North Holland

North Holland is the province that includes Amsterdam and Haarlem, its capital, on the strip of land between the North Sea and the IJsselmeer. Its food event in this guide is the cheese market of Alkmaar, north of Amsterdam.

What to eat

North Holland is cheese and dairy country. Gouda-type cheeses made in the province can carry the protected name Noord-Hollandse Gouda, and Edam, south-east of Alkmaar, gave its name to the round cheese with a red coat. Along the coast, raw herring and fried fish are sold at street stands.

Getting around North Holland

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is in the province, and trains run from Amsterdam Centraal to Alkmaar, Haarlem and the coast. The countryside around Alkmaar is flat polder land, easy to cross by bike, with North Sea beaches at Bergen and Egmond aan Zee.

Where to stay

Amsterdam has the widest choice. Alkmaar and Haarlem are calmer bases, each a train ride from the capital.

The cheese market of North Holland, step by step

Alkmaar, which calls itself Holland’s cheese city, held weighing rights and a single scale in 1365 and had four scales by 1612, says the market’s official site. The cheese carriers’ guild was founded in 1593, and the market is documented with certainty in 1622.

• When: every Friday from the last Friday in March to the last Friday in September, on the Waagplein. A bell rings at 10 am to open trading, and the market runs until 1 pm.
• How: the cheese carriers move the cheeses on wooden barrows, the “berries”, each holding up to 8 cheeses of 13 kilos. The cheeses are weighed at the Waag, traders bargain over the price, and loaders throw the cheeses onto carts for the next leg of their journey.
• “Cheese girls and boys” answer visitors’ questions about Alkmaar.