typically Dutch

As winter closes in and the days grow shorter, cheerfully decorated containers on wheels suddenly appear at junctions and on streets squares across the Netherlands. These little boxes of brightness look like they dropped out of the sky as if by magic and landed on the most desolate and dreary expanses of greyness. Closer inspection reveals that the containers are in fact mobile kitchens-cum-stalls selling oliebollen — a sort of Dutch doughnut, often garnished with a liberal sprinkling of powdered sugar. With a warm and welcoming glow emanating from inside and the aroma of deep-fried pastry, the vendors do their best to spread a little festive cheer in freezing conditions. Once the Christmas and end-of-year celebrations have passed, however, these strange spacecraft disappear again just as quickly as they arrived. It is the almost surreal contrast between these cosy containers and the bleak surroundings that is captured in this series of pictures.