Strawberry Mob

On Saturday it happened! Youth Food Movement Netherlands (born out of Slow Food NL) took a tractor, put Jan Robben and 400 boxes of his smaakaardbeien (Dutch for: wonderfultastestrawberries) on the back and drove right onto the grass in front of the museumsplein in the centre of Amsterdam. Via facebook and related media plus lots of word to mouth, the strawberry mob had been organized, now ready to completely buy out the 400 boxes within a quarter of an hour.

Why the mob, why the fuss, why the fun? Jan Robben is a strawberry farmer who selects for the taste of his fruit, not their shelf life. This makes him different to what supermarkets expect of strawberry farmers and that is why he has a hard time getting into there. In order to raise awareness and to motivate consumers to ask for such tasteful little fruits at their retailers, YFM, Jan Robben and the smaakardbeien made this trip to the city, threw a jazzy party after and let those not filled up yet taste all the different kind of strawberries from local farmers. What a delight! Note: For tomorrow (9th of July) there is a connected YFM action thingi, so if you happen to be Dutch, grab your phone and call the PLUS supermarket in your neighbourhood to ask whether they have some Jan Robben strawberries!

When I travelled on with my two boxes, the smell alone of the strawberries made a store owner peek into my bag and ask what kind of strawberries I have there. I offered her but she refused to, because they are not organic- Jan Robben does use a minimal amount of pesticides and mineral fertilizers though, has a whole biodiversity plan laid out and implements water- and energy saving measures. But in times of anonymous farmers, people can only believe labels, often shunned by farmers because of the costs that come with it (Jan Robben is certified under the milieukeur label though, but which average consumer makes his way alive through the label jungle these days?). Buying from farmers you know can help. Glad that I got to know Jan Robben and thumbs up for his website! Imagine every farmer had a website explaining practices, philosophy and even camping possibilities close to his farm (alas, only in Dutch)!