Eel Meal
Another new thing I learned while in the Netherlands was that supermarkets had pretty much stopped selling North Atlantic eel because it's so endangered. It's quite a Dutch treat but it's now not done to offer your guests smoked eel on toast.
Which in turn lead me to learn about the Eel Riots.
The game of "eel pulling" was popular in Amsterdam in the 1700's and 1800's. A live eel was hung on a rope stretched across a canal. The aim was to sail a boat under the wriggling eel and tear it free . Naturally, the players risked a dunking, to the amusement of all. Except the eel, who wasn't laughing on account of being in bits.
The government prohibited eel pulling on grounds of cruelty. But on a summer's day in 1886, a game was organised in the Jordaan, a working class neighbourhood.[1] The police tried to stop it, at which point the players decided to play with the police instead. The riots lasted for two days before the army suppressed the uprising, killing 25 civilians in the process.
[1] The Jordaan has become one of the most expensive areas of Amsterdam in recent years. Also, for those who've been there, the Anne Frank House is on the eastern edge of the neighbourhood.
Which in turn lead me to learn about the Eel Riots.
The game of "eel pulling" was popular in Amsterdam in the 1700's and 1800's. A live eel was hung on a rope stretched across a canal. The aim was to sail a boat under the wriggling eel and tear it free . Naturally, the players risked a dunking, to the amusement of all. Except the eel, who wasn't laughing on account of being in bits.
The government prohibited eel pulling on grounds of cruelty. But on a summer's day in 1886, a game was organised in the Jordaan, a working class neighbourhood.[1] The police tried to stop it, at which point the players decided to play with the police instead. The riots lasted for two days before the army suppressed the uprising, killing 25 civilians in the process.
[1] The Jordaan has become one of the most expensive areas of Amsterdam in recent years. Also, for those who've been there, the Anne Frank House is on the eastern edge of the neighbourhood.