Gouda Cheese Market

Gouda cheese has been traded on the Markt in Gouda every Thursday for centuries, says the Stichting Goudse Kaas, the foundation behind the market. From April to August, farmers and traders haggle over the price by handjeklap, then carry the cheese to the Waag to be weighed.

The Gouda Cheese Market, kept alive by volunteers

The real cheese trade now happens elsewhere and in other ways, the organiser explains. The market survives to show how cheese used to be bought and sold.

1. 1937: 4.5 million kilos of cheese changed hands on the Gouda market, brought in on 15,245 wagons.
2. From the 1980s: many volunteers keep the market going as a living display.
3. 2025: 70% of the visitors came from abroad, mostly from Germany and France.

“One of the most iconic cheese markets in the world”, says Holland.com, the Netherlands’ tourism site.

Crafts, music and a guessing game

Around the cheese, the foundation lists other activities.

• Crafts: cheese making and old trades.
• Music: on the square during the market.
• Kaasraden: a guessing game about cheese.

Cheese trading since 1395

The foundation traces the market’s history on its site.

1. 1395: the town council sets out rules for the order of Gouda’s markets.
2. Until the 16th century: the cheese is still known as Stolkse or Stolwijkse kaas.
3. Around 1540: a long dispute with Schoonhoven over the cheese market ends in Gouda’s favour, as the town’s beer and cloth trades decline.
4. 1549: Gouda cheese is exported to the market of Antwerp.
5. 1987: the market loses its original trading function.