About

The bitterballen weblog is a creation of an Italian aerospace engineer working in the Netherlands, and trying to understand Dutch culture by being surrounded by a very non-Dutch, international environment. As this task seems a little contradictory, Marco (that is, the author) started from the basics: food. Deep fried. Always. Every Dutchman he knows has a deep fryer at home.

So, what are bitterballen? Bitterballen are a funny word, first of all. Bitterballen are battered, deep fried (of course) meat balls with next to no meat, and lots of fat… Dutch people have the very nice tradition of dipping them in mustard and eating them while drinking beer in a pub in the afternoon, after work. Such deeply enriching cultural event is called borrel and is usually held every month with the work colleagues.

The author believes there is more to Dutch culture than just bitterballen, and this blog is there to describe you his experiences. Of course, travelling a lot and having some crazy hobbies will make the task more difficult, as most of the entries will not speak of the Dutch culture at all, but instead of computer, travels, photography, sports, jazz, classical music, and many other subjects Marco might be interested in.