Unusual Foods I've Been Served and Have Enjoyed in My Travels

Every year, as I and my brothers grew up on the farm, our parents would take us on an annual pilgrimage up the hill to another town. We would go to the only Chinese restaurant in the entire region to celebrate their anniversary. That was as exotic as it got, back then.

I always had a tendency to gravitate toward the unusual, individual who didn't fit in with the crowd. So, it's no surprise that I would be invited to eat authentic Indian curry and Semolina pudding or those wonderful fried breads that they serve when everyone else was considering pizza to be an adventure. I've eaten poi with homemade luau in Hawaii, whale blubber and smoked salmon-as-in-the-real-deal at Eskimo get-togethers making sure to eat the entire thing including the rind since they're such delicacies and I was being honored with the offerings. I've also eaten millet dishes from ex-hippies and food from dumpster dives and fry bread on Native
American reservations and at Pow Wows along with fried gator. I enjoyed all of this in different regions of our own country.

I love going into the local grocery stores in whichever country or area of our country I may be in. Food and shopping tell a lot about a culture. It also helps you to connect to individual people. I've learned that sharing a meal with someone helps to open doors of understanding and mutual cooperation.

Here Are Some of the Different Foods That I've Been Served Over the Years With Wonderful Company:

Italian Pizza:

When we went to visit our family in Lupatoto, Verona, Italy we were served Italian Pizza from a take-out shop. That's where the similarity with our country's pizza ends.

We were each served an individual pizza which covered an entire regular sized dinner plate. The crust was extremely thin, half as thin as the thin crust pizzas served in the US. The tomato base was just a thin seasoned film. The cheese and meat was laid on in slices. All pizzas had cheese on them, no grated cheese, no Parmesan. One pizza had prosciutto, another had salami, another had very large anchovies, and another just had cheese. They were garnished with something green, similar to green onions, but not onions. They were topped with olive oil and baked crispy. We ate them with a knife and fork. Yum.

Italian Spaghetti:

We were also served spaghetti, not like here or in the cookbooks. The sauce was made with 1/3 seasoned sausage, similar to our bulk breakfast sausage, 1/3 ground pork and 1/3 ground beef with chopped onion and garlic and olive oil. Just enough stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce with paste was added to combine the meat which was seasoned with Marjoram, Basil and salt. The sauce also had chopped mushrooms or ripe green olives, not manzanilla or Greek. This was served over a choice of pasta with grated Romano cheese. I understand that this is the common meal in Italian households, especially when the funds are low.

Before our first trip to Belgium I studied and researched as much information as I could get hold of to be as prepared as possible before we arrived in Belgium. Before we landed I was already planning to find and try their frites-fries and wafflen or gaufres-waffles. This is what we've learned over the years:

Frites:

The authentic most sublime Belgian fry is most often found at a street vendor. There're several in Brussels which also serve varying types of roasted meats and sausages on a stick. There's also a restaurant on the Groen Platz near the Cathedral in Antwerp which also serves wonderful frites. The only resemblance to our fries are appearance except for the color.

The frites are made with golden potatoes and twice fried. They're fried once and put aside in a covered container until ordered. Then they're refried and served piping hot with a small two prong frites fork and a choice of toppings and our type of catsup isn't one of them. The most popular topping is mayonnaise. You can also
choose curry catsup, yum, tartar sauce, chili sauce, mustard and some other sauces which I don't remember. The frites are eaten with knife and fork. Depending upon the location and the size of the order, the frites are usually around 2,50-4,00 euros or so. These cannot be replicated outside of Belgium. I've tried. The potatoes aren't the same.

Gaufres-Wafflen-Waffles:

There're different versions of this wonderful delicacy and none of them are like what we call Belgian waffles, except for appearances. In Belgium this is a finger food or to be served as a dessert on a plate. In Brussels they're served from roving vendors in vans, in Antwerp they're served as fast-food in small shops on the main
shopping avenue and in Heist op den Burg they're served in a shop on plates as we would be served ice-cream or dessert.

The street version of the gaufre is a large, thick and heavy pastry with embedded caramelized sugar chunks that's served plain, chocolate coated or with other toppings. Shoppers and workers munch on them as they walk toward their destinations. Just follow your nose and you'll find a gaufre stand, in Brussels, or wafflen stand in Antwerp. They're usually 2,50-3,50 euros and are around 7x4x1.5 inches in size. They're a yeast pastry.

We walked by a mobile gaufre stand every morning outside the Sofitel Hotel near Avenue Louise when we were in Brussels. I also walk by a wafflen shop every-time I walk on Keyserli near the Central Station in Antwerp. I'm not sure where the shop is Heist op den Berg. But the waffles were light as air, crispy and sweet. they're sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. They didn't have the caramelized sugar chunks. We ate them with knife and fork.
They were around 4 euros and were served with coffee and small chocolates.

