Bert Plump
As a television viewer I am regularly bombarded with images of ‘poor Dutch people’. Although the definition of poverty is not always uniform, I have to assume from the statisticians that there are about 1.2 million poor people in the Netherlands.
Opinions also differ about the correctness of that number. But that’s obvious when the description of poor fluctuates.
Be that as it may, in the Netherlands a large group of people struggle to keep their heads above water every day. If the subject once again receives attention in one of the many current affairs programmes, you will invariably be confronted with impressions of people who meet the ‘poor’ standard. What strikes me then is that the ‘poor’ who are served up often don’t live that bad at all. Especially when I compare their living conditions with those in which I grew up. When I was growing up, no one would have claimed that we were poor, let alone that my parents wanted to be seen as needy. They were as proud as a peacock of the cold, damp apartment they rented and the little they owned.
Pico Bello
The contemporary ‘poor’ live, according to the TV images, in a nice, cozy terraced house or in a charming, warm flat. You can also see that the interior of the accommodation of such a poor slob is there pretty nice looks. So it is certainly not the case that they have to spend the night under the open sky or in a cardboard box.
What is also striking is that the current generation of poor generally looks more than well fed. That in the middle of a weekday the bright light of a modern flat screen television blinds the poor gathered in the living room. That several mobile phones are in use at the same time. It is also seen that, partly thanks to the efforts of the food bank, the large American fridge in the kitchen is filled to the brim with tasty snacks and drinks and that many living rooms are blue with smoke from extremely expensive tobacco. And to complete the sad atmosphere, the empathetic program maker also casually says that these regrettable people cannot visit the theater or attend a De Toppers concert. With regard to the latter, I wonder whether this should really be regarded as a loss.
That aside, it seems very likely that the Dutch television viewer is being talked into a certain sense of guilt time and time again. The viewer is saddled with the tormenting idea that he is leaving poor fellow citizens to fend for themselves.
Compared to today’s standards, I now come to realize that the family I used to be a part of was penniless. We lived with six people in a small apartment on the third floor of an apartment building without an elevator. The complex was located in the Lodewijk Napoleonplantsoen in Utrecht. We had a tiny fridge in a kitchen of nothing. The kitchen was only a few square meters in size. The mini fridge was only stocked around the holidays, and even then only half full. In the winter the fridge could be turned off, because it was already cold enough in the kitchen and in the rest of the house. However, we never complained. We saw no reason for that either. All residents lived more or less under the same conditions. Everyone was satisfied with his housing and his affairs.
We ate what was harvested in the Netherlands at that time of the year and was most affordable. When it was apple time, large quantities of applesauce were prepared. Then we ate bread with warm apple sauce night after night. Meat and fish were only on the ‘menu’ once a week. The ‘pulled pork’ on Sunday and the ‘haddock with mustard sauce’ on Friday still make me shiver.
Poverty preachers
If you eat little or no meat these days, it is certainly not a sign of poverty, but rather a sign of steadfastness and respect for animals. That is how I think it should be understood.
When you ask why many ‘poor’ people are seriously overweight, those preachers of poverty claim that those extra kilos are due to unhealthy eating. That those poor people are condemned to eat cheap junk food or are more or less obliged to eat convenience foods and greasy snacks. What a dickhead. I’ve been poking around stores like AH, Aldi and Lidl long enough to know that vegetables, potatoes and fruit are ridiculously cheap. If you deduct the profit margins of supermarkets from those food prices, then you realize at what rock bottom prices farmers have to deliver their products. Poor peasants I guess.
A few days ago I bought four packs of frozen spinach from a relatively expensive supermarket. Since I had to pay less than 3 euros, I asked the cashier if she hadn’t made a mistake. That was not the case. For such a modest amount you can have healthy vegetables on the table for two people for more than four days. I think back with admiration to an old woman in Utrecht, who took a half-hour walk to IKEA every day to have breakfast there for only 1 euro. For that one euro she received a croissant, a roll, two pieces of toppings, a boiled egg and coffee or tea. She then returned home with a satisfied stomach. She had eaten well, walked for an hour and spent almost no money. Just for fun, you should calculate what a breakfast like that costs in an old people’s home. The only walk that is still made there is the walk from the room to the bingo room.
Thing to the trade
Besides, surely people themselves decide to spend money on junk food and tobacco products? As far as I know, you cannot pick up such unhealthy products for free at one of the many food banks. Moreover, eating junk food does not have to lead to obesity at all. It’s a matter of moving, not eating too much and putting your money where your mouth is.
I think that the reason people turn to convenience foods has nothing to do with the idea that these foods are cheaper than healthy food. People are simply not willing to take the trouble to cook and serve a healthy meal.
Of course there are a lot of people in the Netherlands who are really to be pitied. People deeply in debt. For example, people who have had to sell their house after a divorce and are saddled with a huge residual debt. People who have fallen victim to the so-called ‘Allocation Affair’. People who are in trouble for other reasons.
If you have to believe the preachers of poverty, then people with a middle income can hardly make ends meet. Just a little while and the Netherlands will take its place in the list of ‘Third World countries’ and, as my mother put it, we will no longer have a louse to kill.
Respond to article:
OH, OH, OH, HOW POOR WE ARE