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Place of origin | Netherlands |
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A jodenkoek (in Dutch, literally "Jew biscuit", plural jodenkoeken) is a big, flat, round shortbread biscuit with a diameter of about 10 centimeters (4").
Claimed to have been first baked in the 17th century,[1] these biscuits were advertised by bakeries as early as 1872.[2] Jodenkoeken were made famous by a baker called Davelaar, in Alkmaar, Netherlands. The Stam bakery in Alkmaar started selling jodenkoeken in 1883,[3] and Gijs Verhoeven took over this bakery in 1924. By advertising in local newspapers and by offering the biscuits through other shops, his jodenkoeken became a popular product. The company continues to bake them to this day. Similar products with the same name are produced by Lotus Bakeries and O'Lacy.
Some producers still use the old spelling, jodekoek, while others have changed the name of the product to jodenkoek, after the new orthography of the Netherlands from 1996.
There are four different stories about the name of the biscuits:
In the 1970s the name was thought to be discriminatory by some, and the manufacturer considered changing it, but ultimately decided against it.[4] The name has received little to no controversy since then. Prominent rights activist Wim Kortenoeven, specialising in Jewish history, is critical of the naming of the Dutch sweet jodenvet, "Jew fat" (now borsthoning , "chest honey"), but said he saw nothing wrong with the name "jodenkoek".[5] In 2021 Bakery Davelaar in Alkmaar decided to rename the Jodenkoek to Odekoek (or Ode biscuit).
Originally, the biscuits were sold in metal tins with a yellow wrapper. Nowadays jodenkoeken are also sold in plastic tins lined with a purple wrapper. Because the biscuits are packaged in an air-tight tin, they remain fresh and crunchy.[6]