With a crate of groceries and a listening ear, Kings Commissioner Arthur van Dijk visits residents of North Holland. In the video series In the Kitchen With, he tries to find out what concerns the inhabitants.
What is happening and playing out in the province? What worries and wishes do North Hollanders have? To find answers, passionate hobby cook Van Dijk uses a proven recipe: cooking together.
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Wearing long boots and a dark blue provincial umbrella overhead, Kings Commissioner Arthur van Dijk and cooking instructor Marjolein Triesscheijn enter the Cornelia Westendorp Garden in Haarlem. Between April and September, students from groups 6 and 7 are busy sowing, planting, and cultivating vegetables such as pumpkin, zucchini, or parsley in this school garden. On this drizzly November day, little edible seems to grow among the tall grass. But nothing could be further from the truth. “The kale is still doing well; it is a true winter vegetable,” says Triesscheijn. She points to a dark green plant whose leaves – like a palm tree – grow almost vertically from the stem. Van Dijk follows the cooking instructors example and pulls off a few leaves.
Food Education on the Map
The commissioner was invited by the government program Young Learning to Eat to make kale pesto together. Young Learning to Eat is committed to teaching young people more about food so they can make healthy and sustainable choices themselves. Within the program, the national government, childcare, schools, local authorities, and social organizations collaborate to put food education on the map. Think of gardening, visiting the farmer, or taking cooking lessons. One such organization is School of Food, where Marjolein works. She teaches lessons on nutrition, sustainability, and cooking.
The cooking instructor explains why food education is so important: “When we cook with children who have also had school garden lessons, they know how to sow, how long it takes for something to grow, and where it comes from. That broccoli is a plant and not something sterile packaged in the supermarket. We dont just cook, but also smell and taste the ingredients first. We also explain what it does for your body. This way, young people develop more love for food and learn the importance of getting good, healthy vitamins.”
Ingredients from Dutch Soil
With a handful of kale leaves in their pockets, Triesscheijn and Van Dijk walk towards the (sub)tropical greenhouses in the Haarlemmer Nursery, a few minutes away. The rain boots and umbrellas have been swapped for sneakers and cooking aprons. Among banana, pepper, and hibiscus plants in the warm greenhouse, the two take a seat behind a folding table full of ingredients and cooking utensils. Not a professional kitchen, as Marjolein often has to make do with less at schools. “Sometimes we have nothing more than a teachers room that we turn into a cooking studio ourselves. As you can see, I have also brought equipment that doesnt require electricity.” Besides a mortar, grater, and colander, there is also a manual vegetable cutter with a pull cord on the table.
Van Dijk is tested on whether he can name all the ingredients of pesto. He easily lists the main ingredients: basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, oil, pepper, salt. Marjolein, impressed: “I dont need to explain anything more. But Im afraid it will be different here.” Almost all ingredients on the table come from Dutch soil. Kale instead of basil, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds replace pine nuts, and the cheese comes from a Dutch cheese farmer. The commissioner is pleased: “This creates short chains from the farmer to the table. We also encourage this as a province.”
Fun and Educational
After briefly blanching the kale – with hot water from the thermos – Van Dijk is tasked with cutting the leaves small using the vegetable cutter with pull cord. “This really involves physical labor,” he notes after pulling the string a few times. The mortar also comes in handy to grind the sunflower and pumpkin seeds finely. Triesscheijn: “This is one of our success tools during cooking lessons. The children really get a witch and wizard feeling from it. Cooking is magical; you see structures change. We also have a lesson about seaweed. First, I let them taste it dried, like a chip. Then they put it in water, and it melts completely and turns green. Then it suddenly becomes a kind of lettuce. Even teenagers still like that.”
But Marjoleins cooking lessons are not only fun but also very educational. During the lesson about sugars, children are often surprised by the amount of sugar in a breakfast cake. “It is often still seen as healthy. But when they see how much sugar is in it, they are shocked. Then we make a healthier version.” They also discuss the hype around proteins during cooking lessons, Marjolein says as Van Dijk takes a bite of Dutch cheese full of proteins. “Some young people overdo it, but you dont need that much. And we talk about different kinds of proteins, really plant-based proteins. The young children then ask: But teacher, should we eat the egg white? Through these lessons, you understand how children misunderstand things. Then it is our task to explain it properly.”
Stimulating Municipalities
To conclude the successful cooking afternoon, Van Dijk asks what message he can take back to the provincial house. Marjolein: “I notice that schools often see food education as something extra. And I dont just mean cooking at school and taste lessons, but also farm education, maintaining school gardens, and greening schoolyards with edible garden boxes. It is very important to create or preserve places where young people can learn more about healthy and sustainable food. I think the province can therefore encourage municipalities and schools to include food education in their programs.”