There's no such thing as leftovers in Amsterdam thanks to neighborhood meal sharing

Paying to dine at a complete stranger's home may not be new but the Dutch have taken it to the next level. Meal-sharing kicked off in New York a couple of years ago and has seeped its way into every major city around the world.

It was a hipster revolution, pushing the boundaries of eating out while meeting new friends in a forced-intimate environment.

But what about the more reclusive of us? What about those who just can't be bothered making chit-chat over chops? Well, the answer has arrived from Amsterdam.

The city famed for its weed, canals and its community feels, has stepped up with its tech-savvy neighbourhood meal-sharing initiative — helping locals reconnect through food.

Let's briefly sum up how this works.

Imagine Sabrina is cooking dinner for herself and makes a few extra portions of her moussaka. A few blocks away, Pauline gets home from work, hungry but in no mood to cook.

The answer? Well, a meal-sharing app that allows people nearby to log in and order a serving of moussaka from Sabrina.

Marieke Hart and Jan Thij Bakker came up with the concept for Thuisafgehaald (translating roughly as "home takeaway") a few years ago and it's picking up pace.

"While sitting in our garden, we were intrigued by the smells coming from our neighbours' kitchen," Marieke explains."We were curious, so one day we asked if we could try her food. That weekend, we went over to her kitchen with a few euros and came back with three delicious servings of pumpkin soup.

"That's when we realised that sharing food is a great way to get to know your neighbours. We took a leap of faith and built an online platform for connecting people through meal-sharing," she says.

"In other cultures it's still common to cook large quantities, just in case someone drops by. Dropping in spontaneously is no longer customary in the Netherlands. But this platform recreates the social aspect of cooking and eating."

To date, Thuisafgehaald has enabled over 138,000 meals to be shared among its 80,000 participants. It has now expanded into ShareYourMeal, which can be downloaded to your phone, even outside of Amsterdam. You just have to see if anyone is doing it in your area.

This has paved the way for similar concepts in Amsterdam. The people behind the recently launched Mealby want those in the city to feel they can choose healthy options when it comes to takeaway.

"The difference between homemade and processed foods is huge," co-founder Raffaele Izzia says.

"Ready-meals are generally loaded with added sugar, contain hydrogenated fats, and are over-engineered to make us consume more. With Mealby, our goal is to bring back homemade food into people's lives and reconnect them with what they eat."

So whether it's for health reasons, social reasons or simply to reconnect with your food, community-based meal-sharing looks like a trend that's here to stay in the Netherlands.

So, what does it mean for those visiting? While it might be daunting picking up a takeaway from someone's home, it's a great way to keep costs down and really submerge yourself in the full Amsterdam experience.