Crosskeys Brand

Behind the price printed on the label (169 cents), it also says ‘Crosskeys Brand’. This is the English translation of the brand Sleutels of the canning factory, which was sold in the Netherlands. The English branding was necessary, as the company did not only sell its products to different merchants in Europe, but also to other parts of the world. Besides the brand Sleutels, Nieuwenhuizen also sold Ooievaar. Both brands were sold internationally: Ooievaar was known outside of the Netherlands as Stork. Ooievaar was the more luxurious product line by Nieuwenhuizen and became the company’s most important brand in the Dutch Indies.

In 1933, the Nieuwenhuizen company posted an advertisement in the Algemeen Dagblad voor Nederlands-Indië (Daily Newspaper of the Dutch Indies), to promote its canned goods with the title ‘De ooievaar is nu te Batavia aangekomen’ (‘The stork has now reached Batavia’). Not only the Indonesian archipelago, but also Suriname, the Antilles and even the original Transvaal Republic in South-Africa showed great demand for the Dutch goods (fig. 3). In this manner, Dutch people abroad could bring with them the flavors from home.

The Nieuwenhuizen factory was now able to work both ways: the company could sell canned Indonesian dishes, like nasi goreng, in the Netherlands, but also Dutch conserved vegetables abroad!

Do you want to know more about the Dutch cuisine in Indonesia? Then click below, or click further to continue with the story about this can of nasi.