Amsterdam Kookt

I’m not sure how you can go wrong with a food truck festival, so automatically I love Kookt! There are all kinds of food trucks available including burgers, smoothies, milkshakes, soul food, pizza, frites, sweet treats, BBQ, some of your favorite restaurants and a few stalls you would recognize from De Foodhallen (
). Of course there is beer and wine, and if you look around, you can find some cocktails too!
There’s a lot of space to walk around and isn’t as cramped as some of the other festivals. I love the industrial feel of the area and the different sections of trucks. It’s a little bit of a maze, but it pretty much follows one flow, so you shouldn’t get too turned around. To get to the end is quite a walk. The location was good being right off the ferry from Centraal or the Westerdoks. It is well-​marked and has space for bikes. But if you are coming from the ferry, I would just leave your bike where you got on.
There is music along with some small and some large stages for you to enjoy. Only downside to the main (big) stage was it was all standing room. I think it would be more inviting with chairs, or high tops to stand around and eat on.
The festival works on a token system (like many of them do) and there were registers along the way – not just at the entrance. And there were machines to insert cash to get your tokens. That might help quicken things. But the registers also take pin cards.
It seemed that most items were between 2 – 3 tokens, and they do have half tokens as well. You can find a few items for 1 – 1.5 tokens and drinks are usually 2 – 3 tokens. These tokens are 2.50 each, but it’s a festival and everything is overpriced.
And in case you aren’t aware, most people in Amsterdam speak English, so you will be fine if you don’t speak Dutch.
If you like this festival, check out Rollende Keukens (
), TREK (
), and Food Soul Festival (
).

This was my favorite food festival in Amsterdam so far. While summers in the city are full of wonderful events everywhere the ante has been upped.
Amsterdam Kookt has everything — great location, wonderful musical events, hygienic spots to chill and catch up with friends, activities for young and the old, and of course food from all over the world. Perhaps the biggest advantage is the space afforded by NDSM. The event was expansive, with opportunity to spend a couple days easily trying everything, and that’s not even including the wonderful cafes in the area!
Entrance is free, but you have to buy tokens for food, water, and toilets. I have to say — food is really expensive. The cheapest I found was a banana for half a token, which is € 1.25! Water was € 3.75 for half a liter!
There is silent disco, face painting, a little playground for the youngsters. Something for everyone! And there are tables, a giant beach chair, boats recycled as terraces. You will not get tired.
The food trucks were more or less the same from the yearly Rollende Keukens event at the Westerpark. There is a huge meat and BBQ area. Also an area for wines and beers.
I loved the coconut cookies at one of the tables. Mm so good. Other than that, we had fun walking around, taking pictures, and generally having a good time. You’re at the NDSM, the views are great. And when you’re done with the music there’s Pllek!
They had concerts, although I only stuck around for a little while.
All in all, a wonderful event that I hope keeps coming back!