We're getting a new cheese box!
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Question about advertising and origin labeling:
We bought a cheese-box produced by Mepal. Their factory is located in the Netherlands. In a province called Gelderland*.
On the bottom of the product it says "Made in Holland". Which is factually incorrect*.
While I could not care less about the Netherlands / Holland distinction in spoken word it kinda "feels" wrong seeing it on a product.
What do you think?
*Noord- / Zuid-Holland are just two of twelve provinces.
@Pepijn The problem probably is, that we call the entire country "Holland" in Danish? So in Denmark the origin labeling would be correct.
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Question about advertising and origin labeling:
We bought a cheese-box produced by Mepal. Their factory is located in the Netherlands. In a province called Gelderland*.
On the bottom of the product it says "Made in Holland". Which is factually incorrect*.
While I could not care less about the Netherlands / Holland distinction in spoken word it kinda "feels" wrong seeing it on a product.
What do you think?
*Noord- / Zuid-Holland are just two of twelve provinces.
@Pepijn I would only use Holland if referring to that specific state. Otherwise I'd say Netherlands.
Kinda strange because the only example I can think of for somewhere like Germany is Bavaria, and that's probably in certain circumstances. Austria, Switzerland, France I can't think of where it'd be used. I wouldn't use Wallonia/Flanders to describe the whole of Belgium either.
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@Pepijn The problem probably is, that we call the entire country "Holland" in Danish? So in Denmark the origin labeling would be correct.
@MThaastrup I've been intrigued how smooth Danes deal with this:
Many of my Danish colleagues say Holland in Danish, and without even thinking about it say Netherlands when they speak English.
Very different than, for example, Germans who seem to stick to either Holland or Netherlands/Niederlanden in both English and German.
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"Holland" feels like the informal version of "Nederland", so while not technically correct it does feel like it's culturally okay.
Think of phrases like: "Ik hou van Holland" (TV), "Hup Holland hup", etc. All of those are about the country, not provinces, and used by people in the entire country.
>"Holland" feels like the informal version of "Nederland", so while not technically correct it does feel like it's culturally okay.
Maybe. I think there's strong regional differences though. Where I grew up (the northern provinces) people would say "the Netherlands" and then quickly add a soft: ", Holland" if the receiver looked even a little bit confused.
But yeah, no-one will get angry etc.
> "Ik hou van Holland"
I admit I had to look that one up. Apparently a long running TV show!
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OF ALL THE CHEESES TO PICK FROM!
The chosen cheese-box is now part of the family.
I'm somewhat intrigued by the marketing image on the box. Of all the cheeses to display inside this premium box they went with what in appearance is an extremely young, almost wet, industrial yellow cheese.
There's also a weird fork and a text promoting the included cutting board. No knife or slicer is shown.
While I have your attention: do share if you know of a place selling table-top-cheese-guillotines.
@Pepijn Like this?
(Note; HW Larsen is *the* place to shop pro kitchen utensils. We go there mainly to get our knives sharpened though)
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>"Holland" feels like the informal version of "Nederland", so while not technically correct it does feel like it's culturally okay.
Maybe. I think there's strong regional differences though. Where I grew up (the northern provinces) people would say "the Netherlands" and then quickly add a soft: ", Holland" if the receiver looked even a little bit confused.
But yeah, no-one will get angry etc.
> "Ik hou van Holland"
I admit I had to look that one up. Apparently a long running TV show!
I grew up in the south (Eindhoven), but to immigrant parents. In Spanish the word for the Netherlands is colloquially also just "Holanda", so like, I guess I'm extra primed that it's basically the same.
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@Pepijn Like this?
(Note; HW Larsen is *the* place to shop pro kitchen utensils. We go there mainly to get our knives sharpened though)
@sorenhave Nice but I'm more thinking of a real guillotine; something with a *chop*.
A bit like our sausage / vegetable cutter: https://mastodon.online/@Pepijn/113102642075046996
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@sorenhave Nice but I'm more thinking of a real guillotine; something with a *chop*.
A bit like our sausage / vegetable cutter: https://mastodon.online/@Pepijn/113102642075046996
@Pepijn Ah, no, haven’t seen such one. In any case I guess the weight needs to be somewhat higher for cheese than for a pepper.
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@Pepijn Ah, no, haven’t seen such one. In any case I guess the weight needs to be somewhat higher for cheese than for a pepper.
@Pepijn …. Maybe you should think of it as a business opportunity

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Question about advertising and origin labeling:
We bought a cheese-box produced by Mepal. Their factory is located in the Netherlands. In a province called Gelderland*.
On the bottom of the product it says "Made in Holland". Which is factually incorrect*.
While I could not care less about the Netherlands / Holland distinction in spoken word it kinda "feels" wrong seeing it on a product.
What do you think?
*Noord- / Zuid-Holland are just two of twelve provinces.
@Pepijn when I moved to your country, my employer kindly gave me documentation on what "life in Holland" is like. My employer is located in one of the remaining 10 provinces, one that prides itself on having a different culture than "above the rivers". I suspect that they tried to water it down for stomme expats who can't understand het verschil tussen Holland en Nederland.
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@MThaastrup I've been intrigued how smooth Danes deal with this:
Many of my Danish colleagues say Holland in Danish, and without even thinking about it say Netherlands when they speak English.
Very different than, for example, Germans who seem to stick to either Holland or Netherlands/Niederlanden in both English and German.
@Pepijn
I do the same thing as your colleagues - Holland in Danish, Netherlands in England. And I say "Niederlande" in German
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