By Sara Serrano | Culture | December 20, 2023
Cover Illustration: Brownies at the market. Sara Serrano / The Amsterdammer
Culture Reporter Sara Serrano visits the famous Albert Cuyp market, sharing unique stories from some of its vendors.
In the heart of the popular neighborhood of De Pijp, the Albert Cuyp market is a melting pot of tradition and innovation. Among its 260 stands, locals and tourists gather to explore traditional Dutch snacks like caramel-filled stroopwafels or sugar-topped poffertjes, but also products that stand as a testament to the multiculturality of the city. Most stands are small, sole-proprietor businesses that operate for a niche audience, and thus tend to have interesting stories behind them. Here are a few.
Kusinang Pinoy
Towards the quieter side of the market, Gheline runs her Filipino food stand. After living in Amsterdam for 11 years and working at a multitude of restaurants, she found inspiration in a food stand she used to run in the Philippines before moving to Amsterdam. In May of 2021, when the coronavirus was still a threat to both people and their businesses, she decided to take the leap.
Gheline now runs her stand with her husband and daughter and believes that the freedom of entrepreneurship is unmatched compared to her previous work experiences. Despite this, her main worry lies in the weather, as the amount of customers is closely tied to rain and the cold.
Kusinang Pinoy offers more than traditional home-cooked meals such as tangy chicken adobo and beef caldereta, which is a favorite amongst gluten-free customers. It also stocks a fair amount of local Filipino sodas, including zesty calamansi and sweet guava flavors, as well as a few baked goods like traditional pandesal, a salty Filipino bread roll with origins tied to the 16th century Spanish colonial era.
Seeing a rise in vegan and vegetarian demand, Gheline has also been experimenting with more options, mostly in terms of spring rolls and the traditional Suman Malagkit, a rice cake steamed with banana leaves.
Say Cheese
After selling cheese for generations, Say Cheese is the modern iteration of a traditional family business that caters to tourists while striking a balance between mass appeal and authenticity. Wessel helps his parents run their business. In contrast to selling cheese in a more local market, he has the opportunity to interact with tourists and people from all walks of life.
Wessel and his family aim to maintain good relations with Dutch farmers by providing a platform where they can introduce their cheeses to a larger tourist market. They juxtapose this initiative by selling tourist favorites like Old Amsterdam, which helps them attract a wide array of customers who can be satisfied by what they are providing.
Daje
Looking to change his life a little, Manuel moved from Rome to Amsterdam a little over a year ago. Ten months ago, he opened Daje, a small roman pizza spot in the center of the bustling market. He found that, unlike Rome, Amsterdam was the perfect place to experiment with more vegan and vegetarian pizza options that align with Manuel’s environmental ethos.
Choosing the market as his starting point for Daje’s journey has allowed him to keep the costs low and pivot according to what he sees customers are demanding. Customers tend to be mostly tourists, but also Dutch locals and Amsterdam’s Italian community.
Dam Brownie Co.
The best brownies in the entire market could be characterized as a happy accident. Having initially arrived with hopes to travel and stay in Amsterdam for a while, Shirak has now been in the city for close to a decade.
With a background in cuisine ranging from a love of baking in his childhood to working in restaurants in New York and Los Angeles, Shirak places a strong emphasis on quality. He does his best to stay true to his values by providing a wide range of flavors that he believes customers will love, without compromising the style of his brand.
Now operating mostly solo from a bakery, Shirak believes his success was a combination of identifying that there was a lack of quality brownies in the city, a strong work ethic, and a love for what he does. “It also helps that chocolate is universally appreciated,” he tells me with a laugh.
The Albert Cuyp market’s diversity of products, people, and stories underscore why this, unlike many other places, is a tourist attraction and a local staple. Along its street, Amsterdam’s cosmopolitanism is put on display, attracting those looking for a glance into a new culture, and those who want to be reminded of home.
Sara Serrano is a university student in Amsterdam. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Amsterdammer.
