Have some foreigners for dinner
Invite a bunch of internationals that don’t know each other for dinner at the house of an Amsterdammer. That’s the idea behind Taste of Culture.
It’s only been a few weeks, but ever since Eva Koracic (21) started her bachelor’s degree in Economics at the UvA, she’s been feeling homesick. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I like Amsterdam,’ she’s quick to clarify. Still, the exchange student finds it hard, coming to a strange city all by herself. ‘I’ve never been so far away from my family and friends in Slovenia before.’ She is sitting in a cosy student apartment on Overtoom, where the first edition of Taste of Culture is taking place: a brand new initiative that aims to con- nect international students and expats to locals in Amsterdam.
In the past month, Eva has already visited several events for internationals to meet other people, make friends, have a drink and talk with fellow sufferers. She’s been to Coco’s Outback Pub on Rembrandtplein on Wednesdays a couple of times, and now she’s trying Taste of Culture. ‘It helps to know you’re not alone,’ she says, taking a sip of her beer while twirling her hair shyly.
‘It’s all about food and drinks,’ Ethan van Offelen (20), a Social Sciences student says from the other end of the room. Back home, in the USA, Ethan is not allowed to drink alcohol. But now that he lives in Amsterdam, he’s convinced that drinking is probably the best way to connect with other students. He’s even had his first drunken adventures. Laughing: ‘My bike broke down after going out clubbing with another student. We had to walk home to Diemen, which took us like an hour. So we got to know each other pretty well.’
But tonight, the mood has yet to be freed from awkwardness. It’s half past seven and the living room is getting quite cramped. About ten international students sit together, divided over two couches, and fall into uneasy chitchat. A couple of them shake hands. In the middle, Fulya (21) is trying to pronounce her first Dutch words. ‘Ik. ben. Fulya. Leuk. Je. Te. Ontmoeten.’ In the background, a computer is playing Seal’s greatest hits, accompanied by a lonely looking microphone that nobody has dared to pick up – yet.
Further down the hall in the kitchen, Tim Spekkens (24) is preparing the meal. ‘It always starts like this,’ he says, smiling. ‘Just wait until the beer starts flowing and the awkward silences are filled.’ Tim is one of the founders of Taste of Culture. His website, launched only recently, connects 25 hosts in different parts of the city to guests from all over the world, to invite them into their homes and show them a good time. To ensure a spectacular debut, Tim offered to organise the fi rst edition at his house. On the menu tonight: a typical Indonesian ‘rijsttafel’, following the recipes from his grandmother who grew up in Bandung.
Tim came up with the idea for Taste of Culture when he was traveling in Sri Lanka for three months. ‘One evening, I was invited by a guy for dinner at his home. I had such a nice time. Looking back, I came to realise this was the only time I really experienced the Sri Lankan lifestyle. We had our dinner in a small shed; his mother had cooked a typical Sri Lankan dish. It was so much better than the usual touristy dinners I had in restaurants. Then I figured: what better way is there to bring cultures together than by sharing a meal?’
He first started arranging weekly dinners six months ago, using websites like Meet Up and Couch Surfing, to see if his idea would catch on. Tim’s goal is to eventually make Taste of Culture into a service like Airbnb. So far though, his initiative isn’t exactly proving to be lucrative. The international students paid 20 euros for dinner and drinks tonight, which – after the cost of groceries and income tax is subtracted – leaves a meagre 40 euros profit; an amount he also has to share with his business partner, Pearl Roman (27).
Still, the two HvA students feel pretty confident about Taste of Culture. ‘Even if the concept doesn’t work out, we’ve learned a lot on the way,’ Pearl says. ‘And we’ve met a lot of interesting people, too,’ Tim adds.
Bringing students from different cultures together around the table certainly yields some interesting discussions. Tim recalls a dinner with two Russian girls, right when the Ukrainian war had just reached a climax. The Crimea had been annexed a couple of days before, and the media were showing a lot of hostility towards Russia. ‘It was interesting to hear those girls talk about their country and give their view on the situation. They were critical about the way we looked at Putin. Sure, he uses a lot of political propaganda, they said. But don’t the Dutch media manipulate the way we see Russia? I really believe that by talking we learn to understand each other much better.’
Back in the living room, the atmosphere is already a bit more chilled out. The students are talking about the cultural differences they have stumbled upon in the Netherlands. Most of them have already tried stroopwafels (‘Almost as good as Oreos’) and kroketten (‘Why in heaven’s name are there no vegetables served with that?’). And it only takes a couple of minutes before Yifei Xiao (23), a cheerful girl from Singapore, addresses the weather. ‘I’ve really been put off by the rain. It irritates me like crazy.’ Also, the way people cycle through the city astonishes her. ‘Everyone does other things while riding a bike: make a call, eat... Seriously, how do you do all that?’
As the evening passes by, it seems that Tim’s prophecy might come true: 26-year old Stefan (HvA student and introduction coach at ISN) suddenly turns up the speakers and invites everyone to sing along with Nielson, a well-known Dutch singer. After that, the nineties hit ‘Gabbertje’ plays and Stefan demon- strates ‘hakken’, a dance so peculiar to even Holland that most Dutch people were happy to see it fade into obscurity after the 1990s. In the end, all Stefan manages are some flabbergasted looks from his audience.
Sometimes, Tim says, the dinners turn into night-long adventures at clubs and bars. For Eva though, the night has come to an end: she has to get up early tomorrow for class. The first edition of Taste of Culture was a blast, she says. Although the karaoke microphone still lies untouched, she enjoyed her relaxed conversations with the other students. ‘It was terrific. At the end of this semester, I think I won’t want to leave Amsterdam at all.’
