dutch market

Dutch cheese farmers traditionally take their cheeses to the town's market square to sell them. Teams (vemen) of official guild cheese-porters (kaasdragers), identified by differently coloured straw hats associated with their forwarding company, carried the farmers' cheese on barrows that weighed about 160 kilograms. Buyers sampled the cheeses and negotiated prices using a ritual system, called handjeklap, whereby buyers and sellers clapped each other's hands and shouted out prices. Once a price was agreed, porters carried the cheese to the weigh house (Waag) and weighed the cheese on a company scale.
There are currently five cheese markets operating in the Netherlands – Woerden, Alkmaar, Gouda, Edam, and Hoorn. Each of these was once a merchant cheese market in operation during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century. Today, the markets still function as farmers' markets for cheeses in addition to hosting dramatic re-enactments of sales techniques from the Golden Age. In the summer months, shows are surrounded by stalls selling traditional items from Dutch culture.

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