Hagelslag

It seems that every time I go to Europe there is a new thing that I pick up on that becomes a part of our life here at home!  Several years ago, after a trip to Paris, I startied drinking espresso rather than coffee with milk, and it stuck.

This time we discovered Hagelslag. Hagelslag is the Dutch version of sprinkles. They look the same, but there are two important differences. 1. They are eaten for breakfast 2. They are not made out of wax and hydrogenated oils as they are here. The two most well known brands of Hagelslag are owned by Heinz(!) of all companies, yet they are not filled with the garbage (HFCS and the likes) that the Heinz US products are tainted by. 

And yes, Hagelslag is eaten for breakfast!! Check out this site to see how they do it! They definitely don't skimp on the Hagelslag! Our fine dining hotel breakfast in Amsterdam included two large bowls of sprinkles. On a side note - the previous hotel in Bruges had a huge block of white chocolate at a carving station when you walked into the restaurant for breakfast. For those of you who don't know me...my two weaknesses when it comes to sweets are white chocolate and sprinkles. Needless to say, I want to move to these glorious places that serve these foods for breakfast!

the happiest Dutch kid I know

My sister in law told me that she read this article recently about how happy the Dutch children were, and that having Hagelslag for breakfast is a part of the daily routine and its not something the kids overdo in the Netherlands. Its amazing. It seems to make sense. Those things that are not so forbidden are less exciting, aren't they? I think I found the article my sister was referring to and its pretty interesting (read it here) - actually they call the Dutch kids the happiest in the world! One thing they talk about is that despite the rather liberal appearance of the Netherlands (Amsterdam's famous red light district and coffee shops), that Dutch families are actually pretty conservative, and put a great emphasis on their home life and children. They respect their children as individuals and don't see them just as extensions of their own selves. Having meals at home with the family is the norm, including breakfast. We noticed that Victor's school started so much later than when Jill and Rachel's school started, allowing time for breakfast and a casual walk to school together. 

The good news is - you can buy Hagelslag on amazon! We've already placed our first order. Here's to living Dutch!!

Victor