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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Groninga
A boiled egg wrapped in a creamy, spiced ragù, breaded and fried: the eierbal is the snack bar treat of Groningen. It was added in 2017 to the national inventory of intangible heritage, following an initiative by a society created to protect it.
Traditional dish from Groninga
Also known as: Grunneger aaierbal, eierbal
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Groninger eierbal — Groninga, the Netherlands
The Groninger eierbal, in the Grunneger dialect aaierbal, is a fried snack about the size of a tennis ball. A whole boiled egg, or half, is peeled, covered in a thick ragù—usually seasoned with curry—coated in breadcrumbs and fried. The outside becomes crispy; inside, the creamy ragù surrounds the egg.
It is a snack from the city and provincial snack bars (snackbars) and nightlife of Groningen, where it is sold alongside kroketten and frikandellen. For a long time it was hard to find outside the north of the country because its preparation takes time.
The eierbal has organized supporters. The Eierbalgenootschap, a lovers’ society, got the snack listed as a nationally protected tradition in 2017. The same year, the eierbal represented Groningen on a postal stamp sheet featuring flavors from each province.
Regional attachment became visible in 2024, when a snack bar in Amersfoort released an imitation and members of Groningen’s provincial parliament publicly reacted, saying the snack belongs to the province.
Each snack bar has its own ragù recipe, and differences lie in the seasoning and the ratio of egg to filling. The eierbal is usually served with mustard or mayonnaise.
Boiled egg; ragù (stock thickened with flour and butter, sometimes with meat); curry in some recipes; breadcrumbs; frying oil.
Hot, just after frying, eaten with the hands or from a napkin, often with mustard or mayonnaise.
A snack for any time of day, common at night and after nights out.
Your questions
A boiled egg wrapped in a spiced ragù, which may include curry, then breaded and fried. It is sold in Groningen’s snack bars.
Yes. It was recognized in 2017 as a living national tradition.
It’s rare. The snack is typical of snack bars in the north of the country, especially in the province of Groningen.
Flavors of the Netherlands
Thick split pea soup with vegetables and smoked sausage that in winter can become so thick a spoon can stand upright. The preparation of erwtensoep, also called snert, was recognized as intangible heritage of the Netherlands in July 2018.
Young, fatty seasonal herring, cleaned, salted and matured by the traditional method and eaten raw with chopped onion. It is a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed of the European Union, and the arrival of the new season is celebrated throughout the country.
Fried yeasted dough balls, with or without raisins and apple, dusted with confectioners’ sugar. They are the New Year’s Eve treat in the Netherlands, sold at stalls that appear in towns at the end of the year.
Rustic mashed potatoes mixed with a vegetable, such as kale, sauerkraut or carrots with onion, served with a smoked sausage and gravy. It’s the winter home-cooking dish of the Netherlands, with variants that have their own names.
Small white bread filled with well-seasoned pork, the worstenbroodje is the savory of North Brabant and was recognized as Dutch intangible heritage in 2016.
White yeast bread with large chunks of sugar mixed into the dough and cinnamon, which caramelize in the oven. It is the sweet bread most associated with Friesland, and local tradition links it to visits to the parents after a baby is born.
Two thin crisp waffle wafers glued together with a caramel-cinnamon syrup filling. It originated in Gouda bakeries around 1800, and the method of making it by hand is on the national inventory of intangible heritage.
Round tart made from a thin fermented dough and generously filled with fruit, rice pudding or custard, sometimes topped with a lattice or streusel. Since 2024 it has a Protected Geographical Indication from the European Union, shared by Dutch and Belgian Limburg.
Tray of French fries topped with shoarma, melted cheese, salad, garlic sauce and sambal. Created in 2003 at a snack bar in Rotterdam for hairdresser Nataniël Gomes, it took the name of his salon and spread across the Netherlands.
Cereal distillate flavored with juniper, the predecessor of gin, which made Schiedam the city of jenever: at its peak, hundreds of distilleries operated along the canals, and giant windmills ground the grain. Jenever has a European geographical indication shared by the Netherlands, Belgium and neighbouring areas.
Large choux pastry ball filled with whipped cream and covered in dark chocolate, the sweet of 's-Hertogenbosch. A local pastry shop advertised chocolate balls as early as 1903 and began filling them with whipped cream in 1924.
A small leavened roll twisted into a spiral with light brown sugar and cinnamon that caramelizes in the oven, leaving it sticky inside and out. It is the best-known sweet of Zeeland and its origin is attributed to the Sephardic Jews who settled in Middelburg at the end of the 16th century.
