‘I remember the hussar not having to
.together with marvel Liesbeth Maliepaard we prepared a cultural appropriate appreciating classic from Dutch and Dutch East-Indies food heritage: a wild and lavish interpretation of the #huzarensalade or Russian salad that cold all-purpose leftover salad which evokes many stories and memories of festive moments and quick lunches or potluck dinners in the Netherlands.
do anything with huzarensalade’
.we decorated it with a thousand nasturtium leaves from the pavilion’s communal garden abundant with edible plants and shared it with a growing crowd of at least a hundred art lovers.
.for starters we served some tasty finger licking sandwiches from our childhoods in which the Dutch and Indonesian flavors collide and intertwine- one with peanut butter, sambal and cucumber the other with sauerkraut/potato mash baked with spicy sambal.
I remember huzarensalade apparently was not the same as the huzarensalade my grandmother made. I remember there was a difference in color between the so called Dutch huzarensalade and the one I ate at my grandmother’s.
I remember it was called ‘Indische huzarensalade’. I remember finding out that ‘Indische huzarensalade’ sometimes also contained canned pineapple. I remember how disgusted I was with the idea of adding pineapple to a huzarensalade. I remember how happy I was my grandmother’s huzarensalade didn’t have it.
I remember my grandmother sometimes didn’t put meat in the huzarensalade. I remember she put pickled herring instead.
I remember choosing a huzarenslaatje for a treat at the supermarket.
I remember putting fried onions and sambal on it as if to mix more indo food flavors into it
I remember not knowing which I hated the most in the industrially produced huzarensalade: the peas or the carrots
I remember all the spices that are used to make huzarensalade: cloves, pepper, nutmeg, star anis - all are indigenous to the former dutch east indies.
I remember the centuries of spice trade, colonization, monopolizing, exchanging, oppression, colonial expansion and slavery
I remember the mighty nutmeg, a tiny nut with an enormous history, legacy and a flavour that has been a building block or many dishes in many culinary cultures.