Through my research of Amsterdam’s customs and lifestyle routines, I discovered many differences, some minor and some more noticeable, between their culture and ours in Australia.
One of these differences surrounds grocery shopping, and the way this activity is undertaken in a unique way, contrasting to the manner in which Australian supermarkets operate. Throughout Amsterdam, and even broader Netherlands as a whole, shop clerks do not pack your groceries into bags for you, instead leaving this task for the shopper to perform themselves.
This causes Australian visitors to the Netherlands, to grow nervous and antsy in trying to keep up with the speedy cashier as they scan the items, and not hold up the line of impatient Dutch shoppers behind them.
Keeping on the subject of supermarkets, another detail noted by tourists was the lack of variety of ingredients and food within any one store. Australians remarked about having to “visit multiple grocery stores” to find a handful of ingredients even for only the one recipe or meal.
In Australia, we are very accustomed to major supermarkets that contain aisles upon aisles of options, choices and vast varieties of food. Amsterdam differs in this way dramatically, as their food stores are on a smaller scale and more unique and varied in the produce they stock.
While this isn’t exactly a major difference, enough so to evoke culture shock or proper homesickness/discomfort, it is something which visitors must adjust to. Furthermore, this prompts us to reflect on how something so simple and ordinary, undertaken on such a regular basis without much or if any thought, can be altered and uprooted from country to country.
This relates to our broader study of how to travel smarter, as it urges travellers to consider how activities or societal structures once seen as universal and widely recognised, can in fact take on their own unique form and process, varying from place to place.
SOURCES:
A Guide to the differences between The Netherlands and Australia
https://www.wanderlustingk.com/travel-blog/grocery-stores-netherlands
Amsterdam Essentials 101 