A few years ago, I had the privilege of celebrating the new herring catch with Pastor Daniel Meeter of Old First Dutch Reformed Church at Two Boots. Well, he’s doing it again on June 14th.

As Meeter explained, herring was a diet staple in the Netherlands for hundreds of years. It was always plentiful in the North Sea and Dutch fishing boats didn’t have far to go for those little fish. But the tastiest herring were the newly matured fish caught in late spring: the green, new herring.

The problem was figuring out how to preserve the new herring once the fishermen made their catch: Cleaning the fish on board ship and salting it was the way to go. You can read more about it here.

It’s really such a fun event because Meeter eats them the way the Dutch do: he eats them whole. It’s quite a sight (see picture above from 2009). And you can learn how to do it (and taste some delicious herring) on June 14th from 6-8 PM.

Herring is a really big deal in Holland, you see. Once a year, the herring in the North Sea reach their optimal condition during a four to five week season. In Holland, the start of this season is a national holiday.

A national holiday, eh. Well, in Park Slope, it seems, that tradition is being honored.

According to Meeter, “The New Catch Holland Herring is eaten by holding the whole herring by the tail and dropping it into your mouth. At Two Boots, Meeter likes to chase the herring down with ice cold Dutch Genever Gin.”

Come celebrate Breuklyn’s founding fathers at Two Boots Brooklyn at 6pm with our very own Gwynneth Bensen behind the bar.