Ode to Yoghurt

Sometimes I miss the silliest things about living in the Netherlands.

Oh, I miss the big things, too: all the great travel, riding my bike everywhere (except when it's pouring down rain...not so fun), the work I did while living in Amsterdam. These experiences I remember quite often.

But this morning I was thinking about yogurt. Actually, I was thinking about "yoghurt" because I was specifically missing the taste and packaging of the Dutch product. I know, how different can yogurt be from yoghurt? I even bought magere (low-fat) yogurt in the Netherlands just like I do here.

As I pulled the plastic tub of vanilla yogurt out of the fridge this morning to add to my oatmeal, I was wishing for some magere yoghurt (low-fat yogurt) of the bosvruchten (mixed berry) variety. I used to buy 1 liter containers in Amsterdam.

I have a prop: Hmmm. That didn't end up being as large as I thought it would. In reality, this is indeed 1 liter of yoghurt. Large quantities of yoghurt came in milk cartons. There was considerably more yoghurt to be had in one container than the largest option I can find in the U.S. Plus, the cartons of yoghurt presented numerous flavor possibilities. Here, if I want a lot of yogurt, I'm stuck with vanilla. Or strawberry-banana, which is unfortunately the one flavor I do not care for. Vanilla is OK. I'm just saying that sometimes I wish I had bosvruchten, or aardbeien (that's strawberry).

But even if I could buy fruit flavors of yogurt in the plastic tubs, it would not taste the same. There's something about Dutch yoghurt that tastes more natural. It's a little bit thinner, but with a richer flavor at the same time. Maybe the cardboard carton has something to do with it.

One thing is similar about yogurt and yoghurt: both are located in the far back corner of the stores I frequent/frequented. Although, it takes me about eight minutes to walk to the remote dairy location of my current mega-grocery-store, whereas it took me about 45 seconds to walk to the remote yoghurt area of my grocery store in Amsterdam.

When traveling elsewhere in Europe I would buy small containers of Yoplait. And let me tell you, Americans are getting the bottom of the barrell when it comes to Yoplait yogurt. OK, maybe it's because in Europe you get full-fat Yoplait yogurt. Whatever it is, next time you're in France or Switzerland do yourself a favor and pick up some Yoplait. It is yummy! It will take some getting used to if you go back to American Yoplait.

It wasn't Yoplait, but in Nice I bought some snacks at the local grocery store and one of the items I purchased was yogurt (not sure which brand) in a violet flavor. Mmmmm. So good! You can't find that in the U.S.

Who knew I would have this much to say about yoghurt? It is one of the food products I partake of almost every single day of my life. So, no offense to American yogurt since I am generally OK with it and continue buying and consuming it on a regular basis, but I miss yoghurt.