For the nineteenth time, the Dutch Fish Baking Championship was held in Woudrichem on Ascension Day. A typical Dutch match with this time a very 'exotic' result. Two Thai friends won three of the four most important prizes.
Noes and Joy, two girlfriends from Thailand with a Dutch man, are the best female fish bakers in the Netherlands. The jury members of the NK Vischbakken tasted blind and could not have known that they fell en masse for the baking skills of the Thai ladies. Joy has only been in the Netherlands for six months and actually participated as a joke. Much more than “I have won”, she is not yet powerful in our language.
The only man to win an important prize was Jan Timmermans. He won the challenge trophy of the NK Vischbakken 2015. Due to a bizarre twist in the competition rules, a woman can no longer win a challenge trophy if she has already won a second or third prize for the best fried gurnard or the best fried salmon. Strange but true!
The participants in 'the competition of the year' baked their fish on nostalgic wood-fired stoves. A thick, greasy, fish-smelling smoke hung above the old fortified town for hours. The visitors didn't care: more than ten thousand enthusiasts had come to the competition, smoke or not.
Source: Omroep Brabant – There is also a nice video on the website of Omroep Brabant: http://goo.gl/AIx9un
A Thai fish baker has also been baking for years at the large free-standing fish stall on the Haagsemarkt near Hobbemaplein.