Food in Flanders

Our friends, Winnie and Regnier, tell us that it is a time-honoured Flemish custom (especially in Dendermonde where they come from) to ensure that guests never go hungry. I think this is true for many cultures but I'm not sure that many take it to the lengths that our wonderful Belgian hosts do. I can assure you that during no point in our stay with Winnie and Regnier did we ever get close to being hungry – or even to thinking that we might possible get hungry! We were treated to wonderful food during our stay – some of it typically Flemish, some of it apparently designed to get us in the mood for our holiday in Italy. Regnier's mussels (without chips) will go down as one of the most memorable meals of the year and we will be trying to replicate the recipe at home. We're not sure that we'll be able to find the wonderful Geuse Boon beer to accompany the meal though but we're sure to be able to find some Hoegaarden as a back up. We both developed a taste for it during our stay in Belgium. We are almost certain not to be able to find the wonderful dipping sauce that accompanied the mussels – it's a kind of light curry mayonnaise and is utterly delicious! I don't think I ever seen the like in New Zealand.

Katya, Winnie and Regnier - after the mussels

We loved the different mayonnaise-style sauces that accompany barbecued meats, chips and other foods in Belgium and we also really enjoyed the selection of breads there. Even though the French have extended their range of bread types over recent years, they have a long way to go before they can match the Belgians in that area. We ate waffles (another speciality) in the cafe of an outdoor transport museum that we visited one fine afternoon and we tasted one or two more of Belgium's world-renowned chocolates (you'll remember that we tried two each in Ghent).

There were some “traditional” Flemish treats that we didn't try. Regnier likes speculaas biscuits or gingerbread on his buttered bread for breakfast; we preferred to stick to ham, salami or any of a selection of local cheeses on our ours. We did, however, have to concede that eating jam and cheese together (as we do) could be considered as weird a combination of foods, and we didn't even broach the subject of vegemite...