Wafflen/gaufres are also available in the grocery stores in both the sugar chunk and without, either plain or chocolate coated. Even though the frites don't survive the trip, I do bring the waffles back. I usually get both types of waffles without the chocolate coating. I usually get the sugar embedded version in two-packs for around
3-4 euros and the plain waffles in big box packs for around the same price or a little more. They make great gifts. You can find several recipes at this website, http://www.visitbelgium.com/?page=recipes.

Baked Endive or Belgian Endive au Gratin:

This is a traditional dish in Belgium. I've been served this at private dinner tables in Edegem and Antwerp and in a restaurant in the old town area of Brugge/Bruges. It was around 12-15 euro in the restaurant. This is a wonderful dish. The endives are boiled or braised in salted water until tender and drained. Then they're
wrapped in sliced ham and placed in an oven proof dish. They're covered with a Gruyere cheese sauce made from a bechamel or white sauce mixed with Gruyere cheese. Then more Gruyere is sprinkled over the the dish and put in the oven to bake. Near the end of the baking the temperature is turned up to broil until the dish
is browned with a crispy top.

This is a very filling and satisfying dish. It tastes great with toasted bread, a salad and a Rodenbach beer.

The following recipes came from my friends in Heist op den Berg. I've been able to reproduce them for my own dinners. These are all traditional dishes. But I don't know if you can find them in the restaurants, since I didn't eat them in a restaurant. Whenever my friends took me out to dinner it was usually for Pizza Hut Pizza, hamburgers,
a typical universal roast chicken, Chinese or German but not Belgian, except for the waffles or the frites:

Pickle and Tomato Salad:

Combine sliced tomatoes with chopped or sliced bread and butter pickles and mix with yogurt and mayonnaise and garlic. Chill and serve.

Cabbage Dish with Apples:

This can be found in the grocery stores.

Cook one chopped onion in oil until soft. Add one small sliced red cabbage, three sliced tart apples and raisins or prunes. Season with pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, salt, three bay leaves, two tablespoons brown sugar, maple syrup or honey. Cook slowly in three tablespoons water and one tablespoon vinegar or red wine until mushy, about 2 hours. This makes a great side dish.

Curry Sauce:

Cover the bottom of the pot with oil and add curry, turmeric, chili, pepper, ginger, garlic and nutmeg. Warm in oil. Add one large chopped onion or two shallots and cook until soft. Take the mixture off the burner and stir in one tablespoon peanut butter, one chopped cooking apple, one cup coconut milk and one bouillon cube. Cook until soft then add one tablespoon flour. Cook until thick. Pure'. You can also add pineapple. Yum.

Sausage, Leek, Potato and Rice Dish:

Cover bottom of large pan with oil. Cook one sliced onion until soft. Add one cup rice, two chopped potatoes, three leeks cut in segments and halved both white and green, one can of coconut milk, pepper, curry, two bay-leaves, turmeric, chili, one large bouillon cube, two pounds of white sausages and enough water to cover both the rice and the sausages. Cook until the rice is done.

Giauque Dunant-Honey Bread/Peperkoek:

This is a traditional Belgian sweet bread which you can find in the grocery store. It's usually under 5 euros per loaf. The Peperkoek is the version with caramelized sugar chunks and Couque Dinant is the one without. Both Peperkoek and Couque Dinant are made by Vondelmolen. Peperkoek comes in a red wrapper. Couque Dinant is in a white and blue wrapper. The texture of this bread is very unusual, as well as is the flavor. It's very addictive
especially with the sugar chunks. It's texture is a bit like cotton candy though more solid, Two of my friends decided to introduce me to this bread one year. They each chose a different variety. That's why I know about both of them.

Belgian Meats and Cheeses:

I bring Belgian or Dutch cheeses home on every trip, such as Edam, Gouda and some of the soft cheeses. I can't bring any of the sliced meats home, so I enjoy them for breakfast which is when they're usually served along with cheese, juice, coffee, fruit, bread, pastry, jam and chocolates and Nutella. Nutella is used the same way we use peanut butter, spread on bread.

Because I do so much walking in Antwerp I can afford to raid my friend's chocolate stash without gaining any weight. She makes sure to stock my favorites, which are of course Belgian with hazel nuts or dark chocolate. Her favorites are American. Go figure. I shop around for good quality American sweets that aren't like Belgian sweets and I either send or take them to my friends.

One year, I took them chocolate chips. Both of my friends found creative and unexpected uses for them. Since they don't have the same cultural reference that we have to chocolate chips. My friend in Antwerp served a white dessert with small dark dots in it. When I tasted it I found that I was eating yogurt mixed with sweetened cream and the chocolate chips.

She owns a Bed and Breakfast named The Blue House. It's located on Lamorinierestraat in Antwerp near the diamond district. I've had the wonderful opportunity of meeting people from all over Belgium and Europe at her house. She also makes sure that I don't get lost.

Sources:

http://www.visitbelgium.com/?page=recipes