In the eighties and before people cutting themselves while cutting hard cheese was pretty common.
Just like you can cut your meats yourself, you can slice your bread yourself and so on this is mostly a convenience, but in case of hard cheese if you've never tried slicing Old Dutch you maybe should try it first.
Even the stores can have trouble slicing it. Anyway, no need to take my word, just buy some if you can and give it a shot, and let me know how it worked out. Using a cheese slicer isn't going to work either, you'll need a very sharp knife and a steady hand and it will take a lot of force.
I usually do not have much trouble cutting Old Amsterdam with a cheese slicer. But perhaps it's is not old enough ;).
When we lived in Germany, the cheese counter people in the supermarket we terrified when I asked for Old Amsterdam, worried that I'd want to have it sliced ;).
"Old Amsterdam" is for tourists, and isn't old. It is actually a cheese that didn't exist until a few years ago, and actually simply is medium aged Gouda. But that doesn't sell nearly as well.
Next time you are in NL (anywhere will do), find a half decent cheese shop and get yourself some "overjargige kaas", you'll love it if you like Old Amsterdam.
"Old Amsterdam" is for tourists, and isn't old. [...] Next time you are in NL (anywhere will do),
I have been born and raised in The Netherlands. I have eaten plenty of old Dutch cheeses during my lifetime.
The thing is, Old Amsterdam is one of the few old(-tasting) Dutch cheeses that you can easily get abroad, such as in rural German, which is where I picked up that admittedly bad habit ;).
