Boerenbont

Sometime in the mid-1970s, before moving to Canada, my mother bought Boerenbonten dishes at the Albertcuypmarkt in Amsterdam.  Boerenbont is a type of traditional pottery from the Netherlands, handpainted in a blue, red, green and yellow floral pattern, originally made more than a century ago.  Still popular in the Netherlands, Royal Boch out of Belgium continues to make and sell it.

The Boerenbont became my mom's "good" dishes and over the years as she travelled back and forth to the Netherlands for vacations, she expanded from the original cups, dinner and luncheon plates, serving and soup bowls to almost every piece available, including a teapot, salt and pepper shakers, dessert dishes, juice cups, cups and saucers, a gravy boat and much, much more.  Every Christmas and birthday dinner was served off these dishes, and I knew my mom would react with "gezellig!" (cosy!) whenever we set the table with them. 


Christmas dinner being served by my mom back in 1979

About six years ago my mother moved into my house and brought the Boerenbont with her, destined to be my good dishes.  A lack of room in my kitchen resulted in them being stored in my basement in a container and I never got my act together to bring them out at the more important meals.  It was probably a disappointment to my mother because I had always loved them but they were just going unused.  She even suggested selling them.  However, when my mom moved into a nursing home we constructed a separate kitchen for my cake design business in our basement.  Many of the specialized baking tools I was storing in the armoire in the livingroom beside my upstairs kitchen moved out and the Boerenbont moved in!  Just like my mom did before me, I now pull out the Boerenbont for special occasions!  It makes me feel great to continue this tradition and finally own a set of "good" dishes! 



Christmas dinner 2011