Belgium specialities · Specialities in Belgium
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Specialities in Belgium
Specialities in Belgium
Moules et frites/Mosselen met friet,
Brussels
A number of dishes are considered distinctly Belgian specialities and should be on every visitor's agenda.
Mussels are a firm favorite and a side-dish of Moules et frites/Mosselen met friet (Mussels with French fries). The traditional way is to cook them in a pot with white wine and/or onions and celery, then eat them up using only a mussel shell to scoop them out. The top season is September to April, and as with all other shellfish, do not eat the closed ones. Belgium's mussels always come from the nearby Netherlands. Imports from other countries are looked down on.
Balletjes/Boulettes are meatbals with fries. They will either be served with a tomato sauce or with the sauce from Liège, which is based on a local syrup. For this reason they will often be introduced as Boulets Liégeois.
Stoemp is mashed potatoes and carrots with bacon and sausages. It is a typical meal from Brussels.
Stoofvlees is a traditional beef stew and is usually served with (you have guessed it already) fries.
Witloof met kaassaus/Chicons au gratin is a traditional gratin of chicory with ham and a cheesy bechamel sauce, usually served with mashed potatoes or croquettes.
Konijn met pruimen: rabbit cooked in beer and dried plums.
Despite the name, french fries (frieten in Dutch, frites in French) are proudly claimed as a Belgian invention. Whether or not this is true, they certainly have perfected it ? although not everybody agrees with their choice of mayonnaise over ketchup as the preferred condiment (ketchup is considered to be "for kids").
Every village has at least one frituur/friterie, an establishment selling cheap take-away fries, with a huge choice of sauces and fried meat to go with them. The traditional thing to try is friet met stoofvlees, but remember the mayonaise on it .
Waffles (wafels in Dutch, gaufres in French) come in two types:
Gaufres de Bruxelles/Brusselse wafels�: a light and airy variety.
a heavier variety with a gooey center known as Gaufres de Liège/Luikse wafels.
The latter are often eaten as a street/ take-away snack while shopping and therefore can be found at stands on the streets of the cities.
Last but not least, Belgian chocolate is famed around the world. Famous chocolatiers include Godiva, Leonidas, Guylian, Galler, Marcolini and Neuhaus, but the best stuff can be found at tiny boutiques, too small to build worldwide brands. In nearly all supermarkets, you can buy the brand Côte d'Or, generally considered the best 'everyday' chocolate (for breakfast or break) among Belgians.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Belgium
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Belgium Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
