The Dutch just love their herring

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

THE HAGUE (AFP) — The Dutch descended in droves on the seaport of Scheveningen Saturday to gorge themselves in an annual ritual -- grabbing a raw herring fillet by the tail, tilting their heads back and tucking in.

"There's nothing quite like it," enthused 26-year-old Marijn van Driest.

She travelled some 60 kilometers (40 miles) to the seaside suburb of The Hague to partake in Vlaggetjesdag (Flag Day), marking the arrival of the season's first catch.

"It tastes of the sea. Almost like oysters. And it is salty. I love it," he said.

The delicacy savoured by the Dutch for centuries is available for just over a month every year, from the end of May when the fish are fat enough from eating plankton flourishing in the warmer weather, to the beginning of...