Breakfast in Belgium
Photograph from ~Ans~ on Flickr
Today is the National Day of Belgium, which celebrates the anniversary of Leopold I taking his oath as the country's first king on July 21, 1831. I was a little surprised to find out that Belgians don't really eat waffles for breakfast. It's more of a snack (or touristy breakfast). Instead, Belgians typically eat bread products with marmalades, sliced meats and cheeses, nut spreads like Nutella, and, this is when you have to love them, just a straight-up bar of chocolate.
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8 Comments:
Not Belgium, but nearby: In the Netherlands, it is apparently standard practice to put chocolate sprinkles on toast. Those northern Europeans and their sweet breakfasts!
Michele Humes at 9:14AM on 07/21/09
i ate like this every day for 2 weeks on vacation in the dutch antilles.... the dutch have amaaaazing bacon!
soopi25 at 9:20AM on 07/21/09
Those bread sprinkles come in non-chocolate varieties too -- it's a whole product category at The Dutch Epicure shop.
benbenberi at 11:13AM on 07/21/09
I'll celebrate with their beer.
Barbieri13 at 12:53PM on 07/21/09
Germans also eat the same breakfast. Beer and frites seem more Belgian than this spread.
applecore at 5:18PM on 07/21/09
Ah, to live in Belgium or Netherlands. Can anyone get me a job over there?
bkbella at 5:23PM on 07/21/09
Was in Munich for several months recently and that is precisely what they ate for breakfast every day. It's not really a healthy breakfast, especially when you slather the nutella on white bread. Tasty though. Yogurt makes a nice addition, maybe an egg too.
Solid Skink at 7:43PM on 07/21/09
Wow -- never got offered chocolate for breakfast during the years in Bruxelles, but don't doubt it. For us, breakfast was usually an expresso (NOT 'espresso' -- see my recent rant/post on SE) and a croissant.
Occasionally, one of us would troop up to the French-speaking patisserie for something nice like a creme tart, or else troop down to the equi-distant Flemish-speaking bakery for some fresh white bread (never a baguette or baton at breakfast, please -- we were such snobs).
On holidays, solar eclipses or other rare occasions such as wins by the Belgian national football [soccer] team, eggs cocotte were the rule.
There was always, of course, chocolate muesli. Not "Mueslix" whatever the heck that is on the American grocery shelf.
Yea, the waffles are for tourists, but also for hungry Bruxelloises at Metro stops on the way home. :)
All in all, the Belgian breakfast is a complement and a compliment to the natural way of eating things to which all humans should subscribe, which is expressed here by way of mantra:
Small Breakfast, Large Lunch, Small Dinner.
@Solid Skink: despite the white bread, northern Europeans don't have the obesity problems Americans have, eh? There's a lesson in that, similar to the "French Paradox," I think
TikiPundit at 11:05PM on 07/22/09