Meet the Dutch woman bringing Filipino cuisine to Amsterdam

Longganisa, adobo, pancit, palabok, and dinuguan? For Filipinos living in Amsterdam, the familiar flavors of home are never too far away.

At House of Pinoy Foods, customers can find and enjoy a variety of Filipino dishes prepared by Dutch entrepreneur Beate Duma, who’s been cooking Filipino food for 28 years already.

Her interest in Filipino culture began long before she established House of Pinoy Foods in 2019.

At around 14 years old, she started picking up Tagalog words taught by her Filipina best friend. Although she recalled that most of what she learned were slang and words she could use to talk about their classmates without them understanding.

“Nagturo siya ng iba-ibang words pero mostly ‘yung mga bad words o ‘yung mga pwede mo gamitin pang chismis sa mga kaklase without them knowing… Which is actually not a good thing. Pero bata pa ako nun, ngayon alam ko na hindi maganda ‘yan,” Duma told ABS-CBN News.

Her curiosity eventually grew into a deeper appreciation of Filipino food and traditions when she met her late husband, Rheneir — a Filipino from Eastern Samar — at a gathering hosted by another Filipina friend in 2001.

“Nung na-meet ko ‘yung asawa ko, sabi ko ay maganda ‘to. Para mas interesting din sa akin kasi boring naman maging Dutch. Doon ako nag-start na magka-interest din sa Philippine culture at parang may rights na rin ako dahil ‘yung asawa ko naman is Filipino din,” she said.

She eventually learned to speak both Tagalog and Waray, which she continues to use in her everyday life and social media contents.

Duma first learned to cook Filipino dishes from her friends and her husband’s family.

One of the first dishes she learned was lumpiang shanghai, followed by adobo and leche flan.

Around 2013, she and Rheneir began preparing food for friends’ birthdays and gatherings and eventually grew into a catering business, which they officially registered in 2018.

One of their popular products is longganisa, made using Rheneir’s own recipe. However, after his death in 2019, Duma intially found it difficult to prepare the longganisa because it reminded her of him.

“Noong nawala siya, pumunta ako ng butcher kung saan kami dati kumukuha ng karne. Tinanong niya ako, sabi ‘bakit hindi ka na kumukuha ng karne na ginagamit mo pang sausage?’ Sabi ko, hindi na kasi namatay na si Rheneir. Parang kung gagawa pa rin ako sa bahay, napakalungkot kasi iisipin ko na lagi kaming dalawang gumagawa tapos ngayon ako nalang. Ang sabi ng butcher, kung gusto mo, dito ka na lang gumawa sa store para at least may kasama ka.”

That encouragement from their butcher made her decide to continue making it for the business.

Today, the longganisa has become a customer favorite and often sells out before the week ends.

“Super proud talaga ako sa longganisa namin dahil masarap talaga siya. ‘Yan ang tribute ko kay Rheneir dahil recipe niya talaga ‘yun,” Duma said.

While Duma had grown familiar with Filipino dishes, she said her biggest challenge was not learning to cook unfamiliar food. It was more on gaining the confidence to serve Filipino customers as a Dutch woman.

“Siyempre naisip ko rin na baka walang bibili sa akin dahil Dutch naman ako,” she said.

She feared that customers might wonder how a Dutch woman could know how to cook Filipino food. But still, she chose to focus on Filipino cuisine rather than add other cuisines to attract a wider market.

“[‘Yung iba] minsan natatakot sila na piliin ‘yung Filipino food [as business]. So ang ginagawa nila magdagdag pa sila ng ibang cuisine just like may Japanese or Korean or Peruvian or whatever. And ako, I really chose na Filipino food talaga.”

For Duma, serving Filipino food abroad means staying true to its original flavors.

She said she does not want to compromise or cut back on ingredients just to make the dishes more appealing to other customers, especially international customers.

“Masarap naman talaga ang Filipino food, why would you change it?”

“Filipino cuisine doesn’t need any fusion. Filipino cuisine is fusion itself,” she said.