Last week, I worked at the annual Vurige Tongen poetry festival held at Ruigoord. My boyfriend owns a bus and we've sold food and chai at the festival for several years now, but this time I wanted to bring a bit of America to the table in the form of Popcorn Balls. Marshmellow-coated popcorn balls to be exact.
Now say the words "popcorn balls" and most Americans are apt to respond with "Yummy!" followed by, "I loved them as a child!" Food, of course, is quite a cultural thing--the Dutch don't really eat popcorn, though they have a proclivity for food that's ball-shaped, whether it's cheese, oily donuts or good ol' gehakt, which are basically meatballs.
I thought my popcorn balls would go down a treat, but the Dutch, who are also farmers at heart, suspicious of new-fangled things because they might not be water-tight, weren't sure what to do with them. Unlike Americans, who jump on what's new with pioneering spirit, the Dutch like to drag their clogs. So we ended up giving away about 40 popcorn balls to children playing nearby, who eagerly put them in their mouths and immediately said, "Yummy!" Guess they weren't old enough to know better.
I'm not sure if I'll try this experiment again. I'd rather keep popcorn balls a cheap, sugary American secret and let the Dutch eat dairy.
