'Haringhappen': the Dutch tradition of eating raw herring

What is depicted here is the way the Dutch traditionally eat herring. Holding on to its tail and eating it in a few bites. Usually this dish is served with chopped pieces of raw onion and sometimes pickles. Most people go for a round of haringhappen at a local stall. 

Typically, herring is on the menu on two special occasions: Ash Wednesday and Vlaggetjesdag (Flags Day). Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, the fasting period for Catholics. During this period meat is off the table, so eating a fatty type of fish like herring is a good starting point. Vlaggetjesdag, in June, is the day the first batch of premium herring is sold. The first barrel of herring is auctioned off for charity in Scheveningen. Several cities host a ‘herring party’ to celebrate and to increase commerce.

A thousand years

The Dutch have been consuming herring for over a thousand years. At first people fished for herring for personal use, this changed around the year 1000 when the commercial herring fishing arose. Fishing villages emerged rapidly along the coast and herring fishing became an industry of large economic importance to the Netherlands from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. During the first decade of the seventeenth century alone, the herring fleets are calculated to have comprised 770 ships. In contrast, during the heyday of whaling in the second half of the seventeenth century, only around 150 to 200 ships set out each year.

Although the Dutch call the dish raw herring, it is in fact not raw. The herring has been frozen and then laid in salt for a couple days to ripen the fish (soused herring). Herring was not only nutritious, it was also inexpensive and it had a reasonable shelf life. When the fish was kept in a barrel of salt, it could be consumed all winter.

Delftware

Delftware herring dishes were typical elements in the Dutch kitchen. Apart from the series of plates which depict the story from the herring catch at sea to delivery to the customer, various types of herring dishes were made. They were shaped like a fish or had an oval or rectangular shape decorated with the image of herring.

Dutch traditions are not limited to eating habits. The faience production was a tradition in itself. Find out more about the history of Delfware.