The Dutch word wijf originally meant simply “woman”: nothing rude, nothing sharp-edged. But over the centuries, the meaning drifted. Nowadays it’s generally used in a not-so-friendly way, summoning the image of a coarse woman with few social graces, shouting across the street with her hair in curlers and a cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth. You can hear it in familiar insults like stom wijf or viswijf, neither of which you’d ever want applied to you.
And yet, Dutch can be wonderfully contradictory. That same word, "wijf" is also used in prachtwijf, a term of admiration for a strong, capable woman who’s confident, honest, and not afraid to speak her mind, a real treasure of a person.
Language is funny that way: it remembers where it came from, but it also adapts, stretches, contradicts itself, and sometimes gives us words that can mean an insult or a compliment depending on how they’re said. And nestled somewhere inside all of that is this charming old-fashioned loaf cake with the mischievous name that used to make us giggle.
The reason behind this bread's name is not entirely clear, although generally research says that it's because it's so soft that even old women with no teeth can enjoy it. I think that can probably be said for all ontbijtkoeken. The distinguishing factor for this cake is however the taste of anijs, aniseed.
Anise is not a stranger to our kitchen, of course. It shows up in bread toppings like muisjes, in flavorful rolls like the anijskrollen from North Brabant, and in nightcap drinks like anijsmelk, sweet and hot anise flavored milk. Once anise made it to the Netherlands from the Mediterranean, it became a tradition to give kraamanijs (crushed anise seeds) to women who had just given birth, as it was believed to help the uterus recover and stimulate milk production. This led into the commercial production of muisjes, anise seeds coated with sugar, that are served on rusks to celebrate the birth of a child. Anise was also given to the elderly because it was supposed to help with appetite, gout, and rheumatism.
We may never find out why this cake is called what it is. But what I do know is that it's a delicious addition to your breakfast table (or midnight snack) - as long as you like anise!
Oudewijvenkoek
