Edam Cheese Market

The Edam Cheese Market is a summer event in the old town of Edam, in North Holland, that recreates the cheese trade of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the town was a major centre for the sale of cheese. It is held on Wednesday mornings during the summer season, in the market square around the Kaaswaag, the cheese weighing house, and it is a theatrical presentation more than a working market, put on by volunteers in traditional costume. Even so, it is a lively and well-organised show, and it gives a good picture of how the trade used to work.

Edam gave its name to one of the best known Dutch cheeses, a mild, semi-hard cheese with a round shape and a coat of red wax that was designed for export and for long sea voyages. The town stood at a useful point for the cheese trade, with canals that brought boats loaded with cheese from the farms of the surrounding polders, and the market in front of the weighing house was where farmers and merchants met. The Kaaswaag itself, a handsome building with a pediment, was built in the eighteenth century, and it was used to weigh the cheeses, which were sold by weight.

The re-enactment follows the traditional order. The event begins and ends with the ringing of a bell, and cheeses arrive on carts or by canal boat, to be stacked on the square. Cheese carriers in white clothes and hats carry them on wooden barrows to the weighing house, as in the better known market at Alkmaar. The best part for many visitors is the haggling, which is done by a ritual known as handjeklap, in which buyer and seller clap each other's hands while bargaining, and the deal is sealed by a firm handshake. The custom is a silent way of negotiating that was once universal in the Dutch trade, and the performers explain it to the crowd.

It is a family-friendly event and an introduction to the Dutch cheese tradition, and the cheese is available to taste and buy. The market is not a large commercial exchange, so visitors who want a serious purchase will do better at the cheese shops around the town and at the Edamsche Kaasmakerij, the cheese maker. Other things to see in Edam include the Edam windmills in the polders, the Sint-Nicolaaskerk with its stained glass, the harbour area and the Stroomlijnboot Museum.

The market suits families, photographers and tourists on a day trip from Amsterdam. Arrive early to find a good spot, check the season's dates before you go, and combine the visit with a walk through the town's canals.