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The Duivekater

Doude van Troostwijk

History

The ¨Duivekater¨ is a special kind of bread, which in the past was baked only in some areas in the Netherlands for Xmas and the New Year´s celebrations.
In later years this ¨Duivekater¨ could be bought during the whole month of December.
Several ¨Duivekaters¨ are to be admired in various Sint Nicholas paintings by Jan Steen the famous Dutch painter.
The origin is attributed to Germanic peoples, who learned the art of baking bread from the Romans.
These Germanic peoples were used to provide their dead with some ritual offerings. Later on these sacrificial animals were replaced by the shinbone of an animal (sometimes a Tom-cat = kater) and after many years by loaf models in the shape of a shinbone.
Legend has it that the ¨Duivekater¨ originated in this way.
A remarkable feature of this ¨Duivekater¨ is its decoration. It has for instance 2 knobs at both ends - these could stand for the joints and the thickening in between probably hints at a piece of meat.
Through the years numerous varieties have appeared all over the country e.g.
¨The Zaan-, Hoorn- and Amsterdam-Duivekater¨ and in the province of South-Holland the ¨Currantkater¨/¨Krentekater¨.
In Belgium (Flanders) the so-called ¨Vollaard¨is a kind of shinbone bread too,
as is the ¨Luciabread¨ or ¨Dovelskat¨ in Sweden.

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