Hague. They state that the second generation Chinese people are taking over the restaurants from the current restaurant owners who are still from the first generation. The new owners are looking for new concepts for their business, like for instance offering more than one type of Asian cuisine. An example of this is restaurant Jade in Tilburg, which offers a combination of Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese dishes.

An ongoing process of cultural globalization

What can be concluded here is that the Chinese cuisine in the Netherlands was and still is being shaped by a number of developments which are in line with Appardurai’s (1996) process of cultural globalization. The cuisine was firstly taken to a global level due to the emigration of Chinese people to the Netherlands, and the fact that they brought along and started to commodify their cuisine in the 1920s. After that, the cuisine was influenced by subsequently the Indisch/Indonesian cuisine and by the preferences of the Dutch consumers. More recently, it has further developed due to changing demographics and the evolving of a diverse taste amongst consumers in the Netherlands. Nowadays the Chinese cuisine is accompanied by many other Asian cuisines with which it has to compete in the (Asian) restaurant business. However, as history shows, cultural globalization is an ongoing process so it is likely that the Chinese cuisine is, and maybe never will be finished becoming localized in the Netherlands. Therefore, the question that lasts is: what will be the next change in this constantly evolving cuisine?

References

Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

CBS. (13 July, 1998). Chinezen in Nederland. Retrieved on 13 November 2019.

CBS. (2011). Chinezen in Nederland in het eerste decennium van de 21ste eeuw. Bevolkingstrends, 4e kwartaal, 28-45. Den Haag: Centraal Bureau voor Statistiek. 

Hiu, P-U. (30 March, 2010). Het is afgelopen met 'bami-goreng-sambal bij'. Retrieved on 30 October 2019.

IsGeschiedenis. (n.d.). De geschiedenis van de 'afhaalchinees' in Nederland. Retrieved on 25 October 2019.

Li, J. (2016). Chineseness as a Moving Target: Changing Infrastructures of the Chinese Diaspora in the Netherlands. Tilburg: Doctoral Dissertation Tilburg University.

NOS. (2019, October 3). De afhaalchinees zit nauwelijks nog in ons systeem. Retrieved on 25 October 2019. 

Van Hasselt, L. (n.d.). De culinaire revolutie van de jaren zestig. Retreived on 30 October 2019.