Excerpts from a recent interview with Dan Waterman....

Every time Dan Waterman visited his native Holland he always brought along a extra suitcase to stuff his his favorite Dutch treats.

"In the United States I couldn't readily buy some of my favorite Dutch foods like drop and stroopwafels," Dan said.  "So every time we went to Holland I came back with a suitcase full of Dutch goodies."

This continued until five years ago when Dan decided to do something more about his cravings.  After retiring as manager of the New England offices of Encyclopaedia Britannica, he took over All Things Dutch, a mail order business.  All Things Dutch (ATD) now boasts a mailing list of nearly 200,000 people, mostly of Dutch descent.

Dan estimates there are about eight million people of Dutch heritage scattered across the United States.

"I found there were many Dutch people in the same boat as me, longing for their favorite Dutch foods but unable to find them."

One New York company knew exactly where to find stroopwafels when they wanted them for a party a few weeks ago.  They ordered 5,000 packages of the tasty treats, the largest order ever at ATD.

While drop and stroopwafels are two of the items most in demand, All Things Dutch offers a wide variety of treats to satisfy even the most discriminating palate.

Dutch cheeses, Douwe Egberts coffee, Speculaas, poffertjesmix, and of course Droste cocoa and Verkade chocolate are all listed in the All Things Dutch catalogue.

He has recently expanded All Things Dutch onto the Internet to take advantage of the growing number of consumers who shop through their computers.  You can find All Things Dutch at http://www.AllThingsDutch.com.  The web site includes a full catalogue, some history about the company and an order form.

Others are beginning to notice his burgeoning business.  The All Things Dutch wide-ranging drop collection is featured in the October 1998 issue of GQ magazine and the January/February 1999 issue of Saveur magazine.