I have been reading through a book on Flanders food which I picked up from the Flanders stand at the World Travel Market. Before throwing it away, I thought I'd check out interesting foods. Alas, I've now decided I must keep the large format book on my already cluttered kitchen shelves. But I've made a list of the places to visit and foods to try, for my own benefit, and you might find it interesting and useful, planning a trip to Belgium or just around your local supermarket.
Bruges in West Flanders
BRUGES
DRINKPoperinge Hop Museum
FOOD SAVOURY
Meat
Kortrijkse bil
Salted veal.
I have heard of salt beef but not salted veal.
FOOD SWEET
Ypres Honey
Honey is known as liquid gold.
Chocolate
If you don't want to eat it, just buy it, Belgium has many chocolate shops.
Here's one:
Chocolatier Sukerbuyc make pralines from a 'secret' recipe.
Surely the word Suker is sugar. Is that deliberate?
ww.sukerbuyc.be
The Ten Best Bruges Restaurants
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurants-g188671-Bruges_West_Flanders_Province.html
SIGHTSEEING
If you feel the urge to walk off those calories, try the Bruges World Heritage City walk:
www.visitbruges.be
If the phrase 'In Flanders Fields' rings a bell, it comes from the WWI poet John McCrae, a Canadian physician (in the UK we would say doctor). In Canada you can see a memorial to him at his birthplace, Guelph. This photo is from Wikipedia which has a full article on the poet and details of the photograph. The poem uses the phrase three times, in the first line, (In Flanders Fields the poppies grow ... ) in the middle and at the end, the last three words. Plus, of course, the title.
- In Flanders Fields Museum
- www.inflandersfields.be
www.hopmuseum.be
visitbruges.be
BRUSSELS
"The capital of Europe"
"The capital of Europe"
DRINK
Brewery
www.brasseriedelasenne.be
FOOD
BISCUITS
S p e c u l o o s biscuits spiced biscuits are available from
Maison Dandy
www.maisondandoy.com
Wikipedia has a long article and pictures.
Speculaas (Dutch: Speculaas Dutch pronunciation: [speːkyˈlaːs], French: spéculoos, German: Spekulatius) is a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit, traditionally baked for consumption on or just before St Nicholas' feast in the Netherlands (December 5), Belgium (December 6), and around Christmas in the western and southern parts of Germany. Speculaas are thin, very crunchy, caramelized, slightly browned and, most significantly, have some image or figure (often from the traditional stories about St. Nicholas) stamped on the front side before baking; the back is flat.
Speculaas dough does not rise much. Dutch and Belgian versions are baked with light brown (sometimes beet) sugar and baking powder. German Spekulatius uses baker's ammonia as leavening agent. Indian, Indonesian, Mediterranean spices used in speculaas are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper were common in the 1400-1500's due to the Dutch East Indies spice trade. Family recipes may also include other small amounts of spices like anise, etc. Traditionally, speculaas were made from Frisian flour and spices. The name speculoos was coined for Belgian wheat flour cookies with hardly any spices. Today most Speculaas versions are made from white (wheat) flour, brown sugar, butter and spices. Some varieties use some almond flour and have slivered almonds embedded in the bottom. Belgian Speculoos varieties use much less or no spice.
CHOCOLATE
Most of the chocolate factory tours seem to be in Brussels, (with one in T o u r n a i)
http://www.visitbelgium.com/?page=chocolate-lovers.
SIGHTSEEING
Magritte Museum (Museum of Fine Arts)
www.museum-magritte-museum.be
One of the best museum websites I've seen. Shows clearly that the collection is huge, three floors of Magritte paintings. You can click on icons across the top of the website for each floor. Then clock on the pictures of groups of paintings in different areas of the map to make the pictures of the paintings bigger.
I read through the Wikipedia account of Magritte's life. Horrified to learn that his mother committed suicide and was found drowned, and that Magritte's pantings of people with missing faces could be attributed to the impact on him of this event. I was further unhappy to read that he and his family were involved in forging paintings and banknotes. But if you investigate the lives of famous people, just like infamous people, and ordinary people, you often find tragedies and questionable morals. If you are put off an artist or writer by the subject matter, its origins, or the lifestyle of the author, you would cease to enjoy art, literature and music. I hope I have not upset anybody by revealing this and drawing attention to it.
If you are still a keen fan of Magritte, the grave of Magritte and his wife is in a cemetery alongside the Brussels Cemetery. Although nothing spectacular about the gravestone, it could provide a point of interest on your travels.
The graves and battlefields of Flanders are also hardly jolly, but they mesmerise us a century later. So enjoy your search through history, and recover your equilibrium and jollity with Flanders food.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, researcher, author and speaker.
One of the best museum websites I've seen. Shows clearly that the collection is huge, three floors of Magritte paintings. You can click on icons across the top of the website for each floor. Then clock on the pictures of groups of paintings in different areas of the map to make the pictures of the paintings bigger.
I read through the Wikipedia account of Magritte's life. Horrified to learn that his mother committed suicide and was found drowned, and that Magritte's pantings of people with missing faces could be attributed to the impact on him of this event. I was further unhappy to read that he and his family were involved in forging paintings and banknotes. But if you investigate the lives of famous people, just like infamous people, and ordinary people, you often find tragedies and questionable morals. If you are put off an artist or writer by the subject matter, its origins, or the lifestyle of the author, you would cease to enjoy art, literature and music. I hope I have not upset anybody by revealing this and drawing attention to it.
If you are still a keen fan of Magritte, the grave of Magritte and his wife is in a cemetery alongside the Brussels Cemetery. Although nothing spectacular about the gravestone, it could provide a point of interest on your travels.
The graves and battlefields of Flanders are also hardly jolly, but they mesmerise us a century later. So enjoy your search through history, and recover your equilibrium and jollity with Flanders food.
- Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels, Belgium www.mim.be
- Magritte Museum (Museum of Fine Arts) www.musee-magritte-museum.be
- Brasserie De La Senne (Brewery) www.brasseriedelasenne.be
- www.visitflanders.com/en/themes/belgian-beer
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, researcher, author and speaker.
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