Chop beans, chop cauliflower

Not everyone claims that the nickname must have had something to do with a bloody experience involving an axe. Three theories state that the nickname came from the neighborhood's relationship with the Nieuwenhuizen cannery.

Nieuwenhuizen's giant factory used to stand in the Transvaal neighborhood, and many of the residents of the Hakbijlenbuurt depended on it for their daily bread. With all the power the factory had in the neighborhood, it is therefore not surprising that there are several theories related to this cannery. For example, one possibility is that axes were necessary for work at the factory. One local resident said that axes were sometimes needed to cleave open specific, large or strong cauliflowers, as you can see here in the picture. Moreover, another Leiden resident said that he felt the name came from all the women who "chopped" all the beans on the street.

It could also be that the nickname was coined as a sneer against the factory's inspector. This man was at times allegedly unreasonable in his inspections of the chests supplied by the neighborhood residents. It was customary for the neighborhood to collect beans from the factory, shell them in the street and then bring them back to the factory in chests. These chests were sometimes filled with beans that were not yet cut, so that the chests would fill up faster and the recipient would get paid sooner. Of course, this was not allowed, and upon discovery, the inspector would have withheld the money. This made him ‘the man with the axe’.

Finally, it is also possible that the name originated from the axe-carrying guards of the factory. Poor residents of the neighborhood would sometimes try to steal from the factory, after which they would be chased by guards with axes. So, either the inspector or the guards chasing the residents of the neighborhood with their "axes" might have spawned the nickname.