As a lover and regular devourer of cheese, the Alkmaar Cheese Market sounded like the perfect little jaunt during our one night/two day drive around Holland.
We were temporarily homeless, having left our old apartment early Thursday morning and not able to get in to our new one until evening the following day. So we did what any respectable people would do – we stored most of our crap prized possessions at the new place and then packed up a car and drove around for a couple of days, with a slightly distraught Basset in the back.
Luck would have it that the weekly cheese market in Alkmaar happens on a Friday morning, so it seemed like fate. We pulled up to the quaint town early evening on Thursday, checked in to a hotel and then simply waited for the Cheese Gods to bestow upon us their wheel-shaped offerings. (Or, we may have just gone out for dinner and then gone to bed. Same same.)
Fresh-faced on Friday morning, we headed out into the centre of town to get some breakfast, becoming more and more worried as we saw the crowds that were already gathering. At over an hour before the ‘show’ was about to start, we hoped that these were just some over-zealous cheese lovers, and not people who knew a lot more about how this was going to go down than we did.
Lining up the cheese before the crowds started to arrive
We were wrong. They had definitely gotten some insider info.
We stumbled out of a cafe, bellies full, and made small talk with a nearby stallholder who enticed us into buying a wheel of his cheese (not a euphemism). Then we turned the corner and saw what I can only describe as a ‘sea of humanity’ lined up around the town square, waiting to feast their eyes on whatever the heck was going to happen next.
There was much jostling and pushing and cries of “You’ve gouda brie kidding me!”* as people vied to see what was going on while announcements were made in several different languages. Men ran back and forth with what can only be described as wooden boats of cheese slung over their shoulders and the whole thing was, well, confusing.
From what I could gather, this used to be a typical scene many years ago, when traders and cheesemongers would gather in the town square to buy and sell their solidified dairy for a fair price. The wheels of cheese are weighed and tasted and then a price is set and everyone goes about their business.
Just two guys chatting about the price of cheese
These days, the event is more for spectacle than sales, with a lucky couple of locals even being given rides on the wooden cheese boats as the multinational crowds watched on in amazement.
Satisfied that we’d snapped some photos that didn’t include the back of too many peoples’ heads and had actually fairly enjoyed this ‘cheesy’ spectacle, we headed back to the hotel with thoughts of lunch in our heads. Perhaps a grilled cheese sandwich..?
Some dude with a boat full of cheese
*This didn’t happen, I just wanted an excuse to put it in the post. I don’t give edam.
I audibly laughed at I don’t give edam… just so you know my level of humour!! Also, a ‘cheesy’ spectacle is definitely my favourite type of spectacle x
Glad that someone else enjoys my level of humour 😉
Really entertaining post with some great photos! I’m sad we missed this cheese spectacle during our time in the Netherlands. Alkmaar is a really pretty town.
I visited the cheese museum in Gouda during a visit to the NL last year. I offered my business card to the lady working there and she begrudgingly let me in complimentary to take photos. “You can keep that” I said. “That’s ok” she replied, as she handed it back to me. She didn’t edam either! 🙂
Haha wow – I guess that’s some of the famed Dutch hospitality shining through there 😉