Indonesian Fried Rice is the Best Dutch Takeout
The first time I went to the Netherlands, Indonesian food made me feel at home. It was three days into a trip where I’d felt unmoored, unable to speak the language. My great-uncle Jan asked if I would like to order rijsttafel — rice table — for dinner, and soon a collection of comforting smells wafted from the Indonesian take-out containers. There was krupuk (shrimp-flavored chips), satay (aromatic, savory chicken on a stick), and loempia (crispy, spicy spring rolls) with sambal ulek (“a little bit goes a long way” chili paste) on the side. And even better still, nasi goreng, the most iconic dish of all — an incredibly seasoned adaptation of fried rice. One mouthful of these spicy, complex, flavorful foods, and language didn’t matter any more. I knew I was at home.
Most people know Dutch food as bland and rich: think boiled red cabbage, Gouda or chocolate sprinkles. But Indonesian dishes are to Dutch people what Chinese food is to Americans — inexpensive take out that is barely recognized in its native land. For example, nasi goreng is traditionally a breakfast dish in Indonesia, a one-pot meal frying up the previous day’s leftovers, but now there are specific spice packets you can buy to create a carefully cultivated dish for dinner.
Rijsttafel first appeared in Dutch homes on Indonesian plantations leased by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The company instigated colonization and conducted business on the islands from 1602–1799. Indonesian servants working in kitchens would prepare as many as 40 different dishes for one meal, served family style. Eventually, the dishes made their way to the Netherlands. After Indonesian independence in 1946, more than 300,000 people of mixed Indo Dutch heritage migrated to the Netherlands, bringing the tradition of rijsttafel with them.
Today, Indonesian cuisine is considered to be part of Dutch culture giving rise to cookbooks and culinary expertise. Jeff Keasberry grew up watching his grandmother cook in her once renowned Indonesian restaurant, Djokja, in Amsterdam, and after authoring two cookbooks in Dutch, he published Indo Dutch Kitchen Secrets in English to promote his culinary heritage. “Sitting around the dinner table and enjoying Indo Dutch comfort food is a way of coping with the loss of the Dutch Indies, the experience of displacement, violence, and retaliation during the process of decolonization and repatriation to the Netherlands,” says Keasberry.
A typical rijsttafel meal consists of dozens of dishes, shared and passed across a table, making for a social event instead of mere sustenance. “Everybody sits down to 50 or so dishes, and everyone passes them to each other, saying, ‘Have you tried this? Have you tried that? Oh my God! You need to eat the beans; they are fabulous today,’” says Frank Meijers, my grandfather. After not being able to have rijsttafel in over 20 years, what he misses the most is not a particular dish but being able to mix and match all of the different flavors in a way that never gets boring. “It’s more of an event than just eating.”
All of that makes rijsttafel an iconic meal for Dutch people. Whenever my father, Victor Meijers, meets someone who is also from the Netherlands, he always asks them what they miss most. They often say rijsttafel or nasi goreng. “It’s the Indonesian meal, which is really not Dutch, that unites us,” he says. [The Netherlands] colonized a faraway collection of islands that became our central identity abroad…that’s a weird thing,” says Meijers. I agree, but it’s also incredibly delicious.
Because of the number of time-consuming dishes, it is nearly impossible to create rijsttafel at home. This is why Dutch frequent Indonesian restaurants and why many Dutch people outside of the Netherlands make just one or two of the dishes. To me, nasi goreng with krupuk is a simplified rijsttafel that enlivens my senses and emotions unlike any other dish.
