Interview with Captain Jeroen van Donselaar, Part Three

Capt. Jeroen van Donselaar

Today we post the final installment of blogger and Carnival Cruise Lines Senior Cruise Director Jon Heald’s interview with Captain Jeroen van Donselaar, master of Eurodam.

John Heald: Finally, I have this tradition on my blog, and I wonder if you could fill in the blanks here. The scenario is that you are hosting a captain’s table and you need to choose the menu for dinner using all traditional Dutch foods and then you must choose your seven dinner companions.

Captain Jeroen van Donselaar: Well this is tough. Outside of the Netherlands one does not find too many restaurants that serve traditional Dutch fare. There must be a reason for that. I like to cook, but my favorite dishes are more in the French style. I enjoy it a lot when the whole house smells like boeuf bourguignon or cocq au vin — both dishes that have to simmer for many hours.

Anyway, if I would have to put together a Dutch dinner this is what the menu would be like:

Appetizer: This would be a seafood platter with raw herring, smoked eel, smoked mackerel and shrimps.

Salad: For us Dutch this is not a course but a mere side dish. I would suggest a simple salad with a vinaigrette dressing and blue cheese crumbs.

Main Course — Two Choices: Stamppot Andijvie. This is in essence mashed potatoes mixed with thinly sliced pieces of endives. It comes with traditional Dutch meatballs and gravy. This is a winter dish with lots of calories to keep you warm!

Rijstafel: Not a Dutch dish, but given our colonial history, I will take it anyway. Made popular by the rich Dutch plantation owners and traders in the Dutch East Indies — now Indonesia — the very best that Indonesian cuisine has to offer. The base ingredient is fried rice and it comes with beef and chicken in many different ways cooked with many different spices.

Dessert: Hopjes vla with slagroom, this is butterscotch pudding with whipped cream.

JH: Now we’re going to ask you to select your dinner companions. First, someone from the world of the cruise/ocean liner industry.

JvD: Captain Stephen Card. He is the painter who paints all those fabulous ship paintings that adorn the stairwells of the HAL ships.

JH: Someone to make you laugh.

JvD: George Carlin or alternatively Jay Leno

JH: Someone from the world of sport.

JvD: Anyone who can make me ski better than I do now!

JH: A famous actor or actress.

JvD: Sean Connery.

JH: One politician or esteemed mind.

JvD: I really want to say Bono of U2 but I’ll go with Dave Evans aka the Edge, U2’s guitarist. I need some help to understand his delays and effects.

JH: One beautiful lady.

JvD: My wife Pam and my mom.

JH: Thank you Captain so very much for taking your time to answer these questions. We have 1.7 million readers around the world who will enjoy your interview very much. What a terrific interview and I am sure we all wish this brilliant vessel bon voyage. We will catch up with the Captain and crew once they start sailing.

Thanks again to John Heald for sharing this interview with us. You can check out his blog here.