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Dutch food vocabulary

The everyday Dutch word for food is het eten (the same word as the verb eten, to eat); the more formal word is het voedsel, and a drink is een drankje. You need this vocabulary from day one for every trip to the supermarkt, market and restaurant. This page groups the essentials by category with articles and plurals, then covers the meals of the day, taste words, table phrases and the classic dishes worth recognising on a menu.

Fruit (het fruit)

The collective word het fruit is uncountable; a single piece is een stuk fruit. Individual fruits are mostly de-words.

Vegetables (de groente)

The word for vegetables is de groente (often used in the plural groenten). Note that a potato, de aardappel, is treated as its own staple category, not a vegetable.

Meat, fish and dairy

Note the irregular plural eieren (eggs), part of the small -eren group covered in Dutch plurals. Cheese is a Dutch institution — expect words like jonge kaas (young, mild) and oude kaas (aged, sharp) at any counter.

Bread, baking and staples

Drinks (de drankjes)

Order “a beer” in a café and you'll usually get a small glass called een pilsje or just een biertje — the diminutive is standard, not childish. Coffee culture runs deep, and koffie met gebak (coffee with a slice of cake) is a social ritual.

Meals of the day and Dutch eating culture

The Dutch day has three meals, and their timing surprises visitors: the hot meal is in the evening, and lunch is famously simple — often just bread with cheese or sliced meat.

A famously Dutch breakfast is bread topped with hagelslag — chocolate sprinkles eaten by adults without embarrassment. The verb “to eat” is eten and “to drink” is drinken; “tasty” is lekker, a word you will hear constantly and that stretches far beyond food.

Taste and cooking words

Adjectives before a noun take -e in most cases (verse vis, een zoete appel); the rule is in Dutch adjectives.

Note that bakken covers both baking and frying: een ei bakken is to fry an egg, een taart bakken to bake a cake.

Phrases at the table and in the shop

The verb lusten is used almost only for food and almost only in the negative or in questions: Lust je spruitjes? (Do you like sprouts?). For portions and prices, you will need Dutch numbers.

Classic Dutch dishes worth recognising

You don't need to cook these, but you should recognise them on a menu or when a Dutch person offers you one.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Dutch word for food?

The everyday word is het eten, identical to the verb eten (to eat). Het voedsel is more formal and de voeding means nutrition or diet.

Is it de or het for food words in Dutch?

Most individual foods are de-words (de appel, de kaas, de kip). Common het-words include het brood, het vlees, het ei, het water, het bier, het fruit, het zout and every diminutive such as het broodje.

How do you say “enjoy your meal” in Dutch?

Say Eet smakelijk! before eating. In Belgium the short form Smakelijk! is very common. To toast with a drink, say Proost!

What do Dutch people eat for lunch?

Usually bread: a few boterhammen with cheese or sliced meat, or a broodje. The hot meal is het avondeten, eaten around 18:00.

What does lekker mean in Dutch?

Lekker means tasty, but it is used far beyond food for anything pleasant: lekker weer (nice weather), lekker slapen (sleep well).

Is it patat or friet in Dutch?

Both mean fries. Patat is typical of the northern and western Netherlands; friet is used in the south and in Belgium.