Today we ventured into the Dutch countryside! We visited the small village of Zaanse Schans, which consists of some homes, small businesses, windmills, and farm animals. It felt very authentic: every person working in the village wore traditional dutch outfits, and the landscape was naturally imperfect.

Located in one of the cottages was the Henri Willig experience. Henri Willig is a Dutch cheese manufacturer that produces a variety of delicious cheeses with the help of happy cows and goats. During the experience, we learned the process Henri Willig uses to produce its cheese.

They start with milk from free range, healthy cows. To begin making the milk into cheese, manufacturers typically add an enzyme from cows’ stomachs, which can only be acquired by killing the animal. Henri Willig himself, however, did not want to do that. He created a new method of separating the whey and cheese curds that did not require the enzymes from cows. As a result, Henri Willig does not kill any animals, which is both humane and sustainable as they do not have to breed more cows as often.

Additionally, they don’t waste any milk. When the milk separates to make cheese, 90% is whey and only 10% is actual cheese curds. Many manufacturers dispose of the whey (essentially wasting 90% of the milk they purchase), but Henri Willig actually makes use of it. Some of the whey they create is actually fed to their baby cows as it is healthy and provides them with nutrients they need. The rest of the whey is sold to a brewery, which makes beer out of it. Some of that beer is sold directly to customers while some of it is sold back to Henri Willig so that they can make beer cheese from it.

I appreciate how Henri Willig has found ways to sustainably produce cheese, which is usually not thought of as good for the environment.

Speaking of good for the environment, I tried a Dutch McDonald’s today! Although McDonald’s probably does not sound like it is related to sustainable practices, I was very pleased to see the McPlant option. It was a Big Mac with a plant based burger, which is not offered in the United States. As far as I know, American McDonald’s typically do not offer any vegetarian meal options. This Dutch McDonald’s made use of product adaptation and created vegetarian versions of both their cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets to accommodate their European customers. Hopefully American McDonald’s will follow in their footsteps!

Stay tuned tomorrow for our first full day in Rotterdam!