The Secrets of Belgian Cuisine

An online magazine of Lithuanian children living in Brussels invites you to get to know the delicacies of Belgian cuisine.

The secrets of Belgian cuisine. Belgian chocolate, Belgian strawberries, Belgian waffles, Belgian (no, not French!) French fries, snails and even smidgens! Learn everything about it here.

Potatoes

Let’s get this straight – although we’ve heard people say that these fries are “French”, they’re only called that when speaking English. Unfortunately, saying “french fries” would be quite inaccurate. And nobody calls them “French parchies” in other languages.

At the Frietmuseum in Bruges, you will hear the true history of the origin of French fries, find out how they differ from French fries in other countries and, of course, you will be able to taste them as much as your heart desires or your stomach can hold (of course, we do not advise this –  it’s not the healthiest food, although it is really delicious.)

French fries can be found in every city, town or even small village.

Belgian Waffles

Belgian waffles compete with fries in popularity – few visitors can resist the temptation to try a Brussels waffle with cream, Belgian chocolate and strawberries. You can distinguish a Belgian waffle from others by the squares – these are exclusive features of Belgian waffles.

Popular Waffles

The most popular are Brussels and Liège (French: La gaufre de Bruxelles and Gaufre de Liège). These waffles differ in their shape (Brussels – rectangular, Liège – with rounded edges), dough softness (Brussels – soft, Liège – harder) and sweetness (Liège is much sweeter.)

By the way, in Belgium you will still often see thin and crispy waffles “glued” with caramel syrup. These waffles are not Belgian, but Dutch (Dutch: Stroopwafel (syrup waffle). So, don’t be fooled!

By the way, you can even buy Belgian waffles right on the street – if you hear music playing from a van with the sign “Gaufres chaudes” (hot waffles) passing by – follow it and you won’t have to stand in line! There you will definitely find some Belgian waffles with banana, chocolate or fresh strawberry filling.

Strawberries

Strawberries are a very common filling in Belgian waffles, which deserves some attention as well. Especially for strawberries from Vepion (Wepion is a town near Namur, the capital of Wallonia). Belgians would say it is the most delicious strawberry in the world. Why? Visit the Strawberry Museum of Wepion (Musée de la Fraise de Wepion)! Strawberries from the Vepion region are sold at auctions and then spread throughout Wallonia, part of Flanders or even France.

It is interesting that in Belgium you can buy fresh strawberries almost all year round – the sprouts are stored in refrigerators, and they start growing in greenhouses as early as February. They bloom after a few weeks, after a few more strawberries can be picked. And so until November.

Snails

Escargot, like mussels, is a very common dish in Belgium. Snails (here we are talking about soup), frozen snails in Burgundy preparation, cakes with snail filling – we tasted all this, and more than once.

But the most interesting thing was visiting the first snail farm in Belgium, where we not only tasted various snail dishes (spreads, cakes), but also learned how they are raised, who attacks them (and yes, there are rats, which only certain breeds of dogs protect against) and how they… are faked (we won’t go into detail here, but it happens that they cut the meat of cheap sea molluscs into the shells of snails). Visit the Escargotière de Warnant snail farm and learn a lot of interesting things.

Belgian chocolate

Well, for the end, of course, let’s leave the delicacy that all of Belgium is proud of – Belgian chocolate. Namely “Belgian”, because the Belgians have their own method of production, and Antwerp has long been one of the largest ports of cocoa beans in Europe.

This small, almost half the size of Lithuania, European country produces as much as 600,000 tons of chocolate per year. It has over 2,000 chocolatiers (shops that sell chocolate and also produce it in small quantities) and as many as 15 chocolate factories. Chocolate sales alone bring Belgian chocolatiers (Godiva, Leonidas, Côte d’Or, Pierre Mercolini, etc.) up to 12 billion EUR in income. Chocolatastic!

Learning More

If you want to learn more about Belgian chocolate, visit the great chocolate museums – these are the Choco-story museums in Brussels and Bruges, the Belgian Chocolate Village museum in Brussels or the Choco-Story museum-factory in Antwerp. In the latter, each visitor not only learns about the “chocolate path” from “tree to plate” (we say plates for a reason – in this museum you can even watch a cartoon while sitting at the table and watching the actions on the plates), but also receives a gift – a bag of various Belgian chocolates.

Belgian chocolate is also used by the famous “Jules Destrooper” biscuit factory – it is also open to visitors (town of Lo, in the municipality of Lo-Reninge), we recommend it!

That’s how much we indulged in Belgian cuisine this time. And if that’s not enough for you, and you’ve already tried or tasted all of this, try making Belgian dishes at home. If you don’t dare to do it based on the advice of Google or Youtube, ask Eimantas for help. Perhaps he will help make Ghent stew Waterzooi, Verviers rice cake, Liège salad, North Sea prawn croquettes, Flemish chop, fried chicory wrapped in bacon or ham, Liège balls, vegetable (potatoes, carrots, leeks, etc.) mash seasoned with spices or even Vol-au-vent pastry with chicken or mushroom filling.

Wanderers wandered in Belgium and visited more interesting places in the Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium and the Brussels Comic Strip.

This article is author’s work and was prepared by “Travelling with Children ®”. Copying and use without the permission of the author or “Travelling with Children ®” is strictly prohibited.

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