Dear MMD'ers,  This posting is off-topic, but maybe Robbie will publish
it because

a) he likes the story,
b) he thinks that this story might add to mutual understanding
   between people in the USA and Europe,
c) he thinks that this story might add to mutual understanding
   between people inside Europe,
d) he is a good friend of mine,
e) there are few postings about mechanical music these days,
f) none of the above,
g) all of the above!

Nowadays it seems to be generally known that the Japanese are the
only people in the world who have fresh, uncooked and unfried, fish
on their menu.  These fish delicacies are generally known in the
Western world as Sushi.  This could lead to the conclusion that the
Japanese are the only people in the world who are eating raw fish.

Wrong!  From 1380 on the Dutch are consuming raw fish under the
name of "Hollandse nieuwe" (which means fresh or new Dutch).

Hollandse Nieuwe is a herring -- not just an ordinary herring,
but a special one.

In early spring, two- to three-year-old herrings in the North Sea
(a shallow sea between England and the European Continent) have
plenty of plankton food, so they accumulate a lot of body fat, and
because people are fond of any fat they like those fish!

But in the old days fish had one big disadvantage: after they died
they could only be eaten for a few days.  So fishermen could not go
very far at sea because the caught fish had to be landed within one
or two days.  (Nowadays it is not a problem because of the freezing
equipment on board).

In 1380 a Dutch fisherman named Willem Beukelszoon, from the city
of Biervliet in Zealand, invented a new way to preserve herrings:
the curing of herrings (haringkaken).  In this process the herrings
are gutted, the intestines removed, and the herrings are put into
wooden barrels with a layer of salt between each layer of herrings.
All of this is done at sea, immediately after catching.

In those barrels another process takes place: instead of rotting,
the herrings undergo a mild fermentation process that renders the
herrings soft and tasty with the specific salty taste so much loved
by the Dutch.  "Hollandse nieuwe" is still processed in this ancient
way, and it is sold all over the country by herring hawkers.

They are mostly savoured as a whole, with freshly-shredded onions.
The classical way to eat a Dutch new herring: take the fish by the
tail, toss your head, look up to the herring, lower it, and take a
bite.  If that is too much culture for you, ask for a "broodje haring"
(broat-che hahring) and you get it in a roll.

Smakelijk eten!

Hans van Oost, Netherlands

P.S.: In fact, the Dutch herring fleet is sailing about two weeks
later than usual this year.  Western Europe had a long and cold spring,
so the herrings started a few weeks later and the plankton had a slow
start, so we all have to wait for a few weeks more to have our
Hollandse Nieuwe!

 [ More about this tasty little fish at
 [ http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollandse_nieuwe (in Dutch)
 [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soused_herring
 [ http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1468702
 [ http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=34&story_id=212&name=Hollandse+Nieuwe+
 [ -- Robbie